Another busy day today. Had a bunch of work work to do and then a bunch of things I wanted to do around the house. I wanted to go in and clean out the detached laundry room and organize that because that is where we have decided to store all the dog and cat crates and the like when animals are not in transit. Because Joelle always has lots going on in the dog side of things (owning her own, picking up strays, etc.), she has a bunch of crates and I brought a bunch and well you get the point- they need someplace to go. More accurately- I need for there to be a place for all of them to go. They are perfectly fine where they are. I’m the fucking lunatic who needs for their to be a place for them to go.
It occurred to me while cooking dinner that if the reason the Republicans in the House were going to impeach Mayorkas was for ostensibly not doing his job, does it not logically follow that the Republicans should impeach themselves for not being able to do their fucking jobs? Whatever.
Dinner was good- nothing sensational- thawed out that steak that I got a couple weeks ago at Fry’s and reverse seared that with some mushrooms and onions the way Joelle likes, and I was in the mood for fries so cut up a couple russets and double fried them. Not the most heart healthy meal, but whatever. My bag of vegetable scraps in the freezer is full so I needed the bone from the steak to make beef stock, and it was cheap since it was in the freezer.
One of the things that I noticed here that is weird is I kept seeing little colorful balls of stuff stuck here and there on the ground by the sidewalks. Especially if they had any vegetation/weeds and a rock garden- it really stands out there with the contrast. So I looked, and realized that it is dryer lint! And I realized this isn’t a problem near me because we’re not that close together and we have birds snagging that stuff up the moment it comes out to build nests. As it is I hang balls of cotton from my trees and have to replace it several times in the spring and summer.
The only birds I see with any regularity down here are the gi-FUCKING-normous pigeons that chill on the power line behind our house. When I sit in the back yard with the dogs, they are always out there. Also, I regret to inform you that Joelle is a bird racist and does not like pigeons. I asked her why and she said “Because they shit on everything” while scrunching up her nose and all I could think was you just agreed to take Thurston full time and I have never seen anything shit like he does.
Whatever. I like the pigeons and throw them bread scraps when we have them out in the front yard. We kinda fucked pigeons over, people did. We domesticated them and used them for food for thousands of years and then for communication and took them everywhere and now they’re feral but still almost completely reliant on human activity, and are who they are because we made them that way. So they kinda got a raw deal from us. And I understand the hygiene and sanitation implications. But still, they don’t deserve the hate.
Speaking of feral, here is a picture of Max:
He was looking down at all the dogs and debating violence. Vicious panther- a real bastard, that cat.
War for Ukraine Day 714: Russia Unloads on Ukraine Today
RSA
A great Cole post, which I appreciate, thanks for that, but my OCD hates the way your text is center-justified after the first paragraph.
Yutsano
MAXWELLKITTEH!!!
I just looked it up, and if I get the apartment I want I’ll be in Jayapal’s district.
Alison Rose
@RSA: I figured he was trying to get an aesthetic going.
Hi, Max!
TaMara
House panther gotta panther. He’s so handsome (what i can see of him, black cats are so hard to photograph)
Sully spent 2 years ignoring and/or being pissed off by the dogs. Then sometime this past summer he decided dogs were all that and loves to go up to them and rub on them and get head butts from them. As you can imagine, it took the dogs a few weeks/months to not expect a sneak attack during all this sudden affection.
Alison Rose
Space stuff!
Chacal Charles Calthrop
Thks for the update.
BTW does anyone know how one actually decorates with all the red & gold Chinese lucky knot/lionhead/tasselled ornaments that are sold in Chinatown for Chinese new years? I buy them & put them away with my regular Christmas ornaments for next years’ Christmas tree, because they’re red & gold & make great Christmas ornaments, but I don’t know what they’re really supposed to hang from. Figured the jackals are a knowledgeable bunch; anyone know?
Alison Rose
@TaMara: My previous kitty was a tuxedo, but she would often sleep curled up so snugly that all the white fur was hidden and she’d turn into a full-on void.
satby
Everything needs a place but the Christmas tree is still up? I call shenanigans.
Yutsano
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: Never mind. I was going to try to answer this but not my culture.
Anne Laurie
Sorry, Cole, but I grew up in NYC — pigeons are rats with wings. Maybe we didn’t intend to domesticate the rats, but the urban pigeon has joined its spiritual relative as an unmitigated pest wherever they (& we) congregate.
One of the things I appreciate about our current North-of-Boston home is that there are enough hawks, crows, and other birds to keep the pigeon population manageable (i.e., mostly invisible around houses).
geg6
My mom made a ceramic Christmas tree just like that in a ceramics class she wrote a feature article about for the newspaper she worked. She was usually your typical small town journalist reporting on local governments, natural disasters and such. But every now and then she’d do a feature and though she never won any awards for her hard news writing, she won two Keystone Press Awards for features. Anyway, does Joelle’s tree light up too?
Sister Golden Bear
Speaking of debating violence… nice tree ya got there, be a shame if anything happened to it.
Suzanne
I love pigeons. I think they’re beautiful and funny and amazing. One of the best parts of city life.
Yeah, they poop. I’ve gotten pooped on. It happens.
I had an ex-boyfriend who would park his car under a tree (Tucson, shade) and then complain when his car got crapped on. I pointed out that he could park elsewhere if he was that concerned about it.
eclare
@geg6:
I did that too, but the paint job didn’t turn out very well. I think it’s in my hall closet. And yes, mine lit up.
Greg Ferguson
I know that look. I ❤️ him.
geg6
@Suzanne:
We have tons of mourning doves around our house. Generally, I’m not fond of birds but I somehow find the doves endearing. They are not very bright birds but they are a lovely soft gray, like a morning fog, and seem to be very companionable with other birds.
teezyskeezy
My grandmother had that same christmas tree decoration/lamp in the 80s. Wow. You just triggered a memory I haven’t had for a long time…a long time.
Old Dan and Little Ann
@geg6: Mourning Doves rule are ever present in my neighborhood. I think they are beautiful and their call makes me happy. City pigeons can go fuck themselves.
Sister Golden Bear
Switching to anti-trans violence, more proof that Libs of TikTok is stoking stochastic terrorism.
Meanwhile a Missouri Secretary of State candidate uses a “Liberal Tears” flamethrower to burn LGBTQ-them books she took from the local library.
And Indiana launched a “snitch line” for
Alison Rose
@Anne Laurie: My mom was also NY born and raised and she has used that exact phrase many times.
teezyskeezy
@Sister Golden Bear: Literally book burning, yikes.
Omnes Omnibus
@Sister Golden Bear: There has never been a time when the people who burn books are the good guys.
Michael Bersin
Political cartoonist Brett Penrose on the Super Bowl:
Another MAGAt Conspiracy
eclare
@Sister Golden Bear:
All awful. I hope some group floods that snitch line with fake calls. I think that happened in VA.
Joelle
@geg6: Yes! It was made by my Mom in the early ‘70’s and she gifted it to me a few years ago. I always loved it. It stays out year round because I love turning out all the lights, flicking on the tree and just staring at all the glowing colorful little plastic bird pieces.
H.E.Wolf
@Suzanne:
My dad stepped off the plane in India on his one visit there, and was immediately pooped on by a vulture.
Fortunately my dad was a very sunny-tempered individual who had also packed a second suit.
The only bird who has ever scored a hit on me was a seagull at a ferry dock. I laughed so hard while I was washing my hair in the public restroom that I was in danger of drowning in the sink.
Yutsano
@Sister Golden Bear: They seem nice. As in nice fascists. Also nice to know Indiana is going to the shitter on rule of law.
H.E.Wolf
It sounds beautiful!
Jerry
Be the cheez wiz in the caviar of life, man. May Mojo Nixon rest in power forever and may he never encounter no fool Billy Idol lip there in rock n roll heaven.
mrmoshpotato
This has probably been said earlier – and better – but “Republicans” and “logically follow” – the two shall never meet.
Renie
While living in Brooklyn rode my bike under an overpass for the Belt Parkway and a pigeon shit on my face! I hate pigeons.
RevRick
I went for my usual walk of 6000 steps today and, as is my practice, collected two bags of litter along the way. I also collected a dozen aluminum cans, which will go in recycling.
I am currently reading The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel, a book given to me by my granddaughter for my birthday. I also enjoyed a glass of Ardbeg Uigeadail, a single malt Scotch that claims flavor notes of treacle, bacon and bonfires.
Chetan Murthy
@Anne Laurie: Or as a friend once put it, “flying rats”. They carry diseases that affect humans. And …. AFAICT the random wild pigeon has as much relation to the ones bred by fanciers, as Fido has to the wolves who roam the wilds of Canada & Yellowstone. We hunted passenger pigeons for meat (IIRC), but they’re not the same species as the pigeons who blight our cities, IIUC.
Sister Golden Bear
@teezyskeezy: Not-so-fun fact, the famous photo of Nazis burning books was taken when they burned the 20,000-volume library of the Berlin Institute for Sexual Research — which was the world first gender clinic, and which also campaigned on progressive and rational grounds for LGBTQ+ rights and tolerance. For
goodevil measure, they also killed a trans woman who worked at the Institute.Ohio Mom
When we lived in Queens (during my teenaged years), we had a small balcony off the living room and once a pigeon (pigeons? Was the dad bird involved, I don’t remember) built a nest out there.
It was a loose collection of twigs, arranged in a rough circle. Nothing else, just twigs, very uncozy — if you ever saw a pigeon nest (easy enough to google), you would see that they have no use for dryer lint.
mrmoshpotato
@satby:
Oh! So Christmas is the only time we need something to rock around! What about the rest of the year? 😁
Yarrow
@Jerry: RIP Mojo Nixon. Hope he’s up there with Country Dick Montana getting the Pleasure Barons back together.
mrmoshpotato
@Anne Laurie:
Yes! Same with Chicago.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@Chetan Murthy: Charles Darwin bought a lot of fancy pigeons and crossbred them to produce the ordinary pigeon, which he then presented to the Victorian English Pigeon fanciers’ association to prove that all their fancy pigeons were descendants of the ordinary street pigeon aka rock dove.
@Yutsano: no-one else has even attempted to explain how those Chinese New Years’ decorations are supposed to be used or dusplayed, so have at it! Any answer is better than mine.
Ohio Mom
On the subject of ceramic Christmas trees, an old friend just moved into independent living. She insisted that her ceramic Christmas tree, made by a great aunt many, many years ago, be hand carried into the new apartment in advance of the moving men.
I was there when her sister carried it in, and no infant was ever carried as gently.
mrmoshpotato
@Sister Golden Bear: LOL!
eclare
@Ohio Mom:
I don’t understand why John sees so much dryer lint on the ground there. I never see dryer lint in my back yard.
Redshift
@Chetan Murthy: I kinda thought so too, but Wikipedia seems to disagree:
and
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@Sister Golden Bear: good to know!
BTW although I usually don’t respond to your posts (mostly because I know very little & therefore have nothing to say) I really appreciate them. Trans rights are so important & so much of the news is actually just regurgitated Republican talking points that it’s nice to know actual facts.
mrmoshpotato
@Omnes Omnibus: Psycho Trump trash ********!
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
Completely OT, but this is an open thread, so here goes … I was in a yoga class today and noticed another woman wearing a fleece vest and it occurred to me I would never, and have never, worn a vest to keep warm, since what I need to keep warm is my shoulders and arms. This vest-wearing woman was also rather slight and thinnish, and I am plump. So maybe body type controls whether you need to keep your core warm via a vest, or be like me, and have more need to keep my shoulders and arms warm. Also, years ago, I injured my left shoulder, and for many years now, it will sometimes want to have another layer on it when nothing else on my upper body needs another layer.
So what say you, BJers? Vest to keep your core warm, or a sweater/jacket to keep your shoulders warm?
Ohio Mom
@eclare: Not only that, but my dryer lint (which I periodically have to dig out of the vent to the outside) is uniformly gray.
Jackie
John, what does “Joelle has just agreed to take Thurston full time” mean????
mrmoshpotato
@eclare:
Wait. There’s a phone number to report Trump trash shitstains who suck Hitler’s asshole?
eclare
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):
I like vests, especially in a yoga class where it’s important to see your poses, but a fleece vest in a yoga class seems a bit much.
Leto
@Joelle: I had to go back and look at the picture, but my parents had the same tree. Ofc my mom made ours, as she and my grandparents (her parents) owned/operated one of the largest ceramic dealerships on the east coast for a long time. Growing up, come Christmas time a ton of those would be out. Displays/for sale/people making their own… oh man, you guys triggered one of those distant memories. I honestly don’t know if my parents still have one? I’m going to email my mom in the morning and ask.
dmsilev
Oh no! Marianne Williamson drops out of Democratic presidential race
Dean Philips still persists. At what, nobody really knows, but he persists regardless.
mrmoshpotato
@Jackie: It sounds like Thurston is a wild bastard, but also a poopasaurus.
P.S. Pigeons can go fuck themselves into the Sun.
Alison Rose
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): Could simply be because a vest allows more room for movement. Something with sleeves might make certain poses difficult to do.
Suzanne
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):
I do mostly hot yoga because it really lets you get at those muscles, but when I am in a regular temperature room, I like a long-sleeved shirt. Tight-fitting and moisture-wicking.
eclare
@Ohio Mom:
Same here. It’s just gray.
Ohio Mom
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): A scarf to keep my neck warm in addition to a sweater. I don’t like being cold at all. But I never tried wearing a vest so who knows?
It’s probably easier to move in the ways you do in yoga class in a vest than something with sleeves. Maybe we should both go to Goodwill and buy a used vest and try them out.
Alison Rose
@dmsilev: LOL
wjca
Is it too bad of me to hope they get deluged with reports on, for example, “Christian” schools? Maybe even home schoolers.
Since the line has obviously been set up to solicit bogus claims, doing so would appear to simply following (implied) directions….
Sandia Blanca
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: I’ve seen those decorations in many Chinese restaurants, so they seem to be good for year-round display.
Yarrow
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): Everyone is different. Wear what you’re comfortable in. There may be other reasons she was wearing the fleece vest – fashion, it’s sentimental to her for some reason, it’s holding a medical device. Any number of reasons.
teezyskeezy
@Sister Golden Bear: They don’t have to be card-carrying members of a party to be “close enough” to the real thing, as far as I’m concerned. She’s a literal fascist.
dmsilev
Oh, good, it’s raining again. Just what the LA area needs right now.
(forecast is for about half an inch, so barely a rounding error compared to the past few days, but still…)
geg6
@mrmoshpotato:
He’s just like his sister, my Lovey. Only, from the couple of times I’ve been around both of them, Lovey is the crazier and poopier pup of the family.
prostratedragon
@Sister Golden Bear: Hmm, knew that they harrassed people because of their sexuality early in the period, but not about the library. That picture of the woman with the flamethrower is some evil stuff.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
Thanks for the comments, but I was really asking about vests vs jackets in a more general way, not just what someone would wear in a yoga class. In the yoga class, I myself wear a thin quarter zip top, designed for runners with a little zip pocket on the sleeve, on top of my t-shirt, which I usually remove when I am warmed up enough to not need it. And then I usually put it back on before the relaxation pose, since my arms would be cold on the floor without being covered. OK, so this answer was all about yoga class, but I am actually interested in this question more generally.
Jackie
@Michael Bersin: I’m done with the RWNJ SB conspiracy BS. I’m just going to enjoy the game while rooting for the AFC, since my Seahawks heart hates the Niners!
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Dear gods, that entire video is horrifying. Does this monster stand a chance of being elected MO SOS?
SiubhanDuinne
@dmsilev:
Buh bye, Marianne.
Sister Golden Bear
@Yarrow: With a choir of Elvises.
geg6
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):
I tried a vest for a while when all my friends started wearing them. I didn’t find it worked for me. Maybe for a few weeks in late September and early October before it has gotten very cold. But, like you, I prefer to have my arms covered once the temps drop into the 50s.
Alison Rose
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): Well, as a more general thing, for some thinner folks sometimes keeping the torso and stomach warm can be important. Depending on how thin she is, she might have issues with temperature regulation. When I was at the worst of my illness and was, let’s say, more than a little underweight, my body could not regulate its temperature at all. I was freezing to the point of goosebumps and white fingers unless it was like 75 degrees or up. (I also couldn’t sweat so once it hit mid 80s, then I would overheat. FUN TIMES.) Keeping your core covered as well as your head for folks like me with hair loss was necessary for warmth.
However, if she’s just normal thin, it could be that she just likes the vest for the look or comfort. You know, fashion and shit.
wjca
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):
All my heat exchange appears to happen on my forearms. If it’s hot, I need them bare. If it’s cold, I want long sleeves (or jacket sleeves, as may be). But the rest of the body? Conditions have to get pretty extreme before that becomes relevant.
Haven’t run into anyone else whose body works that way. No idea why mine does.
Sister Golden Bear
@mrmoshpotato:
A girl can dream.
TBone
My crush was just on Lawrence O’D sticking it to Clarence Thomas’s tax avoidance scheme(s) and commenting on how many times Clarence has ruled on the tax cases of others. I am so enamored of Senator Whitehouse. New bill introduced:
“The End Tax Breaks for Dark Money Act would ensure the wealthy cannot avoid taxes while corrupting our political system by applying the same rules for donations of appreciated property to 501(c)(4)s, (5)s, and (6)s as already exist for such donations to 527 political organizations such campaign committees, political action committees, and political parties.”
https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/whitehouse-chu-introduce-bill-ending-billionaires-tax-free-giveaways-to-dark-money-groups
And he spoke about prodding the Judicial Conference judges, who specialize in enforcement of these laws for the lower courts, to sink their teeth into the bogus ethics code adopted by the Supremacist Court wherein they “police” themselves.
Geoduck
My Washington state town is just barely on the last southern tip of Puget Sound, so we have a mixture of pigeons, crows, and seagulls as the dominant scavengers. And sometimes they hang out in same general area, bringing to mind scenes from The Birds.
Xavier
We have no pigeons. We have doves, lots of doves. White winged doves, Eurasian collared doves, mourning doves. Also roadrunners, curve billed thrashers, and lots of hummingbirds. Oh, and Cooper’s hawks, because of the doves. And crows, who drop pecans everywhere.
mrmoshpotato
@eclare: Mr. Burns: See My Vest
Redshift
@Ohio Mom: We had a mourning dove nest on the fence outside our bathroom window one year. Same thing – just a bunch of sticks. It seemed an appropriate level of effort for a bird that will walk to get away from you even though it can fly.
Jay
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):
Here it’s a weather thing. Vests keep the core warm, even if active in the bridge seasons. We layer here, taking them on and off as needed. Sometimes you just need a fleece vest under your rain gear, sometimes it’s a full fleece jacket or hoodie, sometimes it’s a fleece jacket, down vest under your rain gear, but you always need raingear.
It’s like long underwear. It comes in light, medium, heavy, (fluffy dead sheep), sometimes you need all three.
NotMax
@Renie
So you were outpacing the speed of the traffic.
;)
mrmoshpotato
@Geoduck: Lovebirds!
TaMara
@Joelle: In the spirit of the willow being too close to the house, that cat might be too close to the beautiful and precious heirloom.
Mind you, my cats can do a delicate dance around my earring tree without knocking off a single bangle, but I’ve also seen them miss a jump they’ve made a hundred times and take down an entire dresser’s worth of items in their scramble to rebalance themselves. Also, Maxwell might just be pissed off enough with the changes to take it out anything he senses would upset the bipeds. Being a cat and all. No matter how floofy and full of purrs they may be to lull you into a false sense of security.
Harrison Wesley
I don’t get the pigeon hate. They’re fat, they’re stupid, and they shit on everything. What’s not to like?
Sister Golden Bear
While The FTFNYT keeps pushing anti-trans disinformation stories, actual research shows the vast majority of trans people who transitioned, as well as those receiving gender-affirming case, are much happier with their lives. Meanwhile Republicans have introduced 370 anti-trans bills this year — after passing a record number of anti-trans laws last year.
I’ll note that those of us who do opt for top/bottom surgery, the 0.3% regret rate of is much smaller compared to other, common yet serious surgeries. E.g. knee replacement surgery has a dissatisfactory rate of 6-30%. The rate is up to 100 times that of gender-affirming surgery. However, knee replacement surgery does not go through the same scrutiny as trans healthcare does.
TaMara
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): I wear a vest when it’s chilly and I’m walking the dogs. It’s cooler than a jacket – which after walking for a bit, I’m usually plenty warm – it’s more for all the pockets it affords me for things I may need: treats, poop bags, keys, phone.
teezyskeezy
@Leto: Sad to say we have something in common (triggered memories of that ceramic tree).
Alison Rose
@Sister Golden Bear: The idea that because a small number of folks might have regrets, then no one should be allowed to transition is just…it’s so blatantly mendacious. Like, these bigots don’t actually give a shit about these folks, and we all know that, so their professed concern is complete horseshit. And yet media outlets continue to treat it like it was serious.
eclare
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):
I prefer vests in general. I tend to be quite hot-natured, and while I might need an outer layer going to run errands, once I get into a store I can easily break a sweat. It’s easier to unzip a vest to get air than to remove a jacket.
Seriously hot-natured. I like my house between 50-60.
Lyrebird
Thanks for those really helpful comparisons, and more power to you Sister GB!
The lowest estimate for regret for plastic surgery for beauty reasons – not for identity reasons – was 4% (a Google link to a surgery practice website), with other sources estimating a lot more, but that’s already more than 10x the rate you list for gender-affirming surgery.
Kristine
A shout-out to the folks who discussed bitters & soda a few days ago. Crisp and refreshing. I’m a fan.
Sister Golden Bear
@Alison Rose: @Lyrebird: Sex reassignment surgery has a high amount of gatekeeping. The usual requirement for trans women* is that we have to get approval from two independent therapists/psychiatrist before we can do SRS.
Which isn’t required for any other surgery. Needless to say, there’s issues of bodily autonomy.
*Disclaimer I don’t know about the experiences of trans men.
lgerard
Nice to see personal favorite Jacob Wohl back in the news
https://www.thedailybeast.com/marine-vet-accuses-jack-burkman-and-jacob-wohl-of-smear-job-in-dollar11m-lawsuit
piratedan
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): it may be a personal comfort thing, i.e. perhaps to not have dudes checking out her chest constantly.
Brachiator
@dmsilev:
Got a flash flood warning message on my phone. I guess in some areas the rain fall will not last very long, but may be intense in some areas.
It’s been crazy.
ronno2018
I am interested in sucribing to your pigion newsletter. let me know the cost. thsnks
Alison Rose
@Sister Golden Bear: Yeah, I have a few friends who have had gender affirming surgery and for each one, it was a whole lot of of hoops and red tape to get through, and took a long time. Yet the bigots act like someone just wakes up one day and decides to get it done, then waltzes into a doctor’s office and boom, that’s it.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Sister Golden Bear: I just got a new book out of the library called In the Form of a Question by Amy Schneider, which I (a 70-year-old cis woman) found very honest and relatable. (I’m sure you know she’s the trans woman who was a 40 game winner on Jeopardy). She employs footnotes in a fun way also ( a little like David Foster Wallace in his non-fiction essays). She certainly is much happier after transitioning! Highly recommended.
dmsilev
@Brachiator: Fortunately the extended forecast is dry after tonight. We still could use some more rain to hit the seasonal average, but a week or two to dry out first would be nice…
Dan B
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: There was a huge study done of trans people. 94% were very happy with their transition. It gives lie to the Christian right that trans people want to de-transition.
Chetan Murthy
@Redshift: kinda thought so about which part? that passenger pigeons are different from common pigeons ? I googled a bit, and found what I’d count as confirmation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_pigeon
The passenger pigeon or wild pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) is an extinct species of pigeon that was endemic to North America. Its common name is derived from the French word passager, meaning “passing by”, due to the migratory habits of the species. The scientific name also refers to its migratory characteristics. The morphologically similar mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) was long thought to be its closest relative, and the two were at times confused, but genetic analysis has shown that the genus Patagioenas is more closely related to it than the Zenaida doves.
laura
Maybe it’s just me, what do I know, and they’re somewhat far away, but it sure looks like that Cole feller keeps finding reasons to spend more and more time in the company of that lovely Joelle gal building a right fancy bower out of the dear things she already has and that he has recently gathered (fancy office chair) : https://youtu.be/_Dq437HuhO0?
BigJimSlade
Speaking of detached laundry rooms, I can vouch for hang-drying (on hangars or a rack) all your t-shirts – they’ll last forever that way!
SiubhanDuinne
@Alison Rose:
Right. Kind of like the way women who are 8-1/2 months pregnant just arbitrarily decide “Think I’ll get me an abortion today” and the Planned Parenthood clinic is all too happy to oblige.
danielx
@satby:Have that exact same ceramic Christmas tree, and yes it has been put away.Speaking of OCD, I have spent a good portion of the evening on reorganizing spices and spice jars, complete with actual drawer organizers so I can READ THE LABELS when I pull out the sliding shelf upon which all that is stored. We had acquired a whole lot of spice jars/containers of various sizes and shapes which were all standing vertically on the shelf so I had to pull them out one by one to find what I needed. Finally got a bunch of uniformly sized jars with preprinted stick on labels so doing something like making fajita seasoning won’t be a frustrating fifteen minute ordeal. Also won’t keep buying stuff I already have but can’t find, so I don’t end up with three jars of tarragon with varying amounts in jars. Still have a ways to go, but – progress! It’s the little things in lifeJudging from this and previous writings, our blogmaster would find unsorted spice jars to be intolerable.
wjca
No doubt there are a few who regret their decision. But an interesting comparison might be the folks not raised in their churches who join and then regret it and drop out. I’m guessing the regret rate is substantially higher.
Gretchen
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): I was a yoga regular pre-pandemic, but haven’t been to a class in 4 years now. I’m afraid to go back for fear that once I’m on the floor I won’t be able to get back up. There’s no furniture in the yoga room to haul myself up on.
Ohio Mom
@Sister Golden Bear: It seems to me that what the people like Pamela Paul (the op-ed writer of the piece about people who regretted their transitions) should be calling for is more research into the root causes of regretted transitions.
Is there a certain profile of patient who is more likely to later have regrets? Do certain types of health care providers or systems have a tendency to provide transition services to a larger portion of patients who will go on to have regrets? Is there say, a certain level of counseling or involvement of certain specialities which make for optimal decisions?
Just a bunch of anecdotes does not make for evidence-based protocols. Anecdotes can be useful for identifying what areas need further research but as we all know, they are not data. And good medicine is based on data.
Our goal is human happiness, and just as we should promote transitioning for people who need it, we should also be trying to prevent the future unhappiness of the people who should not have transitioned.
But of course, people like Pamela Paul are too busy panicking over being icked out to think straight about what needs to be accomplished.
danielx
Household chaos: 12:22 am and Boris the gigantic tabby with gigantic teeth has a serious case of the zoomies, accompanied by long drawn out howls because he has caught…something. I’m afraid to look.
Gretchen
@SiubhanDuinne: there doesn’t appear to be a Democrat running for SOS in Missouri yet. I wish Jason Kander would run – he held the office previously. But he seems to have decided that his work with veterans and Afghan refugees is where he’s needed right now.
Alison Rose
@Ohio Mom: A key fact is that many who detransition or who express regrets do so not because they actually now think they were wrong about their gender identity, but because of societal factors that make living as their true gender too onerous. Such as, you know, being targeted by hateful bigots all the damn time when they’re just trying to go to the bathroom or something.
Ohio Mom
@Gretchen: If I were you, I’d ask my PCP for a referral to a PT.
In just a session or two, they will teach you how to get up off the floor — there are some tricks about positioning yourself, and some simple exercises to strengthen the necessary muscles.
We all need to be able to get off the floor, and your doctor surely wants to see you back in yoga class.
(I say this all as a person who hates exercise classes and can’t understand why anyone would pay to be bossed around and reminded of high school PE.)
eclare
@danielx:
Those are some scary choppers! I would be afraid to look too.
Gretchen
@Sister Golden Bear: that’s a great point. People have bad effects of knee and hip replacement surgery, but nobody suggests that people aren’t qualified to decide if they should get it, or forbid it because it might not work out for them. It’s maddening that they spend legislative time persecuting the 4 trans kids who want to play sports and ignoring their actual jobs like funding the schools.
eclare
@Ohio Mom:
QFT.
caphilldcne
@Jerry: May he meet Elvis in his boat, Wendell Scott and Ernie Banks (and the baaankks of the Mississippi River). May he repent of not being so nice to Martha and Debbie, may he lick a toad and clonk the heads of the bankers, may he have a beer with Jesus (in McDonalds), may he <censored> Donald Trump, may he get his money from the damn club owner and may he drive off into the sunset in a Ford Fairline. RIP Mojo. I’m cryin.
Gretchen
@Ohio Mom: I just finished a round of PT for my knees, and we did work on this. She had a couple of exercises where I was like, come on, nobody can do this. She asked me how often I get up off the floor, and I said I avoid it. She said um, maybe that’s why you have trouble getting up off the floor. So I’m working on it, especially her ridiculous sideways kneel. I’ll just have to suck it up and go to yoga soon. I did find it very helpful as far as balance and flexibility.
Sister Golden Bear
@Ohio Mom: I don’t disagree. But there’s really a tiny number of detransitioners. A TERF who wants to do a study on them has so far recruited only 100 worldwide — admittedly her being a TERF is definitely a factor, but…
Plus at some point, adults have the right to make their own decisions, for good or bad. (Those who’ve watched “Botched” know how cis people can have major body-altering surgery for “wrong” reasons.) I definitely think anyone getting major body mods done should probably do some therapy first to explore why they want it done — including things like nose jobs, and hair transplants.
piratedan
@caphilldcne: “If you don’t have Mojo Nixon, then your store could use some fixin'” – Punk Rock Girl – The Dead Milkmen
Kelly
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): I really like vests. I’m cold when I start. As I hit my stride I warm up and unzip the vest. I have a lightweight pocket vest I wear with my swimming shorts hot summer days. It holds my phone, water bottle, glasses, keys, pocket knife, snacks etc. Really handy. I can roll it up tight enough to keep everything dry while I hold it up in one hand swimming across the river.
Sister Golden Bear
@Alison Rose: Another common factor in detransition is the loss or a job and/or family. Only 3-4 years ago, an acquaintance of mine was cut off from her entire family after she transitioned. Plus the unemployment rate for trans people is appalling.
Ohio Mom
@Alison Rose: Sorting that out — how much is societal and how much is personal — is something that could be researched.
It’s a small number of people who shouldn’t have transitioned; I suspect for most of those instances, the medical system failed them by not screening them out. We need data in order to make the protocols stronger. That won’t hurt people would should transition because they will “pass” the screening protocols handily.
Alison Rose
Colbert had some good funnies tonight.
On the failed impeachment vote:
On Rep Al Green showing up for the vote:
On Haley’s humiliating loss to “None of these” in Nevada:
Ohio Mom
@Gretchen: Yeah, I was thinking of that sideways kneel thing. My next suggestion is, bring a folding chair to yoga class and stay in the back of the room.
Gretchen
@Sister Golden Bear: that’s heartbreaking. I don’t understand how people can just dump a member of their family.
Gretchen
@Ohio Mom: you know, that might work!
Sure Lurkalot
@TaMara:
Yep, storage and less bulky. Downside, any commonality with that doofus governor in Virginia.
Nora Lenderbee
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):
I ‘m with you. The torso stays warm but the arms and shoulders get cold. I’m somewhere between skinny and plump.
frosty
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): I wear a fleece vest indoors from October til May. I hate having my neck and upper shoulders cold. When winter comes it’s a pullover or sweater for the arms. When I was working the vest over a long sleeve shirt was enough.
eclare
@Ohio Mom:
One of my aunts, who is around 80, goes to a chair yoga class. So everyone uses a chair.
caphilldcne
@piratedan: all too true. I remember back when there were record stores and back when there was punk. Dead milkmen were fun.
Ohio Mom
@Sister Golden Bear: It shouldn’t be a TERF doing the research, I think it has to be someone with academic credentials who understands the pitfalls of bias in research.
The research needs to be conducted by people who can evaluate various protocols — or lack of them — in the medical centers that are providing transitioning. At least, that is my suspicion, that the regretters have had bad medical advice.
(Then again, there’s a lot of bad medical advice out there for all sorts of conditions).
I would also say that a detransitioner is a different than someone who transitioned and regrets it.
I can see why you aren’t keen on this but in tne end, I think well done research makes the case for promoting transitioning for people who need to that much stronger.
BigJimSlade
@Ohio Mom: I read something about people (I think they were from east asia, but I don’t recall specifically) who use mats to sit on – even elderly people were still sitting on mats on the ground. So their whole lives they’ve been getting up off the ground/floor 20-30 times a day. The gist was we should all sit on the floor more so we’re regularly practicing getting up. I think it can make you a bit more flexible, too.
BigJimSlade
@Jerry: Aw, damn. RIP Mojo.
Ruckus
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):
I am right now wearing my down vest because I like to be warmish and I dislike burning stuff to keep warm if I don’t have to. So the furnace only goes on to take a shower.
Here in SoCal it has been raining rather regular for a number of days and I see that we have just exceeded some record for how much rain in one storm or some such. We just had a windstorm blow through here and it sounded like about the most wind I’ve ever heard around these parts. And that’s saying something because one storm we had in early 1969 seemed far worse in my memory. Maybe it was the length of that storm that made it seem that way
Hob
@Anne Laurie: I’m not a New Yorker but spent formative years there, definitely heard the “rats with wings” thing a lot. What I don’t get about that is… I mean, personally I think pigeons are kinda cute in a doofy way, but not liking them is also fine. But in my experience most New Yorkers who dislike them just *mildly* dislike them, and think they’re a nuisance and maybe kinda gross, but basically harmless. If they saw large numbers of rats all over the place, in the same quantity & proximity as the pigeons are, those same people would freak the fuck out. They sure don’t act like pigeons are in the same category as rats, unless that’s just the enormous category of “every kind of thing in New York that’s annoying and unsanitary.”
Gretchen
@BigJimSlade: I have a good friend who just retired from teaching preschool. She has no trouble getting up and down off the floor, since she’s been doing it many times a day.
I’m around 70, and don’t want to admit I’m ready for chair yoga yet. It may come, but not today!
Salty Sam .
https://www.theonion.com/planned-parenthood-opens-8-billion-abortionplex-1819572640
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Gretchen: I didn’t go to a yoga class for about 3 years (thanks, COVID) and can empathize with your floor phobia. I have to get on my hands and knees and then I can get my feet under me and push up with my arms. Awkward, and several steps, but I can do it. My fantasy (which my former yoga teacher gracefully demonstrated) is being able to stand up in one motion from sitting cross-legged on the floor. I know my right knee will never go for that! But go back to yoga! Your future self will thank you.
Hob
@Ohio Mom: But of course, people like Pamela Paul are too busy panicking over being icked out to think straight about what needs to be accomplished.
I’m sure there are people who fit that description, who have some theoretical concern for accomplishing something, but get carried away by their fears and end up saying bullshit. And those people’s fears are easily stoked by articles like the ones Pamela Paul writes. But Pamela Paul herself doesn’t come across to me as someone who is panicking, or someone who might be more reasonable if she just took more time to think about it; I think she has a settled ideological prejudice that she is fine with, and she’s engaging in a deliberate bad-faith propaganda campaign. Her body of work on this subject is of such massive dishonesty that I can’t see it as even a horribly misguided effort to figure out what might really best for people— it’s not about figuring anything out, it’s in service of conservative ideology. Right-wing opinionators have to act concerned about research when they’re writing for a centrist audience.
yellowdog
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): I am skinny and if it doesn’t cover at least my upper arms, it is useless for warmth. I too don’t understand the utility of vests.
Jay
Alberta is going all in on “trans panic”.
People often ask me why I pay attention so much to US Politic’s,
and that because, for a variety of reasons, the insanity eventually show up here, on the Con’s side.
JWR
@Sister Golden Bear:
Good Lord! I guess I should just be glad that there are only a few SoCal cities still hitting the culture war nonsense hard. As per usual, this is from today in Huntington Beach:
The Wikipedia definition of sexual content? Sounds a bit iffy to me. All these people are sickos. And are there really children’s titles describing the art of getting themselves off? “Susie and the Big O”? “Timmy’s First Ohmygasm”?
Prescott Cactus
The Christmas tree in the picture with Max the cat. . . Plaster of Paris and the little colored plastic ornaments or lights that get stuck into the tree.
Memories of my childhood and one of my Gram’s craft projects. . .
Ramalama
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):
Never fancied myself a vest person. I live in cold cold Quebec. We heat the house mostly with a wood burning stove because we are country queers. My arms get super cold. But a friend gave me a vest and it turns out I am now a vest person. Including indoors. I work from home. Maybe this plays a factor?
Ramalama
Also Cole double fries potatoes? What does that mean?
satby
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): dead thread, but I wear vests out even in winter, layered over warm shirts or sweaters. Been doing it so long I haven’t even seen my coat in years (yes, even during a polar vortex). In the house, I wear a shawl over my shoulders because I ruptured the tendons on both, one right after the other, and when sitting they get achy if chilled. They’re cozy.
Princess
@Jay: And I see Polievre is going all in on placing the government between doctors, parents, and children. Hope it works as well for his national ambitions as it did for de Santis.
On the issue of those who regret transitioning: it’s the exact argument they make on abortion. They find a small few who regret having abortions and use that to justify to themselves their intrusion into the bodies and rights of the rest of us.
Ramalama
@Princess:
@Jay:
Saw Canadian journalists lose their cool for the first time in my whatnot years as an American admiring Canadian tv journalism (not broken like the US — yet!) as they questioned Polievre. The “scrum” was pissed before he went off to Parliament. The tv lady explaining that Polievre was lying was pissed and having a hard time keeping the steam from blowing through her ears.
Every time I hear his Frankenstein monotone it occurs to me he’s got some American arseholes, possibly GOP people, advising him. What a fcker on all levels.
Princess
@Ramalama: I’m sure he has Americans advising him I wonder if he has Russians advising him. He’s a very persuasive communicator, when he sticks to economics (note: I’m not a fan to say the least but I see the appeal). I wonder how the anti trans stuff will play out in Canada though.
wjca
Flirting? Flirting?!?!?
What kind of sick universe are these people (and I include whoever wrote that Wikipedia entry) living in?
Ramalama
@Princess: Yes, I see the appeal too. He’s a very persuasive liar. He knows how to hammer his talking points.
Some friends who are voters (I’m not eligible) are worried that there’s no effective opponent.
leeleeFL
@Sister Golden Bear: That pretty much sums up the movement against LGBTQ? rights and protections. Burn the books, kill the different ones and build a fascist paradise for the troglodytes! I am angry and sad but worse, unnerved by this BS. The people who are fascist or, as said today, fash-curious, should be relegated to the dustbin of history. They are BS artists who prey on the fears and petty hatreds of weak people who are afraid of difference and independence! How the FUCK did the USA become a country of cowards? We used to think “We must all hang together, else we shall all hang separately!”. Now, the shitheads want to hang everyone who’s not them! In memory of EF Goldman, FUCK EM
Sister Golden Bear
@Princess:
Bingo. Just one of a number of commonalities. Including the how Republicans are using the same sort of tactics they used to ban abortion to ban trans people. We went from “concerns about high school trans athletes” to legally erasing trans people in about five years.
Paul in KY
@H.E.Wolf: Generally you only get pooped on once in a lifetime. So you’ve got that out of the way!
Sister Golden Bear
@Ohio Mom:
There’s decades of medical research supporting trans healthcare, including the benefits of transitioning and/or sexual reassignment surgery.
I agree that we should help people who will regret transitioning avoid doing so. But you’re holding trans healthcare to a standard that’s far, far higher than any other type of healthcare. We will never have a zero percent regret rate, but we’re about as close as we can reasonably get.
Morfydd
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): Belatedly, vests seem sensible for maintaining core warmth, especially if you’re slender. I’m not, and the place I first am uncomfortable from cold is my upper arms, especially the back. I always assumed it was from poorly-vascularized fat. After my gallstones made a break for it last year and they were all yeeted, I learned that they can cause pain there. Also, I’m a programmer and my shoulders are super rolled forward, so there are a lot of messed-up muscles back there. Tl;dr: I need at least elbow length warmth, but I get that thinner people might not.