Your cat hates your baby and wants to kill it
Not true!
There can’t be many people who still believe that cats deliberately suffocate babies by sucking the breath out of them, but in case you’re one of them, they don’t. That doesn’t mean a sleeping cat couldn’t accidentally suffocate a newborn baby (there are a few documented cases), so it makes sense to keep the cat out of the baby’s room for the first couple of months.
Pet myths, debunked. The rodent-type animals in this pet line-up are particularly soulful looking. I found this one the most disturbing:
Cats purr when they are happy: True, but they also purr when they’re in pain, and when they’re dying.
Sheila?
I Should Kick Myself
The entry into the garage. We had new siding put on the house three…four? years ago. At the time, they also put in new garage doors with openers, new windows in the media room (a 10′x25′ room on the south side of the house). Why I didn’t include this door in the deal is a mystery to me. I remember thinking, “Ooo, this is too much money.” But, honestly, what would another three or four hundred dollars have done to the loan, lien on the house over the course of fifteen years?
Nevermind the decaying concrete ruined by ten years of throwing “snow-melt” on top of it, that now needs to be ripped out and replaced. “All in good time,” I keep thinking. “All in good time.” And then there’s the landscaping. Oh, fuck it. The shoemaker’s kids go without shoes.
So. You want to go for it, do you?
No good will come of cloning Neanderthals.
from the comments
On the other hand, desires and dreams can be simultaneously robust and fragile, and a few words of heartfelt encouragement from a mysterious stranger can change a person’s life.
Dear Clusterflock
What is the opposite of militia?
dear clusterflock
What do you recommend?
Talking politics
From my friend Jerry:
I read recently that the United States is more politically divided today than it has been at any time in it’s history since the civil war. I read that many friends and families can’t even sit down to a decent meal and have a civil discussion about the politics of the day without someone storming off before dessert.
Today via numerous outlets all of us can get our current views and prejudices reinforced daily by seeking out like minded media and conversation.
…
How about we all try a little listening. How about we all, just one time every day or so, engage someone who we know has a different perspective from ours and listen to what they have to say.
No seriously, really listen.
dear clusterflock
Do not chase fame.
How to Probate and Settle an Estate in Texas
Office of Precinct 6 Justice of the Peace. Jim Wells County, Texas.
If you live outside the state, you will need to appoint a resident agent, and the letter of appointment must be notarized. You can usually scare up a notary in any office of a justice of the peace.
How do we grieve now?
Something has been confusing me this week, so I thought I’d ask you: are we still allowed to grieve? See, here’s the thing: when my dear Uncle Ray passed away last year–a profound loss–a friend told me two days later that I “wasn’t fun anymore”. I don’t think he meant it in the dickish way it sounds, but I would have to concede that I was not particularly playful, sarcastic, or mischievous a couple of days after the greatest loss in my life.
Earlier this week I put my dear 13-year-old cat Cassius to sleep. It was fairly unexpected–I had anticipated returning from the vet with a vial of medicine but instead came home with an empty carrier. I drank myself a bunch of whiskey that night and cried and kicked a lawn chair. My boy and I were close.
So, the next morning a close family member (would be better not to say which one, but it rhymes with “schmother-in-law”) saw me crying as I was typing a message at my computer and said, “You need to get over it and move on–pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” Less than 24hrs had passed. That felt to me like a punch in the stomach and a malicious disrespect to the memory of my friend. I have been unable to bring myself to speak to her since.
So, ‘flockers, that’s why I’m coming to you. I’m not looking for sympathy (though I’ll take it), but I’m really just trying to answer this question: what is the etiquette for grieving these days? Keep it totally to yourself? Cry at a funeral for an immediate family member but not beyond? Only for humans but not for pets? Between being no fun and taking too many hours to mourn a non-human, I’m just not sure what one does anymore.
What do you do?
Vote Now
VOTE NOW: GROUNDHOG MEAT or GROUND HOGMEAT
Thank you, Cindy.
Not only is Cindy Scroggins a performance artist, but she is an information specialist. If ever you are looking for lodging in the Dallas area, you just call up Cindy. She will not steer you wrong.
At The La Quinta Uptown, some of the rooms have heat. Mine even had hot running water for two or three minutes. If you want to wash but your timing is off, you can fill the sink with cold water, then add water you’ve boiled in the coffeemaker and give yourself a whore’s bath.
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Every now and again, it is brought to my attention
that a great stumbling block to general recognition of my value to society and culture is that I fail to recognize the importance of being earnest.
The Karaoke Murders
From this morning’s NY Times:
The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling “My Way” in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the “My Way Killings.”
The killings have produced urban legends about the song and left Filipinos groping for answers. Are the killings the natural byproduct of the country’s culture of violence, drinking and machismo? Or is there something inherently sinister in the song?
Brilliant offbeat journalism.
Fun facts about special sauce
As John Hodgman would say, more information than you require:
Click to embiggen
Experimental
Do you like experimental or noise music?
As I sit here listening to every single cover of Stevie Wonder’s “I Believe (When I Fall In Love)” it occurs to me that I haven’t shared one of the best resources for current movements in the noise/psychadelic/noise scene. Out here in Los Angeles, this is what’s happening. I’m not always into it myself, but I’ve been surprised. Like 99% of people who read this won’t even like it, so don’t feel bad but I’m hoping maybe the one person who really could use this info gets it.
Stunned Records is an incredible small distro with all the newest stuff, well worth a look. Artists on: Andreas Brandal, Sean McCann, Connector, Pine Smoke Lodge, and about a billion more.
Not Not Fun is the label with the goods. Artists on: Pocahaunted, Vibes, Sun Araw, Dylan Ettinger, Racc-oo-oon, The Goslings, Robedoor, tons of stuff like that.
fyi
Yours Truly
(via)
Protogez – vous
There’s a brilliant safe-sex ad running in France, which isn’t exactly safe for work.
But then again, it’s the weekend.
(via)
Update: [Deron] I moved it above the fold. I don’t want us to be too worried about NSFW.
Gertrude’s Ghost
A long complicated sentence should force itself upon you, make you know yourself knowing it and the comma, well at the most a comma is a poor period that it lets you stop and take a breath but if you want to take a breath you ought to know yourself that you want to take a breath.
– Gertrude Stein, qtd. here.
Quote out of context
A man cannot withstand a story, even if the man is remarkable and the story is simple. The story always wins.
“Bad pinhole,” she said.
Fuji 200 C-41 developed in expired Fomadon LQN for 10 minutes. Presoaked and rinsed in water.
“Why do I keep trying?” my Flickr friend asked. ” I just can’t make myself stop wasting film on this whole pinhole thing.”
The ensuing conversation is a long one, I warn you, but it’s a good one. You might enjoy reading it even if you’re not into the whole pinhole thing. People talk about what constitutes waste, about learning by experimenting, about what film is made of, about how to save money on food, about pinhole cameras — and about paranormal phenomena.
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Essential Components of a Home Defense System
Your air rifle. Your crank phone. Your guard cat.
Dear Clusterflock
Tell me the title of my next art piece.