malthaussen
malthaussen's JournalFor those who missed me, I had a stroke.
18 days in the hospital and therapy. A small bomb went off in my head and blew out my right-side coordination and balance. Typing is a bit of a chore since it is mostly left-handed. Since I can tend to my basic needs and get around with a walker, they sent me home today. Naturally I wanted my pals in the Lounge to know why I haven't been around.
I also have a newly-diagnosed case of diabetes (which seems to have caused the stroke), and I seriously think that's more of a pain than the stroke. Diabetes is expensive, man.
-- Mal
Slightly OT: for anyone who noticed I've been absent, I had a stroke.
18 days in the hospital and therapy. A small bomb went off in my head and blew out my right-side coordination and balance. Typing is a bit of a chore since it is mostly left-handed. Since I can tend to my basic needs and get around with a walker, they sent me home today. Naturally I wanted my pals in HoF to know why I haven't been around.
I also have a newly-diagnosed case of diabetes (which seems to have caused the stroke), and I seriously think that's more of a pain than the stroke. Diabetes is expensive, man.
-- Mal
It's not politics, but...
http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20141031_Merger_of_Abington__Jefferson_is_sign_of_the_future.htmlAbington Hospital and Jefferson are planning to merge, as are Penn and Lancaster.
Growing up where I have, I have watched Abington slowly but surely eat up what seems like 90% of the township. Amazing how much profit those places make.
"Standard & Poor's this month affirmed its "A" rating for Abington, citing unrestricted reserves of $676 million, enough to pay for 338 days of operations and more than twice its long-term debt."
Good thing, too, my mother gets her pension from Abington.
-- Mal
Annual plug for "A Night in the Lonesome October"
The late Roger Zelazny's Hallowe'en novel that comprised a unique love story and has five major plot twists in the last ten pages. And full of Zelazny's lyricism and wit.
-- Mal
Lyrics you must respond to.
Do you ever hear a song with lyrics that, every time you hear them, you just have to respond? I can think of a couple of examples right off:
Simon and Garfunkle, "America"
"Cathy, I'm lost, I said, though I knew she was sleeping.
I'm empty and aching and I don't know why."
Every time I hear that, I just have to reply "Well, maybe if you talked to her when she was awake, you might figure it out."
Or the Beatles, "I Saw Her Standing There"
"Well she was just seventeen, you know what I mean."
Well, no, actually John, I don't.
-- Mal
Marriage equality at the Appellate Level
Since the USSC has essentially left it up to the Courts of Appeals to decide marriage equality cases, here is a useful web site tracking litigation at the appellate level: http://www.freedomtomarry.org/litigation
The 5th circuit is pretty conservative. What do the legally-savvy have to say about the other Courts of Appeals?
-- Mal
Soldier, Ask Not
Soldier, ask not - now, or ever,
Where to war your banners go.
Anarch's legions all surround us.
Strike - and do not count the blow!
Glory, honor, praise and profit,
Are but toys of tinsel worth.
Render up your work, unasking,
Leave the human clay to earth.
Blood and sorrow, pain unending,
Are the portion of us all.
Grasp the naked sword, opposing,
Gladly in the battle fall.
So shall we, anointed soldiers,
Stand at last before the Throne,
Baptized in our wounds, red-flowing,
Sealed unto our Lord - alone!
(Gordon Dickson)
-- Mal
Computer game about... fire watching?
DemoTex ought to find this interesting...
http://www.firewatchgame.com/
-- Mal
My First Riot
In 1974, the Philadelphia Flyers won the Stanley Cup, and riots broke out all over the greater metropolitan area. My little village outside of the city experienced one of its own.
I generally try to avoid such things, but it was a lovely Spring night, I was 18 and had nothing better to do, and the riot was taking place only a few paces from my front door. So I went out to join, and fancied for a moment that I had gone back in time to VE Day.
There was considerable yelling and screaming, and milling about. I saw many people drinking something hidden in brown paper bags, possibly some peculiar weeds were being smoked as well -- it was 1974, after all. One young man, bereft of nether garments, climbed a lamppost and began shaking his finger at us all. Or perhaps it wasn't a finger, I blush to say. Strangers were embracing and kissing each other. I myself was granted a hug from a pretty young thing I never saw before or since, and I was still wearing trousers. It was grand and high-spirited chaos.
Down the street, the police were gathering to form a line to make us disperse. They had brought out the Black Maria -- a Chevrolet van not unlike the ice cream truck I was driving that season -- and the two patrol cruisers that were all my small community possessed. They were wearing their normal equipment, and carrying no shotguns, sniper rifles, or automatic weapons. Kevlar, in 1974, was a novel and expensive invention, and SWAT teams experiments confined to the great urban areas. I remember exactly how they began to move us along. "All right now, you've had your fun, it's time to disperse." They moved forward up the street, and the crowd, willy-nilly, "moved along" with a will. There was no tear gas, no rubber bullets. I doubt they were in the budget. Somehow, though, they dispersed us with only a few good-natured grumbles. Myself, being an 18 year-old smart aleck (totally unlike the 58 year-old smart aleck I am today), loudly asked a friend as we passed one officer, "I wonder what the penalty for loitering is." The officer, deadpan, told me it was 30 days or 150 dollars.
Well, that was a world ago, and a world apart from Ferguson, Missouri, and a celebration of a sporting victory is not of the same nature as an outraged protest over excessive police violence. And our communities were worlds apart as well: I lived in a 100% solid working-class white neighborhood. Indeed, I found out later that one of the police dispersing me was a guy I knew in high school. I wonder, sometimes, how our riot would go today. Much as we liked to grumble about our police -- we used to brag about how "tough" they were, in much the same way as we bragged about how bad our potholes were in winter -- yet there was a sense of community binding us all. They weren't our enemies, and we weren't theirs. We'd just had our fun, and now it was time to go home.
-- Mal
Florida Girl Makes Varsity High School Football Team
A little light news for the weekend. I regret I can't post pix, but my cousin in FLA tells me the granddaughter of some friends has made the varsity football team for the Dunedin Falcons. It should go without saying that she's the only girl on the squad, and probably in the conference.
Oddly enough, this doesn't even seem to have made the local papers. Which is encouraging, in a way. If a girl making the football team isn't news, then that means it's normal, right?
So, maybe we should all give a hearty "Go Dunedin!"
-- Mal
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Member since: Sat Sep 24, 2011, 10:36 AMNumber of posts: 17,217
