Random randomness

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Sat Jun 24, 2017 1:11 am

Daehawk wrote:My wife is watching The Waltons on retro tv or something. I look over and theres Richard Hatch on that episode. Captain Apollo from Battlestar Galactica and such.

So...not this guy, then.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Sat Jun 24, 2017 9:56 am

I wonder how many drunk wannabes wrecked their cars after watching too much DoH.

KDH · Post by **KDH** » Sat Jun 24, 2017 10:19 pm

...

... Is this Mike Meyers?

Spoiler:

Mike Myers’s Strange Resurfacing on “The Gong Show”

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Jun 24, 2017 10:26 pm

Doesn't even look like him to me.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sun Jun 25, 2017 12:58 am

It isn't supposed to. He's wearing a prosthetic.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sun Jun 25, 2017 2:58 am

We've been gradually acclimating our cats to the outdoors. In the past we always had one veteran cat who could teach the rookie the ropes, but this time around we have two rookies who think our idea of "gradually" is a joke. Augustus (Gus) often stays out overnight, dozing under his favorite shrub. Tiberius (Beery) is more of a homebody; as long as the door stays cracked, he'll go in and out a dozen times, and he never strays far.

Last Tuesday night I let Beery out later than usual because Gus was doing his usual hard-to-get thing, and sometimes Beery persuades him to come in. That didn't go as planned. Beery poked his head back in once, and then disappeared. I finally went to bed at 2:30 with both cats still outdoors.

The next morning Gus came in for breakfast but Beery was still nowhere to be found. That being totally out of character, we posted lost cat notices on various local forums and sites, and notified the company that microchipped him. Wednesday came and went with no sign of Beery. On Thursday I posted some flyers on telephone poles within a 2-block radius (conventional wisdom says cats almost always go to ground within five houses from home). I also alerted a couple of neighbors and our mailman. By now we're fairly convinced that a coyote must've gotten him, as happened to Webster 10-ish years ago. Gus went into a deep depression, losing interest in everything, sleeping all day and yowling all night -- he and Beery are wombmates who've never been separated in their lives. As upset as we were, Gus was heartbroken...and of course we couldn't explain anything to him, nor could he tell us if he'd seen anything.

On Friday someone a few blocks away reported seeing a stray black cat under her porch, which is accessible to cats through three stone pipes, but entirely off limits to humans. Her description didn't sound like Beery -- she said it was a longhair -- but when I shone a light in there I saw a yellow reflection that was the right dimensions for a cat collar. He'd been wearing a yellow breakaway Star Trek collar when he went missing. But whatever it was was a good 20' in and there was no way to retrieve it. Even if I'd had a long enough pole, I couldn't simultaneously put my arm through the pipe and look through it.

I put up more posters in that area.

Saturday being the first day that people would be home and outdoors, I held out some faint hope that he might be spotted, if he were still alive. The day passed with no results, and we went from being 90% sure that he was dead to being 98% sure.

Late Saturday night, as Wife was tearfully explaining death to Gus, Beery showed up at the front door. He was ravenous but otherwise none the worse for wear -- no injuries, not emaciated, and his coat even looked like he'd been grooming. We'll have to check him over for fleas or other subtle damage, but he looks healthy and happy to be home.

I wish he could tell us where he was and what he did. He must have an epic story.

So how about that? Happy pet news for a change!

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Jun 25, 2017 3:37 am

If he isn't fixed he's just been out tom catting.

tjg_marantz · Post by **tjg_marantz** » Sun Jun 25, 2017 4:53 am

Z-Corn · Post by **Z-Corn** » Sun Jun 25, 2017 11:22 am

I wonder if Beery got trapped in someone's garage or something?

Glad he made it home!

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sun Jun 25, 2017 12:49 pm

Daehawk wrote:If he isn't fixed he's just been out tom catting.

Both cats were road-ready when we got them from a "foster pet" agency -- neutered, vaccinated, microchipped, and vet-inspected. Cost us $200 apiece to cover all of that. They had been rescued from the streets of NYC when they were just a few weeks old, so they were born outdoor cats.

Z-Corn wrote:I wonder if Beery got trapped in someone's garage or something?

That's the leading theory, but because he wasn't weak and emaciated I think he might have been able to grab some not-fast-enough food. Maybe it was a mousy garage. We'll never know.

Shortly after Wife laid down the law about making them indoor cats forevermore, Gus shot out the front door this morning. When they are determined to escape, it only takes a couple of seconds and a momentary lapse of attention. After being confined to quarters for the past four days he will no doubt stay out overnight again, as is his habit. I only hope he doesn't go on an odyssey of his own.

They make their own choices, and ultimately they will train us to go along with what they want. I pointed out that Beery has demonstrated mastery of the outdoors by surviving four days out there on his own.

Now Wife is lobbying to rebuild our front porch to enclose it and form an "airlock." If we did that, they would no doubt spend most of their time on the porch, waiting for that outer door to open. We'd need a protocol for making sure they're inside the closed house door before we open the proposed porch door. It would be an expensive solution that only works when we come and go together so we can coordinate the cat/door situation. Otherwise they would find opportunities to exploit, and we'd be out a few thousand bucks without having really solved anything.

We are trying to be responsible cat parents, but these guys are headstrong adolescents. If they decide to dedicate all of their time and effort to escaping, they're bound to succeed occasionally.

RunningMn9 · Post by **RunningMn9** » Sun Jun 25, 2017 1:09 pm

gbasden wrote:I can definitely see that. I haven't had the leisure of a job that stopped at 5, though, with the demands of after hours IT work. I used to be chained to a desk, then expected to stay late to perform maintenance or deal with a crashed server. If I could be guaranteed I'd never have to work more than a strict 8-5 and I could always leave work at work I might feel differently. With the responsibilities I have I'd rather have the flexibility to get my work done when it's convenient for me. I was able to get a couple hours of work done when I had insomnia last night which means I can sleep in tomorrow morning.

I hear ya on that. Working for the US taxpayer is such that I am not allowed to work more than 80 hours per pay period (2 weeks), on pain of death.

It can happen but requires a number of approvals first which makes it very rare.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Sun Jun 25, 2017 1:09 pm

Kraken wrote:We are trying to be responsible cat parents, but these guys are headstrong adolescents. If they decide to dedicate all of their time and effort to escaping, they're bound to succeed occasionally.

What about GPS tracking collars? Treat your felines like felons!

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sun Jun 25, 2017 2:08 pm

Max Peck wrote:
Kraken wrote:We are trying to be responsible cat parents, but these guys are headstrong adolescents. If they decide to dedicate all of their time and effort to escaping, they're bound to succeed occasionally.
What about GPS tracking collars? Treat your felines like felons!

I explored those a couple of years ago. There were two versions:

One was cell tower based. It cost a monthly fee and the batteries had to be replaced frequently -- we all know how GPS sucks down battery juice. Also, the collar won't get a signal if the cat is, say, under a porch.

The other was RF. Those have very limited range. You have to be within 50 feet or so to pick up the signal. If your pet is that close, odds are you're going to find it anyway.

Someday someone will invent an affordable and practical collar that lets you track your pet on your smartphone, but that day isn't here yet.

I'd consider a collar that lights up on command. Illuminated collars exist, but they have to be switched on or off manually. If I could trigger it only when my pet is missing, and do it from a long distance, I'd go for that. Doesn't exist AFAIK.

This raises the question of breakaway collars -- we have already bought four of those, and now we need another one. Seems like the cats always manage to ditch them just when they're most needed. Wife is opposed to switching to normal collars because she knows of two people's pets who accidentally asphyxiated themselves. I'm skeptical that it's really that common but she insists. As long as I have to keep replacing the collars and tags every few weeks or months I am not inclined to spend a lot on them.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Sun Jun 25, 2017 2:10 pm

I never understood having an outdoor cat. Why not choose a squirrel in you back yard? You see it about as often and you can feed it if you want too. And it's about as friendly. And it probably doesn't bother the neighbors as much.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sun Jun 25, 2017 3:08 pm

There is a big difference between a cat that lives outdoors and one that goes outdoors. Beery's very affectionate. Gus...well, he's more independent. But they're a pair. Yin and yang.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sun Jun 25, 2017 10:59 pm

ABC News, Charleston, SC

A woman is suing the parent company and employees of a West Ashley nursing home, after her 90-year-old grandmother wandered off and was killed by an alligator.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon Jun 26, 2017 9:09 am

Kraken wrote:They make their own choices, and ultimately they will train us to go along with what they want. I pointed out that Beery has demonstrated mastery of the outdoors by surviving four days out there on his own.

...

We are trying to be responsible cat parents, but these guys are headstrong adolescents. If they decide to dedicate all of their time and effort to escaping, they're bound to succeed occasionally.

When we moved in to our house out in the woods, my wife almost immediately lost three cats to predators in the night. We weren't sure about the first, we heard the second scream at 1:00am, and the third escaped during the day and had its own 2:00am scream. All of them had been indoor/outdoor cats up to that point. The last learned lessons about not being an escapist asshole (like having a screen door suddenly closed into its face when it tried to bolt), and the subsequent cats haven't been allowed outside - so if they slip out, they're paralyzed by the size of "outside" and are easy to bring back in.

As the only 'intelligent' species in our house, I consider it our duty to keep the other animals from harming themselves. Left to their own devices, nature will be nature - they will likely die early and possibly horribly. We keep them as pets and not food for fishers and coyotes or meat for roadkill.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Jun 26, 2017 12:15 pm

I just found out that my sister in California has lung cancer, with the possibility that it has spread to her brain (she's having an MRI today.) She's still early in the process, but her chances are not good. Not only that, but that diagnosis is exactly the one that took our mother in '81, so it is hitting her pretty hard. My sister was 16 when I was born (she's 60 now), and has a grown son in his very early 20s with significant enough autism that he's not really self-sufficient. The father is not in the picture. It is not a good situation.

From a more selfish perspective, she's my only remaining relative that I've ever had any real relationship with. I've got a few elderly aunts and uncles, but they were the 'drop by on Thanksgiving' type, not close family.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Jun 26, 2017 12:19 pm

I'm sorry to hear it, Blackhawk. Hope the MRI result is the best available.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Jun 26, 2017 1:23 pm

And the last post this thread will ever need.

http://inspirobot.me/

http://generated.inspirobot.me/049/aXm9956xjU.jpg

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Jun 26, 2017 2:40 pm

I was kidding...

Video of my in my late teens early 20s...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0TaYhjpOfo

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Mon Jun 26, 2017 4:12 pm

i was trying to figure out if Hawkwind's song (and subsequent live album) "Master of the Universe" was the inspiration for the name of the Mattel toy line "Masters of the Universe", but i can't find any corroborating information.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Mon Jun 26, 2017 5:35 pm

Blackhawk wrote:I just found out that my sister in California has lung cancer, with the possibility that it has spread to her brain (she's having an MRI today.) She's still early in the process, but her chances are not good. Not only that, but that diagnosis is exactly the one that took our mother in '81, so it is hitting her pretty hard. My sister was 16 when I was born (she's 60 now), and has a grown son in his very early 20s with significant enough autism that he's not really self-sufficient. The father is not in the picture. It is not a good situation.

From a more selfish perspective, she's my only remaining relative that I've ever had any real relationship with. I've got a few elderly aunts and uncles, but they were the 'drop by on Thanksgiving' type, not close family.

Thinking of you and your family, Blackhawk.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Mon Jun 26, 2017 7:46 pm

Paingod wrote:
Kraken wrote:They make their own choices, and ultimately they will train us to go along with what they want. I pointed out that Beery has demonstrated mastery of the outdoors by surviving four days out there on his own.

...

We are trying to be responsible cat parents, but these guys are headstrong adolescents. If they decide to dedicate all of their time and effort to escaping, they're bound to succeed occasionally.
When we moved in to our house out in the woods, my wife almost immediately lost three cats to predators in the night. We weren't sure about the first, we heard the second scream at 1:00am, and the third escaped during the day and had its own 2:00am scream. All of them had been indoor/outdoor cats up to that point. The last learned lessons about not being an escapist asshole (like having a screen door suddenly closed into its face when it tried to bolt), and the subsequent cats haven't been allowed outside - so if they slip out, they're paralyzed by the size of "outside" and are easy to bring back in.

As the only 'intelligent' species in our house, I consider it our duty to keep the other animals from harming themselves. Left to their own devices, nature will be nature - they will likely die early and possibly horribly. We keep them as pets and not food for fishers and coyotes or meat for roadkill.

This isn't the right thread to revive the old indoor/outdoor debate. Let's just say there are arguments to be made for both, and we don't live in a rural area.

The point is semi-moot because these guys made the decision themselves. They were indoor cats for their first year. At some point, one of them discovered a weak window screen that could easily be popped out, and they both escaped. By the time we (and they) realized that ALL of our screens are vulnerable, and that the window only needs to be open 2" for them to pull their trick, they had pulled off half a dozen more escapes and demonstrated knowledge of doors as re-entry portals. By then they'd been out so many times that they decided to dedicate their lives to escape, so we capitulated and decided to try to normalize their outings in hopes of regaining more control over their comings and goings. We were making progress until Beery pulled his four-day odyssey.

Now we're trying to confine them to quarters until we can at least fit them with new tags and safety collars that they can't easily get out of. They are not happy about this. Once they've tasted freedom, you can't put that genie back in the bottle.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Jun 26, 2017 11:25 pm

LordMortis wrote:I was kidding...

Video of my in my late teens early 20s...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0TaYhjpOfo

Going to have to take away their fermented oil.

And damn Blackhawk. You need a break man. Sorry about the sister. Mine was 15 when I was born and is now 63. Lung cancer took my mom in 93.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Tue Jun 27, 2017 8:19 am

Daehawk wrote:And damn Blackhawk. You need a break man. Sorry about the sister.

I'll +100 that. That's shitty news.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 2:25 am

I wish that idiot in China would get tired of trying to log into my Yahoo account. He has been trying for months and Im tired of getting the emails about it.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 1:03 pm

My first ever visit to shrink today and I never saw this coming. She says before we worry about anything else, I can have no joy in my life if I can't get better sleep. She is insisting I go back to the sleep labs and get another study done and be refit for another CPAP. In the meantime, she's putting me on stimulants, if my insurers will let me have them.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 1:09 pm

As someone that was staring at the clock from 2am until 3:30 this morning because of stress, I agree with her completely. Insomnia isn't something I normally deal with (a few random night a year at most) and I can't imagine the hell that must be to experience true insomnia as I'm all messed up today. I'm hoping the adrenaline rush from using a chainsaw will help jolt me out of the haze I've been in since 7:30 this morning. Operating a chainsaw seems like a great idea now, right? Weee.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 1:09 pm

It should be 1/3 of your life. If it's not good, it's likely to impact the rest of it.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 1:25 pm

Just procrastinating renting my first CPAP machine.

Rent first, get data, give data to doctor, adjust machine, eventually buy machine.

I've already been through 2 sleep tests and those kind of sucked. Which surprised me, because you would think it would be a fairly non-stressful thing. A billion wires and a strange bed meant I barely slept for the first test. The second test (with CPAP this time) was better, but not great.

Default · Post by **Default** » Wed Jun 28, 2017 1:43 pm

Rectum?

It neary KILLED him!

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Thu Jun 29, 2017 3:26 pm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... ility.html

City life destroys a man's ability to conceive: Noisy suburban streets significantly reduce fertility by lowering sperm count and testosterone levels

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Jun 29, 2017 3:35 pm

Someone really needs to be explain to me how Inspirobot works.

My first personal inspiration of the day

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Jun 29, 2017 4:02 pm

I'm all about the poutine but not on a dounut.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/tim-hor ... -1.4182768

apparently available on in three spots on the US

http://www.freep.com/story/life/2017/06 ... 433562001/

Rochester Hills? What an strange choice.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Thu Jun 29, 2017 5:02 pm

Rip wrote:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... ility.html

City life destroys a man's ability to conceive: Noisy suburban streets significantly reduce fertility by lowering sperm count and testosterone levels

Why are conservatives always so concerned about my bodily fluids? Besides, I already have enough kids!

Z-Corn · Post by **Z-Corn** » Thu Jun 29, 2017 6:19 pm

LordMortis wrote:I'm all about the poutine but not on a dounut.

Yeah, I can dig on a sweet and salty combo but this is just gross...

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Fri Jun 30, 2017 7:04 am

All these years I thought I had seen Jumanji. Turns out I actually watched Zathura: A Space Adventure. Loved that movie. Now I dont know why I didn't watch Jumanji back then.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Fri Jun 30, 2017 11:17 am

Attention world: After nearly two decades as a Levi's 514 man, I have switched to Levi's 511 jeans.

You may now resume your daily business.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Fri Jun 30, 2017 11:51 am

As a kid I wore Wrangler jeans. But say from age 13-25 or so I was pure button fly Levis 501. Not sure when I changed but one day my 501s were worn out...still have them packed away....and since then I have no idea what i wear. i think they are Levis though. Maybe 505?..cant remember at all.