Physical pain is really far preferable to mental pain.
Sure, but one has to tempt injury pretty regularly to keep from dwelling on matters like all day permanent loneliness and the creeping suspicion that all one's efforts in every direction, personal and professional, are humiliatingly futile, which is why in bad weather I hobble like a veteran of the Great War.
I find making a 2 hour appointment once a week for beating-up/being-beaten-up quite good for occupying my mind with bodily aches. However, it's not good for those who have to live with me, since I am whiny rather than stoic about it: "oh, my knees are sore .... ach, my back ... ".
aw, flippanter, I'd hit you on the knee with a ball-peen hammer if it would help.
2: I thought you northern knifecrime islanders were required to be stoic?! "what this? oh, me finger got taken off in the big grinder a few hours ago. I'll have the doctor take a look when I've finished my shift." that kind of thing.
Oh, sheesh, Flip. I will keep my eye out for a Congregationalist with Barbara Stanwyk banter and a diploma from Farmington. (I could maybe do Brearley more easily.)
It amuses me greatly to reflect that "Farmington" includes both Miss Porter's and the 50 Cent (formerly the Mike Tyson) estate.
ok, I'm going back to watching stupid tv now. csi ny. OMG electron microscopy gives them the break in the case, and then for some reason the csi dudes are all up in some shit with guns drawn and vests...did anyone consider perhaps calling a homicide detective at some point? I hear they're into stuff like that. what the fuck do the regular cops do in this bruckheimer/ the who-theme tracked world? appear on law and order, I suppose.
I wear my grandmother's miss porter's signet ring a lot, but it's not the same.
7: "You're a loose cannon, Science Cop! Turn in your microscope, neckbeard and braided belt."
9: it's like that one time a real admiral took over the starship enterprise and he looked at diana troy's v-necked unitard and was like "get a regulation uniform on!" it was supposed to make us miss picard, but it didn't work. let's not even start on how they let crime scene techs at that naval crime unit dress. like grade d tank girl with a super-sized slurpee.
I thought you northern knifecrime islanders were required to be stoic?
They are. That's why ttaM and I had to leave - couldn't meet the standard.
why does nyc have unlimited resources to apply to the investigation of every crime? and why can I not breathe better? fuck if I take another 15mg now I'm well and truly fucked. fml.
oh wait, I'm not suicidal! this is all comparatively awesome! ha, fuck, the PREDATOR whatever. I'll sleep when I'm dead. besides, someone needs to administer drugs to girl y at 12 midnight and 2 am and 4 and so on. that someone could be me!
oh, wait, what if I have fucking pleurisy again? god I straight up hated that shit. it feels as if I can't breathe, but all my airways are clear. some idiotic membrane is inflamed. no, I remember, it's the cartilage that holds your ribs together. goddamnit body, that wasn't a fucking challenge, it was just an observation! fine. 15mg more. I'm in healthcare for the lulz.
re: 2
I'm extremely stoic in public situations. But inclined to be a bit whiny in private, when only talking to people married/related to me. I think this is pretty common, even in cultures with a reputation for stoicism.
And also, I am indeed an effete wimp, by Falkirk standards.
No, pleurisy is the pits! I hope it's not that. Ugh, that hurts and hurts. I'm not sure what to say about agreeing that mental pain is worse than physical pain because they feed on each other so much. I do remember when I had a good pain killer and muscle relaxer and I went a whole day without my back hurting. It's amazing to think that there are people who live without constant pain.
lucky them! hope you feel better too, thorn. xxx
I have had severe back pain two or three times in my life. Those times made me appreciate how difficult some people's lives are.
I vividly remember thinking "Holy F! People actually live like this EVERY F'ng day!??!?!"
I'm very glad to hear that the mental anguish has subsided a bit!
I have had severe back pain two or three times in my life. Those times made me appreciate how difficult some people's lives are.
Yes, it's like anything wrong with your feet - amazingly demoralising.
Pleurisy is nowhere near as bad as consumption in terms of being able to get over it and go on with your life, but it's no fun while it lasts. I think alameida must also have had costochondritis, because I'm pretty sure that's the cartilage condition she described. It feels like you're having a heart attack and/or your chest is ripping apart in an excruciatingly fiery way. Also not my idea of a good time, for the record.
When I first had costochondritis at age 10 or so (long before the scoliosis was diagnosed, though I've always assumed there must be a connection) the doctor was trying to talk it up by calling it Michael Jackson Disease, since he must have had it recently at that point. I often thought that was must have been one of the last times a pediatrician could speak positively about Michael Jackson, though I no longer remember exactly when allegations started coming out and feeling smug about this was probably just me being a bitter preteen.
I had labyrinthitis once. It's a pretty cool name for a condition that could, I guess, have been very unpleasant if it had lasted longer than three or four days.
22: I plan to collect all the victorian illnesses eventually. luckily I have beautiful 30s silk nightgowns and bed-jackets to lie around in. that way our nanny can come bring the children in briefly, so as not to "tire mummy out." then they can grow up to be somerset maugham, and everyone wins! um. wait.
no, consumption is more along the lines of TB but no antibiotics. I have been ill enough to be all paper white with feverish red cheeks, and cough blood up into a white handkerchief, but it's not as great as it sounds in books.
24: ooooh yeah. they thought I was having a heart attack, it was kind of funny. I was totally unable to reassure the doctor. "I can't breathe, my chest is in agony I can't climb stairs without stopping to breathe each time. this has been going on for days, I promise I'd be dead if this were a heart attack!" not necessarily, she thought. she sent me out of her office straight into cardiology at the (adjacent) hospital. on a stretcher. LOL.
26: HBO is developing a Doc Holliday series. Coughing up blood will be the next big thing. Also brocade waistcoats.
28: I had a brocade waistcoat I wore in the (19)80s. (It was yellow silk, and normally in conjunction with some kind of weirdo blouse/miniskirt/fishnets/purple-paisley-brocade granny boots ensemble.)
[S]ome kind of weirdo blouse/miniskirt/fishnets/purple-paisley-brocade granny boots ensemble.
[Scribbles.] You can run, but you can't hide.
Also brocade waistcoats
those I have. my sister collects antique clothes. here in narnia I have a white lawn victorian dress which is surprisingly transparent. I'm meant to be wearing any amount of undergarments naturally, but nonetheless there would have been much more cleavage hazily visible between the top of the corset and the lace of the high collar than you might have thought.
good news:
1. don't think girl y has to go back to hospital tonight. yay!
2. also, I can breathe better! cortisone steroids are anti-inflammatory in all regards, so pleurisy or no I feel improved.
bad news:
3. (advance warning for AWB I know you hate specific weight numbers. please just accept it as evidence of my crazy and never judgment of others--it's not.) then I went and ate 3 fingers of walker's shortbread. I HATE MYSELF. as if the anti-psychotics weren't enough! nothing makes you hungry like the predator. 'nice job, fork-grabber." grr, shut up brain, nobody asked for your fucking opinion. it's better to be not in danger of committing suicide, and weigh 147 lbs, than about to abandon your family and die at a barely acceptable 132. additionally, brain, go back to wondering about the economics of the NYPD CSI unit.
29: that sounds great!
what is wrong with me that I think eating 3 pieces of shortbread is bad news? shortbread is delicious! I'm tempted to edit the comment because it's so idiotic, but if you didn't want free-associative idiocy you wouldn't be reading bob'smy comments
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"[Stalin's daughter] was said to enjoy sewing and reading, mainly nonfiction, choosing not to [even] own a television set."
(Просьба больше не мастурбировать Светланой Сталиной, though I'm not sure about the instrumental case for "to masturbate to." Dative seemed like "no more masturbating toward"...)
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re: 31.1
I read an article on dress somewhere that pointed out that Victorian clothes for younger women were often really racy. That modern costume dramas don't get everything historically accurate, as they'd look too porny/boobtastic.
Weren't Regency clothes really racy? Light muslin dress, no underwear?
"Boobtastic":Chuckle::"Boobtastic" in Scots accent: Death by laugh-seizure.
The article I read basically implied that it was basically 'tits oot!' levels of decolletage with only a bit of thin muslin/lace coverage. Although what I know about the history of costume could be written in a single tweet.
35: regency yeah, famously, I mean, just transparent silk or muslin shifts. but victorian, people tend to think of as very covered up--but many of the actual clothes my sister and I have are racy in this way. you'd be able to see the corset and the stays and all the ribboning in the back, and then it's as if you're wearing a massive push up bra, and between the (rather low) top of the corset and the thicker lace around the high neckling there's just an area of totally see-though cloth. and one imagines that seeing the corset itself, all white lace and pink ribbons, would no doubt send a young man's thoughts to...etc.
Light muslin dress, no underwear?
You'd wear a silk/cotton shift under it unless you were one of a handful of well known upper class exhibitionists.
what ttam said, but I've worn them and the result is, indeed, boobtastic. particularly on my sister, yowza. you could easily have a minor wardrobe mis-function, as your nipples are juuuust under the top of the corset.
between the (rather low) top of the corset and the thicker lace around the high neckling there's just an area of totally see-though cloth
Yeah, that was what I read.
regency under-shifts were almost equally transparent, though. not that all was constantly on display, but should a lady be coming into a darkened room from the blaze of the outdoors there would be little left for the imagination. my husband vetoed a dress of mine on these grounds, though it had an under-dress. "it's got a black under-lining!" I complained indignantly. "do you know that little part of you just between your legs, at the top of your thighs?" "yes?" "when you stand in front of the door I can see that. so you can't wear it outside during the day." husband x strikes a blow for modesty!
Should be noted that Regency men's clothing was also designed to be revealing. The knitted tights/cutaway coats look was designed to show off whatever was inside them. Origin of "which side do you dress", because you literally had to force your junk down one side or the other.
a system which punishes those who are growers rather than showers. still would be sort of convenient, though. this is part of the appeal of skinny jeans, nu?
Also, didn't they pad calf and thigh muscles for men with skinny legs?
When I think of Regency men's clothing, as I often do, I think of the A Suitable Wardrobe guy's remark that Beau Brummell's then-innovatively-simple ensemble (navy or black coat, white shirt, simple neckcloth, biscuit-colored pants) survives nearly whole in contemporary men's clothing.
46. Yes, as far as I know. Also a solution to al's point at 45. I for one would not have been fashionable without assistance.
that little part of you just between your legs, at the top of your thighs
I do believe they've invented a name for that part. Several, in fact, though some are a tad vulgar.
47. Plus, the main change, substituting trousers for tights, was introduced by Lord Petersham, who was a close friend of Brummel, although it didn't take off so quickly.
IMX the various aches and pains of age are considerably easier to live with when I'm not down. Depression and physical pain lead directly to thoughts of the permanent cure.
49: shut up, he means the little triangular-type empty space that can be viewed even when the legs are closed. my sister and I call it "inner thigh clearance" and consider it an important part of looking thin, along with collarbones.
dudes play like they don't notice this shit, but they do. my sister and I only think this because we have serious psychological problems, I hasten to add.
49, 52: One of the secondary characters in J.P. Donleavy's The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B* has several soliloquies about said feature.
* I think it's the one who gets rusticated for scrawling "I am the vast masturbator" on every chalkboard in the school.
51: true. and being constantly in pain can lead you to become depressed. but straight up mental agony? still teh suck.
I'm sure I can find an evolutionary psychologist to explain why in such a way that I don't get blamed for noticing.
1%-related discovery: the word "half-assed" dates back at least to 1862 in American English.
Also, didn't they pad calf and thigh muscles for men with skinny legs?
There's a bit in one of the Hornblower books where he borrows some silk stockings off a richer fellow officer, but the richer fellow officer is also a bit fatter and so the stockings are too baggy; in the end he improvises fake calves with oakum and sticking plaster to make the stockings fit.
I'm still waiting for somebody to GIF up the Paul Rudd character from Anchorman saying "1% of the time, it works every time."
consider it an important part of looking thin
An important part of looking thin, I could almost buy, with "thin" meaning "extremely thin". What's troubling is the idea that looking quite that thin is important.
Yeah, I was actually just thinking about this one collarbone. Thin doesn't matter.
62: urple, you may not have been made aware of this in the past, but bitchez be trippin about looking thin. actually, a japanese girl in girl x's class has started being mean to her about her being "fat." 5th grade, fuck this shit. and am I setting a good example? no. children watch what you do, not what you say. see, now I'm fat and a bad mother; it's all so easy! if only read were here.
But you're helping me feel smug about being stocky! I'm not slightly overweight, I'm modeling sanity for my children.
63: see, boys notice! they don't think it's about being thin in general. however, women don't have heart-breaking collarbones unless they're thin. fact.
go LB! promote positive healthy body image!
Drab, stocky, forty-something pride!
urple, you may not have been made aware of this in the past, but bitchez be trippin about looking thin.
Really? I've never heard that. Gosh, that sounds awful. Why wouldn't they just prefer to be a healthy weight? I wonder if this might at least partly be socially conditioned.
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NMM to the Hermanator.
Not officially, but I know what "reassess"* means.
*You're welcome.
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68: Sheesh, LB, why are you giving them a complex about being young?
Apparently Val and Alex were talking to Mara about her fat stomach, but I don't think in a negative way. They are super super thin, but I think it's more genetics than anything else. Mara does have a gut, which generally means she's storing up what she needs to stretch and then become even taller. But I'm still annoyed at the foster parent who told me Val and Alex are too thin and she wants to fatten them up (and that "they're too pale because their mother must not have let them go outside," despite the fact that they didn't live with their mother all summer and go outside every day it's not raining) and Mara's foster mother who talked about her "weight problems" when she was two. Grr!
Another good way to get fancy prominent collarbones is scoliosis, so yay for me at any weight! I do confess I was alarmed when my legs started touching at the top, though, and there's no excuse for that except it was an undeniable body change. A few years later, it's not as if I've done anything to change it.
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Shared for no other reason than I found it funny:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1F7N1waNWM
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the little triangular-type empty space that can be viewed even when the legs are closed
Surely the body-mod crowd has some "inner thigh clearance"* equivalent of earlobe spreaders.
*In high school, this was known as "the dap gap".
thorn: my sister has scoliosis also! it completely sucks in every way--but it makes you look thinner than you otherwise would because of deceiving collarbones. rock them boatnecks, baby.
"We cannot afford a dap gap!" - Society for the Awareness of the Economic and Social Costs of Body Dysmorphic Disorders
the dap gap? for real? now it sounds like you want to fist bump...somehow.
75: I actually never wear boatnecks because they're supposed to be unflattering with large busts or something like that. I probably have it backwards. Mostly I try to avoid my bra strap showing too much, though apparently it tends to when I'm bending over to buckle car seats and thanks a lot for commenting on that, kid.
I have scoliosis and nobody ever notices my collarbones.
bitchez be trippin about looking thin
Word.
A serious question on this topic: if a woman is lamenting the fact that she is not thin, despite the fact that actually is quite thin by any non-anorexic definition of the word, is there anything her male companion can say to convince her that she actually is thin and needs to stop trippin'? Appeals to empirical evidence seem to have no effect.
79: Nobody's ever commented on mine either except when doctors are measuring what's in the wrong place and whatnot, and of course with no reference to how appealing they may be. But you could always add yours to the flickr pool so we can ooh and ahh.
if there were a way to make it larger that didn't involve losing weight, I'd be up in that shit like the gayatollah abu-labs on some earlobe-spreaders. actually and for true I am considering getting surgery to remove the fat from under my arms. thin upper arms, like collarbones and the dap gap, are impossible to fake, thus genuine evidence of thinness in chicks. or I'll just get consumption, that works too. "good night" all, she said, tossing sleeplessly next to the child whose breathing she is constantly monitoring.
80: As someone who's spent a fair amount of time in the 'heavier than I used to be, and heavier than an ideally attractive/athletic weight for me, but still objectively fairly thin' bracket, which is pretty much what you're talking about, I would focus on 'Whatever. The weight you're at now looks spectacular/good/fine (whichever is most plausible and accurate) on you.'
Arguing about whether or not she's thin is going to turn into an argument about facts that she's probably got a better grip on than you do; she was a different weight when she was younger/fitter/prettier. Saying she looks good now, to you, is your subjective judgment and isn't something she can really argue with. And then you can be bored with the worry about thinness and talk about something interesting like boats or gardening.
the dap gap? for real?
For real. Etymology: at least in my part of 1980's central NC, dap was originally used as an acronym for "day after pussy" (cue era-specific "not-so-fresh-feeling" ad) that had morphed into a general term for female genitalia. When it became a recognized term for fist bump, Beavis-style laughter likely rippled throughout my regional age cohort.
thorn, you just need to find the right shirt. the french stripe kind, but with a low-ish boatneck. you have to wear a strapless bra, though. moby, I am prepared to admire your collarbones.
MAE: sadly, no. you can give a convincing demonstration of her non-horrible-fatness by wanting to have sex with her a lot. also, if she wears dresses of the type that look good on girls with fuller (than girl q's insane internal standard of thinness) figures, compliment her on how great she looks in them, especially the boobs. 50s-syle hourglass silhouettes are good in this vein. a-line skirt hides all flaws, cinch in your waist with a belt, and enjoy having boobs. one does tend to lose them if one gets truly, perhaps excessively thin. but I'm not talking about you, thin unfogged reader if you are just naturally like that! and you should know that if you rtfa you will find out straight boys like every type of boob. fact.
Hmm. Urbandictionary.com lists many acronyms for dap (most involving the word "anal"), but not the one I recall.
It may be that my scoliosis is not noticeable at the top end. It is an artifact of one leg being just a bit shorter than the other. My scoliosis keeps my head level. I also have lordosis because my spine doesn't play by the rules.
A serious question on this topic: if a woman is lamenting the fact that she is not thin, despite the fact that actually is quite thin by any non-anorexic definition of the word, is there anything her male companion can say to convince her that she actually is thin and needs to stop trippin'? Appeals to empirical evidence seem to have no effect.
My opinion: "You look beautiful." and leave it at that.
It's completely immaterial whether or not she is objectively thin. Fat women are beautiful. No one is beautiful to everyone. Etc. It's all so subjective, and women are so often distorted on the subject, that it's not a good idea to indulge any over-analysis of the topic.
87: Twinsies, though my legs just act like one is shorter and aren't actually meaningfully different in length. I suspect the collarbone thing may be something else, as my dad also has one collarbone that's a bit off from the other and extends above the arch of the neckline in a bump like mine. I have an S curve, but it means that as long as you don't see me naked or in a bathing suit, you probably don't see anything off. Then my tailbone curves up into my body and my neck also curves in the wrong direction, but I don't like talking or thinking about that because necks creep me out.
Mostly I'm just being playfully whiny about mine. The curvature doesn't seem to be getting worse and if I spend 30+ minutes a day doing physical therapy I don't hurt as much, but of course I don't bother and just hurt a lot all the time because that's the smart way to do it. It's not that awful in the scheme of things, either for scoliosis or for chronic pain. I mean, I couldn't tell you on a scale of one to whatever because those don't make sense to me. It's very rare for the pain to make me cry, and that's usually a sign of a pinched nerve anyway.
necks creep me out
I'm always fascinated by the innocuous things that creep people out. I have a friend who is disturbed by certain kinds of symmetry in nature; for example, the mere sight of honeycombs makes her shudder and turn away.
89: I don't even do anything that would be called physical therapy. If I don't do a bit of abdominal exercise for a few months, my back hurts but it only takes five minutes of sit-ups three times a week.
90: I read an article once where they asked people with creepy jobs what creeped them out. My favorite was a mortician or medical examiner who was horrified by the satin edges on fuzzy blankets.
A non-fuzzy blanket with satin edges would be even creepier.
90: I'm not quite that bad, but I think I've half-joked here before that I'm not a lesbian because it lets me avoid Adam's apples, but that's a huge perk. Whenever I'm scared or nervous, my hands go to protect my neck. I don't like watching neck injuries and hate people touching my back except in certain circumstances.
And so of course Mara's preferred way to fall asleep is on my lap with her head jammed against my neck so I have to feel her breathe on it, eww ewww eww!
I know somebody who can't stand hearing the word "portion". They have a total squick reaction any time it's said.
You should work "apportion" into a conversation and see the reaction. For science.
19: I vividly remember thinking "Holy F! People actually live like this EVERY F'ng day!??!?!"
Yeah, pretty much. My alienist wants me to do little body check-ins before bed or whenever, but for me that would just be a litany of parts of my body which are subject to chronic pain. Right now my back, ribs, right thigh, head and right wrist all hurt, to varying degrees. It's pretty rare that I have less that three major body parts in pain at any given time.
I know somebody who can't stand hearing the word "portion". They have a total squick reaction any time it's said.
Obligatory link to the Monty Python "woody/tinny words" sketch.
I can't stand thinking about collarbones and achilles tendons. Or the edge on a scissors.
I used to have a terrible fear of knee injuries, and joint tears in general, and couldn't stand to watch videos of them in progress. Then I tore my ACL and more recently realized that I likely tore my rotator cuff in elementary school. I can think of better ways of overcoming phobias, but this was effective.
I would argue that not wanting to watch injuries is different than squick.
100: I discovered, in graduate school, that videos of operations and lectures about injuries will make me start to faint, and I would have keeled over if I hadn't known how to stop that process.
However, I don't have any problems with the real thing; coping with blood, bad cuts, ICUs, post-op care, and such in the real world isn't much fun but doesn't trigger an avoidance reaction.
101: Other than prevalence, what's the distinction?
103: Discomfort at watching people in pain seems to be (hopefully) the default setting for people.
Baked Beans. And if I start thinking about it too much, the squick spreads to other legumes. The worst is when it spreads all the way to lentils, which I actually enjoy eating quite a lot.
I know somebody who can't stand hearing the word "portion". They have a total squick reaction any time it's said.
In contrast, I quite like the word "archipelago." Saying it cheers me up a bit.
Baked Beans. And if I start thinking about it too much, the squick spreads to other legumes.
Fist bump in solidarity, anti-bean bro.
You should work "apportion" into a conversation and see the reaction. For science.
Tried it. No problem. Also cool with "proportion".
you can give a convincing demonstration of her non-horrible-fatness by wanting to have sex with her a lot.
I find a hard-on pressed against my ass at every opportunity to be inarguable evidence that my sweetheart finds me attractive. Others have less opportunity to convince me, but they don't need to.
getting surgery to remove the fat from under my arms. thin upper arms, like collarbones and the dap gap, are impossible to fake
Thin upper arms may be impossible to fake, but a summer of lap swimming can give you ripped upper arms (no upper arm jiggle), which is way better.
I really like the word "boobtastic" which came up in another thread. Pity that if you google the word "boobtastic" you just get ordinary porn, and nothing that is quite as boobtastic as the word "boobtastic" (Although I do recall seeing a nude model who had adopted that as her stage name, which I totes respect.)
107: I don't know enough geometry to say.
I find a hard-on pressed against my ass at every opportunity to be inarguable evidence that my sweetheart finds me attractive.
Did I miss an announcement of the arrival of a sweetheart?
Re: "boobtastic": Jesus NSFW Christ.
Not sure. You congratulated me on the sweetheart last time I mentioned him, so I don't think you missed it.
But yeah. Sweetheart. Very nice historian: dotes on me, understated and funny, moved in with me even, equally into Californiana. I've been extremely happy about him since about August.
That impossible. Historians don't have erections.
Historians may not have erections for you, Moby.
First, we must assume that we have a penis.
And there I was expecting a revealed preferences joke.
Something law of large numbers, ladies something.
116: Historian? From where? (Goodness, I'm now totally curious.)
OMG electron microscopy gives them the break in the case, and then for some reason the csi dudes are all up in some shit with guns drawn and vests...did anyone consider perhaps calling a homicide detective at some point? I hear they're into stuff like that. what the fuck do the regular cops do in this bruckheimer/ the who-theme tracked world?
Holy shit, almost every show remotely related to police is totally unwatchable. I'm probably driving my wife insane with my outbursts. I'll watch Vincent D'onofrio but that's about it. And gah, the expectations those shows give people. No, we're not going to do a full crime lab process on your car just because your shitty stereo was stolen. See how every surface in that car is basically designed to not show things like smudges? That also means those surfaces don't hold prints. Yes, I know on TV they pull fingerprints off of fucking bricks but that's because television is created by idiots.
Columbo is pretty great, but anything made after that gets a bit hard to watch.
a hard-on pressed against my ass at every opportunity to be inarguable evidence that my sweetheart
...and a healthy percentage of public transportation users...
finds me attractive
Less-than sign messed that up.
...less than 20 forensics shows in my life, but don't they usually have something big like a murder backing up the heavy resource use?
The prosecutors all bitch about the "CSI Effect"; i.e., they have to explain to the jury why they didn't use billion dollar laser beams to find the hidden semen stains that will irrefutably prove that the bagsnatcher took the purse.
OTOH I'm not aware of any evidence that this is actually causing a problem in rates of convictions.
AFAICT, a disproportionate amount of the big money* spent on policing technology goes to militarized equipment, and not enough to investigative technology. The LAPD sure has awesome riot gear and helicopters but until recently the crime lab was a joke.
*Not big enough. The police are a public service, and are underfunded like every other goddamn public service.
Dude. We had a home break-in while we were away for the holiday. We filed a police report online, and got an email back saying that we should not expect any additional contact from the police. Oh.
we should not expect any additional contact from the police
Except for the occasional erection pressed against your ass.
California must suck. We had some damage to our door and just asked if the police could tell us if it was caused by a failed break in or what. They came inside a half hour.
Ahh! Sorry for the nosiness; I was just wondering if there was a crossing of worlds (for me). But, less self-centeredly, congratulations! It sounds like you guys are super happy.
California must suck.
No, I'd say it's more like an enthusiastic licking.
I can't help it if they think I'm pretty at this weight, apo.
Even in CA, if you mention a gun the cops will be there fast. I think it was around 2-3 minutes when I called them in Berkeley.
They came inside a half hour.
How nice of them.
130 is harsh, but AFAICT there's essentially nothing that the police can do or are willing to do following a home burglary (absent some really really obvious clue), other than to take a nice report, say something sympathetic to the victim, and get some awareness that there's some dude, maybe a junkie, in the area running around stealing stuff who they might actually see or run into someday.
138: I thought so.
Just to be clear, we were very certain nobody actually broke in (damage was only to the exterior of two doors) and whatever had happened, had happened days or weeks before we noticed.
there's essentially nothing that the police can do
Yeah, we figured as much. But maybe you guys have some ideas. Besides pawnshops, CL and Ebay, where can we look for the more distinctive stolen items? (Musical instruments, an unusual piece of art.) Also, oddly enough, they took all his hanging clothing. Of course we won't get that back, but what sort of world do we live in if people need to steal jackets?
Musical instruments
I'm sorry. My dad had one of his instruments (a mountain dulcimer) stolen several years ago and it took significant time and persistence to find an acceptable replacement. Musical instruments are so personal and often unique.
Also, oddly enough, they took all his hanging clothing.
Maybe Gov. Brown will commute all death sentences and it won't matter that he doesn't have the right attire.
God, I love this mountain dulcimer. I'm strumming it right now. It was so cheap!
God, I love this mountain dulcimer. I'm strumming it right now. It was so cheap!
If you ever want to upgrade my father ended up getting Jeremy Seeger to build his replacement.
145: Great. Now all we need is your father's address and when he'll be out.
123: All the MDs I've ever worked with would go off on rants about medical shows. The Korean War vets were totally pissed at M.A.S.H. and kept muttering about courts martial.
I'm thinking "Gossip Girl" is possibly the most realistic show on.
My father has said that watching "House" is like practicing medicine in a dream: it feels like it makes sense but on evaluation it's all jibberingly insane.
If you ever read the scripts for TV shows like House, there are brackets that say something like [INSERT SCIENCE HERE] in between the dialogue.
"Science" is the name of House's penis.
The first couple seasons of House were much more serious about the medicine and science.
144: I had a completely bizarre exchange with CA's mum at Tgiving when I asked her for a mandoline, which I'd been assured she had. She said she didn't have one, and I was confused and said, "Or well, something similar?" She thought for a minute, and said "Oh. Sure." Soon I was presented with a hammered dulcimer.
My girl and I have the bronchitis, too. In our case, apparently the result of coughing too much. Because we only get sick ironically. She started the prednisone yesterday. I start tomorrow. I totally agree that the crushing, elephant-on-your-chest misery of bronchitis is far better than the crushing misery of depression.
Speaking of medicine and science, who was it recently that claimed that smoking noticeably increased their cognitive abilities? LB's dad, I think? Regardless, I wonder if this could be at all related. It seems that chewing gum produces measurable short-term gains in cognitive ability. I don't know why smoking couldn't potentially have a similar effect, for similar reasons (whatever those reasons might be, which seem currently to be poorly understood).
Oh, also, I wandered over here specifically because i was wondering if you'd posted lately, Al, and how things were. so really glad to hear things are improving.
I don't know if I ever mentioned it here, urple, but I have definitely noticed that effect.
I don't know if smoking helped or if the effects of quitting smoking just made it seem that way. However, ever since I quit I have been chewing my nails continually as I think whenever I have a hard problem.
Not sure. You congratulated me on the sweetheart last time I mentioned him, so I don't think you missed it.
It's always nice to find out that there is consistency to my personality when my memory is on vacation.
Sitting here pleasantly drunk, thinking about whether any of my scientist friends can concoct an objective measure for boobtasticity
Speaking of bootasticity, I don't think I understand the point of the link in 115. Is there something I'm missing, or are we just supposed to marvel at the novelty of a music video featuring scantily clad attractive women?
Cigarettes, like any mild stimulant, give people a temporary boost on any kind of standardized test. Same as coffee. I'm not going to get a link right now, because I'm drinking beer, not coffee.
are we just supposed to marvel at the novelty of a music video featuring scantily clad attractive women?
I suppose it's possible we're just supposed to marvel at the scantily clad attractive women.
Re: "I had a completely bizarre exchange with CA's mum at Tgiving when I asked her for a mandoline, which I'd been assured she had..."
The people in the local restaurants have another name for the mandoline. They call it: "The Widowmaker"
Somebody stop Bruce Hornsby before he kills again.
160: agreed. my body has decided to punish my failure to ostentatiously touch wood while posting this. I put my back out badly sitting up from where I was lying down, to go to the motherfucking doctor! ha, fucking ha. my sacro-iliac is coming apart or some shit. they can put a cortisone shot in there eventually. FUCK.
God, I love this mountain dulcimer
Tastes differ. I'm perfectly happy with my swamp clavichord.
ok, kidnapped 11-month old, 4 dead, failed bank robbery, now I'm buying that the csi people bust out a fine mist of superglue on some shit. but I still think the feds would be all up in that.
they do at least have a homicide detective. I think his continual wearing of a black leather suit jacket is an homage to then smoking hott chris noth in the early seasons of law and order
and re: all the shows about x are wrong, a dea officer told me the wire was totally realistic, but that listening to calls and recordings and deciding whether they are non-pertinent is even way more boring than it looks.
"Cardiac Arrest", a UK medical show in the early 1990s, was supposed to be the one that doctors watched and nodded at in recognition: lots of smoking, inattention and incompetence. It was an audience failure though. We like our imaginary doctors to be heroes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiac_Arrest_%28TV_series%29