I’ve been depressed and anxious the last couple of days. Part of it is seasonal change, part of it is the existential dread of “what if he wins,” part of it is my shoulder hurting and just being bummed about all those years of work to get to a good place with it and then a stupid god damned fall and I am back to being in pain all day, part of it is the constant concerns about money (making less now than I did 15 years ago and having more work, I still need a roof, I still need a new water line, I’m gonna need a new car), part of it is just being old and thinking “well now the fuck what I’m nowhere near where I wanted to be,” and so on.
It will pass, but it does make me feel shitty. Just gonna keep on my schedule, keep going to the gym, doing my thing, and keeping on. What the fuck else is there to do?
In other news, the NY Times has apparently noticed for the first time that Trump is fucking insane:
The last time the nation held a debate with the presidency on the line, a candidate with about eight decades of life behind him faced the challenge of proving that he was still up to the job of running the country. He failed.
Two and a half months later, the cast of characters has shifted and another candidate heading toward the octogenarian club confronts his own test to demonstrate that he has not diminished with age. Whether he passes that test may influence who will be the next occupant of the Oval Office.
At 78, former President Donald J. Trump exhibits more energy and speaks with more volume than President Biden does at 81, but he, too, has mixed up names, confused facts and stumbled over his points. Mr. Trump’s rambling speeches, sometimes incoherent statements and extreme outbursts have raised questions about his own cognitive health and, according to polls, stimulated doubts among a majority of voters.
No fucking shit.
Banking wisely on the unending stupidity of the Republican base, Trump and Vance are pushing a new despicable and racist story:
Officials in Springfield, Ohio, said Monday they have not received any credible reports of Haitian immigrants abducting and eating pets, despite viral claims on social media that have been amplified by Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance and others.
References to the claim, which allege Haitian migrants have been eating cats, as well as ducks and geese, have garnered millions of views on X, with Vance’s X post racking up 4 million views alone, as of Monday evening. Vance, the Republican senator for Ohio, said he had previously raised the issue of Haitian immigrants “causing chaos all over Springfield,” adding, “Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.”
The House Judiciary GOP, Sen. Ted Cruz and Elon Musk, the owner of X, also posted about the claim on Monday. Cruz, a Texas Republican, posted a meme on X showing two cats holding each other, with text that reads “Please vote for Trump so Haitian immigrants don’t eat us.”
In other words, some white boomer somewhere in Ohio saw a black person with a dog or a cat, and a couple days of racism and hysteria later, we get to this. Fuck these people.
Joelle and I were talking the other day and we agreed that were I a warlock, I would need two familiars, because Steve and Maxwell are such completely different cats and really yin to the others yang. Maxwell follows me everywhere, has to be on top of me at all times, and Steve is the calm, measured energy, just doing his thing, making his presence known every now and then, etc.
At any rate, my new fixation is videos of animals grooming each other. I really like watching the monkeys and chimps, but birds preening each other are always super relaxing to watch, too. I wish I spoke their language and cold understand what they are saying to each other. I also find symbiotic relationships to be super cool to watch, like the oxpeckers on the backs of elephants, or wolves and crows. It’s just so cool to watch.
I was thinking about that today while I was crying in the pool. The pool is a really great place to shed a tear, because no one can tell and you can blame the red eyes on chlorine. I was doing some slow breast stroke laps and tweaked my healing shoulder, and it just overwhelmed me and all the frustration of all the things I mentioned above hit me so I sat there in the water and had a brief cathartic sad. I’m not a crier, really- when I do I really fucking do it- but always in private and it’s pretty infrequent. I used to tear up a lot more when I was a drunk, but that was usually when watching something hopecore- and it was mainly gin tears like John Boehner.
What the fuck was I talking about?
At any rate I had a sad and then it passed and now I am fine and I was thinking about symbiotic relationships in nature. There so neat and it makes so much sense and everyone gets their needs addressed and then you fuck off back to hating on everyone else. Kinda like a truce on Christmas Eve on the front. And it works out so well now, but fuck all it had to be a risky endeavor at first. I meant that first crow to fuck with a pack of wolves had to be off its fucking rocker. Or I forget what animal it is but it climbs into the mouth of a predator and cleans the teeth picking up any scraps for itself. That had to be risky as fuck the first couple of tries until the circle of trust was built.
That’s it for me. I’m going to go throw a bag of frozen peas on my shoulder and watch this show on Netflix called Pieces of Her because Toni Collette is in it. BTW- Season 4 of True Detective with Jodie Foster was great. Don’t listen to the critics. Bunch of idiots who keep expecting Season 1 but new and not realizing that that is never going to happen and each season will be unique.
*** Update ***
I forgot- James Earl Jones died, and I am very sad about that. He had such and amazing voice. I remember sitting in the radio station for hours trying to imitate it and always coming up way short. He was also in one of my favorite movies ever, Gardens of Stone, which was such a timely movie for me after spending several years in a prep school that had recently converted from a military posture.
War for Ukraine Day 929: Incredibly Alarmed!
SiubhanDuinne
Hadn’t heard of Pieces of Her, but I’m happy to watch anything with Toni Collette. Don’t think I’ve seen her in anything since Knives Out.
I hope your shoulder and spirits are better soon. Loved your description of the yin and yang of Steve and Maxwell. Do you still have Rosie? What’s happening with her?
Jay
And the funny thing is, you just know that RFK Jr. has tasted human flesh.
It’s an absurd claim from a campaign and party that you wouldn’t trust to house sit your pets and has an affinity for roadkill.
Chet Murthy
Since it’s an open thread: how do people go about finding used cars these days? I remember there was a company called Shift that was a place to look a few years back, but it went belly-up. I wonder what people use these days?
I don’t have a car (mine was t-boned in May 2021 by a joyrider) and the last time I bought one, I bought it off a friend. The previous time was …. 1986, and my parents bought me a new car right out of college. So I have no experience with buying cars. Been thinking, if TCFG loses and I can stay in the US, I ought to buy a car. I never used my car much (mass transit was always better unless I was going grocery shopping, or picking up takeout) so the idea of spending the dosh for a new car seems …. nonsensical. So used it is.
TS
My husband got to a stage where he refused promotions because he wanted to work in his field (biology) not manage people working in the field. It didn’t make for getting wealthy (repairing our roof went on the credit card) but he was happy. I taught in a college, I liked teaching, not fundraising, not spending 90% of my time researching, but teaching. It didn’t make money either – but we got by.
Work at what you enjoy Cole & don’t think you have to be anywhere in your life. The great American dream is still a dream. My dream is trump losing the election & that will add to my happiness more than anything else I can imagine.
dnfree
“No fucking shit” is right.
I saw an article today that there was a problem in a town about 175 miles from Springfield OH where someone killed a cat in front of other people, but the article didn’t say if it was a Haitian or other immigrant or just someone who is cruel. The Springfield police say no record of such a thing there.
If you had your choice of empathizing with people who came out of a terrible situation or of depicting them all as vicious pet-eaters, which would you choose?
Ah, here it is. “In August, a woman in Canton, about 200 miles away, was arrested after allegedly killing a cat and eating it in a residential area. But that woman, Allexis Telia Ferrell, 27, is an American citizen.”
Phylllis
Sometimes a good frustration cry is what we need to reboot the systems. And Gardens of Stone is a great movie. Need to find out if it’s streaming. I’m wired up within an inch of my life for a sleep study. I question how much sleep they’re going to observe to study. I guess we’ll see.
Ishiyama
@Chet Murthy: Ten years ago, I found a car on Craigslist. I was pleased with the car. 99 Miata.
Tim in Cape Fear
Well, life won’t let me cut and paste, but go find the song “Crier” by American Aquarium. Feel better.
Chet Murthy
@Ishiyama: Did you have a car at the time? If not, how did you arrange to be able to see the car?
HumboldtBlue
Mai Naem mobile
@Chet Murthy: Car Gurus is a good website. I know a guy who sells used cars on Facebook marketplace. I have a friend who bought from Carvana. She thought she got a good deal. I read somewhere not to buy cars built during COVID because there was a shortage of chips and the manufacturers were using whatever chips they could get their hands on. I have no idea if that’s true but there sure has been a lot of recalls on electronic stuff. If you haven’t driven a newer car in a while you’re in for a treat as far as safety stuff.
eclare
I have cats and what? So weird. I hope you feel better. I am weak and like reality shows, am about to watch The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
ArchTeryx
Birds preening each other is often pair-bonding. It’s how some birds – especially parrots – court, and for monogamous birds, pick their lifemate. It also helps reinforce their feelings for one another, the bond between them. And it’s cute as hell.
You’re thinking of Egyptian Plovers and Nile Crocodiles; the birds will go right in to pick scraps off the croc’s teeth. This benefits the bird – free meal! – and the croc, because with that many teeth and a carnivorous diet, the alternative is pretty awful. Reptiles can feel pain too.
IIRC, the theory is that it started mostly because Egyptian Plovers are very fast and very small, and not worth the energy expenditure even for a croc to slam their jaws shut (not that it would work). And they like to gape when they relax sometimes. So eventually, the two discovered one another… and natural selection did the rest. Crocs with clean and healthy teeth lived longer and had more hatchlings than those that had to deal with dental problems. So instinct developed, and eventually, it got hard-coded into the brains of Nile crocs – when you see a Plover, open wide!
And thus was a symbiotic relationship hatched
( I should note that whether this actually occurs or not is… controversial. to say the least. It comes from a 5th Century source and there aren’t a huge number of live examples. )
Gin & Tonic
Blame the cat-eating story not on some white guy in Ohio but some white guy in St. Petersburg. Didn’t that indictment show you folks anything?
Jay
@Chet Murthy:
AutoTrader, here, is “the” online classified site for both new and used cars.
realbtl
@Chet Murthy: Find the best independent in your are, preferably long established, and let him/her know you’re in the market. May take a while but usually great cars.
TaMara
@Cole top: Have you seen the stories about crows Anting? I had never heard it before and today, saw two stories about it.
Crows taking an ant bath.
AnthroBabe
John, I feel ya about crying when frustrated. Argh! Keep up the good work going to the gym – I am stll trying to get the the gym…!
Pieces of Her is a great mini series. So it Behind Her Eyes (great twist at the end!). The many Harlan Coben series on Netflix are usually pretty good, too. Try Unforgotten, a British crime series that goes into unsolved cold cases (5 seasons!) Always looking for new recommendations!
TaMara
@Gin & Tonic: I had to school my red relatives on the false Venezuelan gangs taking over a city here in CO because I guess FOX was running that story 24/7
If they fucking believe Haitians are eating cats, they are on their own in their stupidity, and I can only hope Darwin takes notice sooner rather than later.
Justin W
As someone who has been a longtime lurker and very occasional commenter, but also someone who has struggled his entire adult life with depression, anxiety, existential dread, what if syndrome, etc., but who also recognizes how truly blessed I am in the whole scheme of things, I really appreciate your post, John.
Sometimes it’s exhausting to live like this. But…we’re living, and we’re doing, and we’re caring, and we’re loving. And at the end of the day, those things are the most important. To me, at least.
Have appreciated your blog for the past nearly 20 years, and hope to appreciate it for 20 more.
marklar
@realbtl: I’m going to reveal my ignorance here…what’s an “independent”?
Thanks.
Jay
@Chet Murthy:
Depending on where you are, where they are and how bad they want to make a sale, arrangements can be made with the seller to meet somewhere in the middle, or they might even bring it over to you.
ArchTeryx
@TaMara: Anting is surprisingly common – lots of passerines (songbirds) do it. The feathers would provide a lot of protection from being bitten by the ants, but they’d still emit defensive chemicals, which the birds would then rub into their feathers. As you say, it seems to serve a cleaning purpose as a lot of those chemicals are potent antimicrobials.
Jane2
@AnthroBabe: Slow Horses – Apple TV.
Frankensteinbeck
@TaMara:
Ants are full-on chemical Fuck You factories, and for that reason they don’t have many predators.
Jay
@marklar:
An “independent” is a used car dealer, not a Brand Dealership.
A lot of “independents” make their living off “hunting” cars. I know a guy who is “the guy” if you want to buy a used Toyota Tacoma. He will hunt the West Coast, Alberta and Sask for a used Tacoma that meets your specks and will arrange inexpensive delivery.
marklar
@Jay: Thanks.
TaMara
@ArchTeryx:
@Frankensteinbeck:
So cool. Love that I can still learn new things that surprise me.
West of the Rockies
I feel dread of Trump, too. I want to never hear him or see him again. He is beyond repugnant.
Chet Murthy
@Jay: oh hm. Maybe I should ask the guy who took care of my last car: I was a customer for 12yr, and the previous owner of the car before that. I’m sure he sees a lot of cars come and go ….
Harrison Wesley
Agree with the focus on animals. I could watch videos of baby elephants 24/7.
That bullshit about Haitians eating pets? Hard to believe that we’re living in 2024, isn’t it? This is more from 1824.
Chet Murthy
@Harrison Wesley: It instantly reminded me of the blood libel.
realbtl
@marklar: Not a dealer.
Harrison Wesley
@Chet Murthy: I hadn’t thought of that. Mos def agree.
RevRick
@TaMara: The whole purpose of stories like this: Haitians eating cats, kids getting transgender surgery at school, post-birth abortions, drag show performers as groomers is not the truth. It is to gin up the outrage and prepare their followers for violence. It’s basically a loyalty test.
Here’s a lie. Do you give me a pass? Well, how about this? And now this? This?
They keep ratcheting up the lies with the ultimate aim of saying, “Those people are out to get you. Kill them while you still have a chance.”
And if that tactic doesn’t work with most people, the goal is to provoke cynicism, resignation and exhaustion.
It’s the verbal equivalent of an attack on the immune system. Overload it and make the body easier to take over.
S Cerevisiae
@ArchTeryx: On a similar note when I took Tropical Biology in Costa Rica we learned that the locals would just get out of the way if a swarm of army ants came through the house. The ants would go through the house and kill every other insect and then leave, better than any human exterminator.
Denali5
@John,
Hope tomorrow is a better day. I am sorry about your fall-hope it heals quickly.
Kayla Rudbek
@Frankensteinbeck: yeah, chemists actually named an acid after the ants that they found it in https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formic_acid
lamh47
Welp…my mom and her bad eyes genes down finally hit me. I was the last hold out of her daughters without glasses. But a year of blurred vision later and here we are. Genes so bad I need different prescription for reading and distance
Genes so bad each eye has a different strength. Didn’t want bifocals, to instead changed my mind about buying reading glasses too JIC.
https://x.com/psddluva4evah/status/1833212874673819716
SuzieC
Now I want a video of cats grooming each other.
The Springfield hoax–debunked in near-record time.
H.E.Wolf
No clue, but I can tell you how my dad went about it when he was in grad school.
Dad didn’t know much about cars; but he needed one to get from Point A to Point B for a temp job. He brought along a grad-school classmate to look at used cars with him.
Classmate was French. According to my dad, French Classmate knew rien absolument about les voitures, but he was invaluable because he stood around looking disdainful (i.e. Early 1950s French Resting Face), and the prices dropped like a rock. :)
Redshift
Rabbits do a lot of grooming, and it’s definitely a pair or group booking thing. The most adorable is when two of them are sitting with their heads together, grooming each other’s shoulders. We’ve had some pairs who did that a lot.
zhena gogolia
I wish I knew how to cheer you up. You are a great man.
marklar
@realbtl: Merci bien!
Kayla Rudbek
I may go back to watching carpet cleaning videos and pressure washing videos instead of the furniture flipping videos, as I so frequently disagree with the flipper’s decision to paint the furniture instead of just applying wood stain (and also disliking some of the paint color choices).
RevRick
MrsRev and I have been quarantining the past few days. We had taken our son out to dinner at an upscale restaurant for his birthday. He was sneezy and constantly blowing his nose and had itchy eyes, so he attributed it to seasonal allergies. The next day, however, he got word that a coworker had COVID, so he tested and…positive.
Neither of us have had any symptoms… so far. Maybe all the boosters have helped. Anyway, if we still feel okay tomorrow, then we probably dodged the bullet.
Jay
@Chet Murthy:
A lot of the “independents” don’t want a large stock of inventory, ( costs money), pick up bargains at auctions, don’t get a lot of foot traffic, and spend much of their time, surfing the web, for specific vehicles, features, colours, mileage and prices to basically be able to buy a vehicle off a private seller or another dealer, mark it up a little and resell it, with minimal overhead.
Death Panel Truck
@lamh47: I’m 60. I had cataract surgery in February and March. Now I have perfect distance vision, but I have to wear readers. I can now resume wearing a pair of Ray Ban aviators I bought 30 years ago when I wore contacts.
different-church-lady
He’s got a point: only people born in this country should be allowed to eat other people’s pets.
mrmoshpotato
Fuck you, all of you fuckers at the fucking New York Times!
Chris
@HumboldtBlue:
The real internationale has always been right wing.
zhena gogolia
@mrmoshpotato: The whole thing is so disgusting.
Chet Murthy
@mrmoshpotato: A-fuckin’-men. At the most, he showed that he wasn’t up to he job of -campaigning- for the job of running the country. He’s demonstrated on a daily basis for the last 3.75 years that he’s very much up to the job of running the country.
mrmoshpotato
@different-church-lady: LOL!
Chet Murthy
deleted
frosty
AFAIK this is completely normal, at least it has been for me ever since 4th grade. I’ve had progressive bifocals for years; they suck but it’s easier than swapping glasses.
Also, get used to the idea that your eyes change. I think my right eye for distance is back to 20-20. Distance has been getting better for the last 25 years. I need to schedule a checkup.
mrmoshpotato
@Chet Murthy:
Possibly. He did have a cold debate night.
Regardless, the switch to Harris was still masterful!
mrmoshpotato
@zhena gogolia: The fucking New York Times is disgusting. :)
Chet Murthy
@mrmoshpotato: Yep, agree completely. Which is why I was careful to use “At the most”. One thing I must admit: the tone of the campaigns is very different, even though the foot soldiers are the same folks. I think Biden didn’t have the inclination (or maybe, the stomach) for the kind of feisty pulls-no-punches, kick-em-in-the-balls campaign that Harris is running. I’m not the sort of person who is swayed by -campaigning-, but it sure looks like the rest of the Dem base (at least) and (hopefully) country is more swayed by Harris’ campaigning approach, than it was by Biden’s.
Which …. is what it is.
Jacel
I’ve heard that rabbits and cats tend to get along together very well. One reason is grooming. For cats, grooming another is a signal of dominance. For rabbits, being groomed is a signal of dominance. So when cats groom rabbits, both sides get to believe they’re in charge.
mrmoshpotato
@Jacel: Cats and rabbits living together! Mass grooming!
Ohio Mom
@Death Panel Truck: When I had cataract surgery, I asked to keep my near-sightedness. I like to sew and do other crafty things that require good close range vision.
It was a challenge convincing the ophthalmologist. They are so used to patients who want perfect distance vision.
Nowadays, unlike other Medicare-aged people, I take my glasses off to read. I am spared the constant search for where i last put my readers.
mrmoshpotato
@Chet Murthy: Well, Biden and Harris do have different temperaments (I think that’s the word I’m looking for.) Nothing against Uncle Joe. I think that played a part in picking Harris as VP.
Chet Murthy
@mrmoshpotato: Yep, and I wasn’t at all AT ALL disappointed by Biden’s campaigning. I focused on his -governing- and pretty much ignored campaigning. But clearly the rest of the country isn’t like me. Hoooocooodanode?
Death Panel Truck
@Ohio Mom: I’ve got several pairs of readers – one each in the office, the bathroom and on the end table in the living room. The doctor gave me the choice of better close-up vision, but I chose the opposite. I could have spent an extra $3,000 per eye to get perfect vision but insurance wouldn’t cover it. The readers I wear are better than any pair of progressive lenses I’ve had in the last 20 years.
strange visitor (from another planet)
@Chet Murthy: the press has been up biden’s ass since they lost their pet war during the withdrawal from afghanistan. they started hammering him during the airlift and (as we can see) they’re not done taking gratuitous shots at him even after they’ve gotten their scalp.
HumboldtBlue
James Earl Jones, 1993, Baltimore.
Peke Daddy
@Kayla Rudbek: As an aside, formic acid is a promising chemical for use in fuel cells.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formic_acid_fuel_cell
Can be made from direct electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide
Chris T.
@ArchTeryx: There’s a Far Side cartoon with that crocodile….
Chief Oshkosh
@Chet Murthy: I recently sold a car on Autotrader.com. I had a good experience and I think the buyer did, too. There are a lot of safety features designed to help both parties, both physical safety and scam-avoidance-safety. The only downside I found was that these are formal and add some time and effort to the process — a bit ponderous. However, having bought and sold a lot of cars over the years, I feel that the approach was worth the modest extra time and effort.
Chief Oshkosh
@Death Panel Truck:
I’m not so sure about that. There are certainly many options out there, some quite expensive, but they all come with trade-offs. Even the “perfect” vision solutions, which actually are more like “good enough at most distances, but not quite perfect at any.” Most of the multi-distance solutions also come with new challenges, like significant light halos in dim or night lighting conditions.
terraformer
So glad to hear that exercise is going well for you, John. I tend to become more depressed and lose self-confidence when I go too long without exercising. It just makes me feel mentally and physically *good