The Small Rants Thread, Continued...

[Monotremeancer]

yeah, the greenies won't be happy 'til we're literally back in the stone age, all living in caves and shit.

Well, I do agree that the current system is in need of some serious improvement. I just hate it when people are unable to see that we will never be able to save everyone. Why couldn't she just say something like "It diminishes biodiversity and makes lowers the growth of lichens, a very important food source for reindeers. And considering how many Swedish and EU laws are currently protecting the Saami and their reindeer herding way of life it is clearly not in the publics interest to create habits where they won't be able to graze for many years. So screw the companies, they'll have to embrace a more sustainable system, like thinning for example. And since they have yet to prove that they gain a lower gain from thinning it can't be that bad for them". That statement would be based on some basic facts and would have provided an interpretation of them. But no "The companies are evil!" is the only thing she could manage.

I felt like yelling "See the bigger picture you schmuck!"

[bhu]

It's more fun to tell talk to them for a few minutes and say "You're right, we're over using our resources, and the only way to fix that is for there to be less people."

leave and show up half an hour later with a protest sign saying "Legalize murder now!"

[Monotremeancer]

It's more fun to tell talk to them for a few minutes and say "You're right, we're over using our resources, and the only way to fix that is for there to be less people."

leave and show up half an hour later with a protest sign saying "Legalize murder now!"

Considering that my standard response to new info telling me how we're screwing the world over is "Have I told you that I hate humanity?" or some derivative thereof, I might just do that.

[Kuroimaken]

It's more fun to tell talk to them for a few minutes and say "You're right, we're over using our resources, and the only way to fix that is for there to be less people."

leave and show up half an hour later with a protest sign saying "Legalize murder now!"

Considering that my standard response to new info telling me how we're screwing the world over is "Have I told you that I hate humanity?" or some derivative thereof, I might just do that.

Remind me to join you. I've got some major fear credits to scare up.

[bhu]

Make sure to have Xanax or something in your pocket that way if the cops show you can blame the meds 

[kurashu]

Make sure to have Xanax or something in your pocket that way if the cops show you can blame the meds 

If Westboro can protest anywhere they damn well please, I think we can, too.

Edit: While on the subject of protests, I'm fucking pissed that some pro-lifers have taken up semi-permanent residence at the Planned Parenthood location down the street from me. I'll give them that they're fucking tenacious but that's about it.

Not only are their signs stupid (40 days 'til life and what not) or disgusting (thank you, I now know what an aborted fetus looks like, despite that being something you'd protest seeing in a movie), they block my already shitty view of traffic and seem to move only after having been screamed at several times. Then they also bring their kids (not teenagers, children) out there to stand around with these signs espousing something they can't even conceive of in their minds (What do you mean they kill babies before the babies are people, mommy?).

I'm seriously thinking about setting up camp in front of one of the two churches that are on the other side of the street with signs that say "Tax the Churches" just to piss some people off.

Did I mention that the location is also a probation office and a driving school, as well? So not only are they heckling and shaming women who are going to get checkups and birth control because they can't afford insurance to cover them (I wonder how that happened. Any ideas, conservatives?), they are making life hell for the people that are there for reasons not even connected to Planned Parenthood.

ALSO, when Title IX funds (i think that was the one) were de-federalized and granted to states to issue as they saw fit, Tennessee further passed the buck to the counties (makes sense). Shelby county granted the funds to Christ Community Health Centers -- who fucking officially stated they would not giving women abortions or contraceptives despite that being required for receiving the money. Everyone I know who's gone to one of them has been asked if they attend church or if they know the Good Lord, et cetera. I wouldn't have a problem if they had some religious shit in their buildings -- they were originally largely privately supported by churches. But if I'm going in there because I'm poor and don't have insurance and I'm fucking sick, I don't want you prying into my personal life. Fuck you. Christian or not, I'd be offended by that shit. My first response would be, "If I say no, do I get inferior treatment? Am I going to get a lecture? How do you feel about lawsuits?"

Double edit: It was title X funds. Here's a link, too. CCHC outscored Planned Parenthood because Shelby County didn't inform it of everything "because they didn't ask" -- I'll have to find the link to that article as well, later. The comments on the article are actually fairly insightful instead of the useless hate drivel that is usually spewed -- until it kinda starts to turn into that.

[DonQuixote]

My beloved dog, Andy, died this past Friday.  We'd had her for eleven years, and she never seemed to age at all.

About a month ago, she stopped being able to walk.  The vet gave her an X-ray and discovered bone spurs in her spine, as well as several other problems.  Not hip dysplasia, mind you--he asked if she'd ever been hit by a car.  That's how extensive the damage was.

She was put on various treatments, and she seemed to respond well at first.  She could move around, though not as quickly as before.  She couldn't handle stairs at all, and she had to be carried up and down them in a sling.

This started right before my spring break.  When I went home, she was recovering well, and didn't understand why we weren't letting her run around like she used to.  She was the dog she'd always been.  My puppy.

I returned to school and, as I heard it, things stayed about the same.  She and my parents had settled into a routine, and life was returning to normal.

Then, this week, she deteriorated.  Rapidly.  They took her into the vet...and there was nothing left to be done.

My puppy was put to sleep on Good Friday.

Today's Easter, and I have to accept that she's not going to rise again.

[InnaBinder]

Sorry for your loss, DonQuixote.  Losing a beloved family member sucks.  *brohug*

[altpersona]

man, that sucks.

[bhu]

hugs from kitteh

[Kuroimaken]

My beloved dog, Andy, died this past Friday.  We'd had her for eleven years, and she never seemed to age at all.

About a month ago, she stopped being able to walk.  The vet gave her an X-ray and discovered bone spurs in her spine, as well as several other problems.  Not hip dysplasia, mind you--he asked if she'd ever been hit by a car.  That's how extensive the damage was.

She was put on various treatments, and she seemed to respond well at first.  She could move around, though not as quickly as before.  She couldn't handle stairs at all, and she had to be carried up and down them in a sling.

This started right before my spring break.  When I went home, she was recovering well, and didn't understand why we weren't letting her run around like she used to.  She was the dog she'd always been.  My puppy.

I returned to school and, as I heard it, things stayed about the same.  She and my parents had settled into a routine, and life was returning to normal.

Then, this week, she deteriorated.  Rapidly.  They took her into the vet...and there was nothing left to be done.

My puppy was put to sleep on Good Friday.

Today's Easter, and I have to accept that she's not going to rise again.

That's really sad.  I wish there was something I could do to help alleviate the pain. Terribly sorry man.

[Amechra]

My grandmother died Friday morning, the day after she moved into a nursing home.

It was for the best, so to speak; she was deteriorating for almost 8 years now, and she couldn't even dress herself or go to the bathroom by herself.

She was, in her younger years, an extremely devout, hardworking, and dignified woman; she lost all of that because her lungs began failing her when I was ten. She never smoked a day in her life, and it just kinda... happened.

We're having the funeral later today, since we couldn't have the funeral over Easter; the Church doesn't allow funerals on the Triduum, after all, and even if we could've had it earlier, she wouldn't have wanted us to.

Needless to say, we didn't celebrate Easter this year.

[Monotremeancer]

Hugs for DonQuixote and Amechra; I feel your pain. The only two times I've really cried my heart out was when a certain pet and my Great Grandmother died.

[sirpercival]

Blargh, condolences Don & Amechra... that really really sucks.

I have two:

1) Booked a flight 3 months ago so that my wife and son and I could go on vacation.  Got an email this morning that Delta changed their schedule which made our nonstop flight into a 1-stop flight... with a 45 minute layover in JFK with which to change planes with a jet-lagged 2yo.  When we called and complained, we discovered that (a) the only thing they could do was refund our money (not all of it because we "booked through Travelocity" so they could only refund "the value of the ticket") or switch to a different connecting flight; (b) apparently Delta has so many schedule changes which affect so many people that company policy is that they don't give out compensation when they change things anymore; (c) booking our flight with a different airline would end up costing us about $100 per person (i.e. 30% of the total cost of the tickets).

So... never flying Delta again.

2) I was offered 3 more days of telescope time on my observing run in AZ this summer.  Normally that would be great, but I'm already going to be gone for 10 days and this would make it almost 2 weeks, plus it would make me miss 4th of July with my family.  There's no way I want to be by myself for 2 weeks, living at the graveyard shift alone at a telescope in the middle of nowhere.  But, telescope time is at such a premium that I can't just tell my advisor that, so I have to construct a semi-elaborate lie and hope it works.  I'm terrified -- I'm not a very good liar, even if I can do it over email.

[Kuroimaken]

My grandmother died Friday morning, the day after she moved into a nursing home.

It was for the best, so to speak; she was deteriorating for almost 8 years now, and she couldn't even dress herself or go to the bathroom by herself.

She was, in her younger years, an extremely devout, hardworking, and dignified woman; she lost all of that because her lungs began failing her when I was ten. She never smoked a day in her life, and it just kinda... happened.

We're having the funeral later today, since we couldn't have the funeral over Easter; the Church doesn't allow funerals on the Triduum, after all, and even if we could've had it earlier, she wouldn't have wanted us to.

Needless to say, we didn't celebrate Easter this year.

Sounds like this Easter has been really grim for people in these boards. Big hugs, Amechra.

Both my grandfathers died when I was very young (I faintly remember them. It's one of my earliest memories). My grandmother on my mom's side died when I was around 15, and I literally felt it happen. I was at school, and suddenly I felt like my chest was being stabbed by something on fire. Not 15 minutes later, I was asked to pick up my stuff to meet my mom so we could go over to her hometown for the funeral.

My grandmother on my father's side died several years later... but my dad didn't tell me about it until a couple of months after the fact.

I'm no stranger to your pain. If you feel like PMing to talk about it, feel free.

[altpersona]

condolences amechra

[DonQuixote]

Amechra, let us raise our mead to the sky and drink.  Let us flavor it with the tears of our loss, that we may taste the salt of sorrow.  Let us relive all the joyous memories of our time with the departed.  Let us take these memories into our hearts and keep them there, that those who have died might never truly leave us.

They walk with us no more, but they shall never truly leave us while we keep them in our memories.

[Nanshork]

I hope everybody's life starts to suck a little bit less.   

[Kuroimaken]

No one seems all that interested in my exploits anymore. 

Sure, I tell them mostly for fun, not for adoration or anything like that, but it still kinda bums me out. I've actually got a new one to tell today, but I just feel a little blue about telling them.

[Halinn]

No one seems all that interested in my exploits anymore. 

Sure, I tell them mostly for fun, not for adoration or anything like that, but it still kinda bums me out. I've actually got a new one to tell today, but I just feel a little blue about telling them.

I, at least, find them interesting. I just don't like to comment on things if I do not feel I have something to add.