What do you want to hear? The last episode of MASH aired on this day in 1983. In general, I think that MASH got worse over time. The show never really recovered from the loss of McLean Stevenson. Potter just annoyed the hell out of me. And no offense to Mike Farrell, but the writers never managed to make “happily married man” thing work. Burns was always a bad character. In real life, that kind of chauvinism was very true of early 1950s America. But in the context of the series, he was impotent — he could never get the advantage over the leads. So in that way, the replacement of him with David Ogden Stiers was brilliant. And it was done in a way that was believable. But I’ll admit, the final episode did have its moments. But I think that was the last time I watched the final episode of anything. Because I just don’t care enough.
But also, just three years ago, Pope Benedict XVI stepped down. You would have thought that by now he would have had the good taste to die. But I suspect that he didn’t step down because he was physically unable to do the job. I think he simply understood that he couldn’t manage the child rape situation. So they figured, “Let’s get a Jesuit — they’re known for not being quite so horrible as the other orders.” Anyway, he turns 89 in April. I don’t know what to think of the Catholic Church at this time. But then, I don’t know what to think of most institutions. And child rape seems to be something that is very common in all the major religions that have big taboos about sex.
So there you go: pick your poison. There’s the end of MASH and there’s the end of Pope Benedict XVI. I don’t think anyone was that upset at seeing them go.
The first Vaudeville theatre opened but since that is like the only good thing to have happened this day…I understand why you are so down.
I’m so down because I continue to get unhinged emails. Person A says, “You must do things this way and now I am going to yell at you for an hour.” Person B says, “Is this what you want?” Person B waits. Person B says, “Is this what you want?” Person B waits. Person B says, “Is this what you want?” Person A says, “I’ve already worked on this! I will not work on this anymore!” And then eventually, “Yes, that is what I want.” When my wife was beating me to a pulp, I didn’t want her out of my life any more than I want this person out of my life. That’s why I’m down. Can’t wait to be done. When the book comes out, I put person A in my spam filter and never have anything to do with her again. Except for the occasional pathetic royalty check. There really are people put on this earth just to prove that there is no loving god.
I wish I could help but I don’t see how throwing her in jail would get any decent result. But I am a shoulder to cry on and an ear to yell into if you need it.
I now know how the Terror got going. If the rich had just calmed down, everything would have been the fine. But instead, they continued to think and say they were God’s chosen ones. So off with their heads!
I am not cleaning up the mess after you roll out the guillotine.
I will! As long as I get to my my landord’s head on a pike.
I was just talking to a friend about how I think it would be kind of cool to have your head cut off. I don’t want to die, but it would be interesting to know what it was like for the second or two when you would likely still be conscious.
That has always totally freaked me out, thinking about that. I suppose we could wire up a head and lop it off to see the EEG, but that would be rather barbaric. Unless it was my landlord’s head.
Or, if I die from a terminal disease instead of something instant like stroke/heart attack, maybe I should volunteer to be the test subject for this. I wonder what the legality of that would be. Some states do allow assisted suicide (all of them should, our man Terry P. was 100% right on this.)
Now I actually want to do this! People donate organs (I’m a donor, but I fear nothing of mine will be usable), you can even donate your body to criminal justice. Where, after you die, you get cut up/mangled/buried in a certain way, and forensics students can practice on you.
Why not let me get my head lopped off (only if I’m already dying, please!) It would help answer a question I’m sure people have been wondering about for centuries.
It is a thought that can take over your life. Of course, I’m sure in a lot of cases (maybe even all), the shock would cause unconsciousness and we would get nothing! I think we would need to perfect mind reading.
Yeah, it’s a bit grim. I’m dealing with a bad work injury and facing how neither my employer nor health “insurance” company wants to pay a dime for the rapidly mounting treatment costs, so I’m in something of a gruesome space. It’ll pass. Probably.
Oh God! I’m sorry. Are you in pain?
Yeah, back pain. Which was clearly caused by work, and the shooting pain started on the job, but the workmans’s comp insurance agency says I might have been carrying around sumo wrestlers in my spare time. Love the logic. Since back pain is caused by repeated stress to the muscles/spine, a job that features repeated stress to those areas isn’t responsible. It was probably that time you helped your friend move a sofa 20 years ago.
So I’m gonna be hit with a pretty major bill, and that sucks. But I can’t feel too sorry for myself since so many Americans have it as bad or worse. I just hope the pain goes away. The doctors are optimistic, but say it could be a month, three months . . .
And it is manageable with drugs, all of which are generic, so that’s good. The hardest part is figuring out what dosage to take at night. Too little and I roll around in my sleep too much, aggravating the pain. Too much and I wake up without having moved at all, and I’m sore as hell. I’m getting the hang of it!
It sounds like hell. I assume you can’t work either? Good luck with it. Just keep pushing. Bureaucracies loves to screw people around like this to prove you are really deserving.
@ Frank — If I could class-action sue them, I would — it’d be worth it to make these companies protect their workers. I could sue by myself, but the legal fees would be higher than my medical bills, and apparently there’s state court decisions on the books ruling employers are not liable in these cases.
What they’ve got me doing now is hanging around the corporate office. There’s not a paper-pushing job there I couldn’t learn in a week, but I’m given the most menial tasks. The idea, some in the know have told me, is I’ll get so bored that I’ll either go back to my old position or quit. It seems the legality of firing someone with an injury is tricky.
I feel like such a dumbass. I’ve had minor back pain for years. I should have quit long ago. Hell, I have quit, more than once. But I kept coming back because I’m not qualified to do anything else. It’s depressing, but I’ll figure something out, right? I pretty much haven’t got the option not to.
I did learn a funny thing today at therapy. Guess what the only use for a plastic shopping bag is (besides for picking up dog poop.) A homemade gym! You tie a knot in the bottom, close the knot in a door frame, thread a stretchy rubber strap through the two handles, and presto! You’ve got a workout machine to build up abdominal muscles.
I guess when you have a disc injury in your spine, your brain tells muscles in your back to overcompensate, tightening up. The tightness causes the pain, by irritating nerve endings. So you have to build up your abdominal strength, then your back muscles will stop spazzing out.
The anatomy-lesson part of all this is fascinating. I feel better walking briskly than sitting or standing still. Why? Because cerebrospinal fluid builds up around the injured area, pushing on the muscles/nerves. As you move around, the fluid is dissipated into your system — which is why I feel like I have to pee all the damn time.
(Oh, and BTW, that legend about a spinal tap of cerebrospinal fluid being able to detect LSD usage years after the fact? Pure myth. LSD breaks down pretty quickly. Although right now I could use some!)
Why, this is practically a post! I do find these things interesting. The body and brain are very silly designs.
I’m glad they aren’t firing you. But you do need to protect yourself. You should give yourself more credit, though; I’m not sure what this “qualified” business is.
I worked with a physical therapist once. It was a bitch. But I was amazed at how well it worked. They really do know what they are doing. I went from not being able to move my shoulder to complete mobility in not much more than a month. But the exercises did were incredibly painful. I’m glad I chose to trust.
Maybe this is a good time to start thinking about what else you can do. I suspect there is a lot. You write well. And I think about 95% of business is writing. I was working on an infographic and came upon a study that found like something like 30-40% of work time in corporate desk jobs involved writing and answering email.
Sometimes I just get sick of struggling all the damn time. But, all poor Americans have to, so I haven’t any special right to complain.
Maybe no special right but an extremely valid right. And when you consider how much the rich and powerful of this country are given a huge platform from which to whine, I think you should complain more.
I was thinking of my “difficult person.” She thinks Obama has destroyed the nation. But does she have any fewer rights? Has she does anything but grow ever more wealthy? It’s amazing. Those with a righteous reason to complain are mostly silent. Those who have nothing to complain about — who should, in fact, be grateful — do nothing but whine.
Thanks. It means a lot to have somebody besides my partner say I’m not a jerk, that I do have some grounds to be angry, here.
One thing I hadn’t thought of before; the Attorney General’s office. We have a good AG. If nothing else, maybe my complaining to the AG might force my employer to spend a few hundred bucks on billable lawyer hours. I’d be thrilled if that happened. Make the bastards pay a little bit for it.
Obama destroyed the nation . . . how, exactly? Through his ruthless compromising? His firm commitment to everything rich business interests stand for?
I’m guessing you need to marry your DP. Just jump into that horrible relationship, already. It’ll be great, I promise. (Note: I do not promise this and am not liable. Read the blog poster agreement, and press “yes.”)
Geez James! My body is falling apart and I don’t doing anything like what you do. (Or could.) AG could be good. So could your Congressional representative. They can be great at cutting through the bureaucratic BS.
Jonathan Chait wrote a funny article mocking Bobby Jindel about his comments that Obama’s thoughtful nature is what brought us Trump. But I do get mad at these rich people who do not see that they actually do better under Democratic administrations. But you see: it isn’t about the money. It is about having elected officials tripping over themselves telling you that you are the Great and Powerful Job Creator. Of course, it isn’t like they don’t get more than enough of that from the Democrats. My particular “difficult person” thinks she is a libertarian. She’s a landlord. I wonder what she would think of the lead smelting plant that her next door neighbor would be able to start up because the evil government was all gone. Oh, she would take them to a private court?! What if they had more money to buy off the judge? These people just don’t think. She’s typical: she’s made it with the old system (where she brags about how she’s used the tax system in ways that Milton Friedman rightly called “welfare”) and now she wants to pull the ladder up so no one can follow her.