Small Talk: Out of Genoa

[PatsyandEddie]

Oh AngelKitty, I’m so sorry! Our fur babies are such important parts of our lives that their losses are heavy and the timing is so terrible ( not that it’s ever easy ) when you are already dealing with your own health issues. Life can be so difficult sometimes. Giant, warm bear hugs for you! ❤️

RIP little Nelson 😢

[Cupid Stunt]

1 hour ago, AngelKitty said:

Gracious Father, look down upon AngelKitty and have mercy on her. Your faithful missionary and loving companion Nelson has died. Our friend is bereft, and we ask Your guidance from grief into Your divine grace and understanding, accepting Nelson's loyal spirit to rest in the perpetual light of Your mercy. Amen. 

(((AngelKitty)))

I'm so sorry, dear.

[Cupid Stunt]

• Ticketmaster and Live Nation fees draw ire -- Finally. Going after the legalized secondary ticket sales market next?

• Why a pop idol's stand against her assault sparked outrage in Japan

• How a new law aimed at streaming music brought the industry and Congress together

• A songwriter says Lady Gaga’s “Shallow” is a copycat. It’s a huge reach. -- After Katy Perry lost an alarming copyright case, another found its way to Lady Gaga’s doorstep.

• KATY PERRY VS. FLAME LAWSUIT -- Introducing Rick Beato ( longtime friend and music producer): Rick discusses and demonstrates the songs Dark Horse by Katy Perry and Joyful Noise by Flame. The lawsuit was decided against Katy Perry and he examines the similarities and differences between the two songs.

• We measured pop music’s falsetto obsession -- From Justin Timberlake to the Bee Gees, we charted the popularity of men singing high. 

• Inspired by Fela, Nigeria’s Burna Boy blazes trail in the US

• African American flood victims line up to get food and clothing from a Red Cross relief station in front of billboard ironically extolling "WORLD'S HIGHEST STANDARD OF LIVING / THERE'S NO WAY LIKE THE AMERICAN WAY." -- The Photography of Margaret Bourke-White

• Coachella: Why all music festival-goers look the same -- Thank the Weekend Warrior Hippies of the Glastonbury Music Festival.

• How to be more frugal (without seeming like a cheapskate) -- Frugal people still enjoy spending money. They just want to maximize that money to reduce stress.

• How to quit Facebook without quitting Facebook -- Jenny Odell’s How to Do Nothing makes the case for keeping your Facebook account, staying on Twitter, checking your email, but doing it all differently, and “not as asked.” (And not as self-help.)

• CEO of Israeli spyware-maker NSO on fighting terror, Khashoggi murder, and Saudi Arabia -- An Israeli company licenses software around the world that can crack just about any smartphone, but is its use always on the side of good?

• ‘Miracle house’ in Ohio draws pilgrims amid sainthood push

• Eataly severs ties with Mario Batali amid misconduct scandal -- Old news, but it took over two years for B&B to get rid of Batali when Joe Bastianich was removed almost immediately.

• Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich Fostered a ‘Boys’ Club’ Culture of Misconduct at Restaurants, Dozens Allege -- Staffers at B&B Hospitality Group restaurants claim the owners’ “sleazy” behavior -- including Bastianich’s -- emboldened others to act similarly

Hungry?

• Inside L.A. Hero Danny Trejo's Big, Beautiful Mexican Restaurant Empire

• The Adults In The Room -- There is a version of the story of this company in which idealistic journalists, unconcerned with profit, are posed against ruthless business-doers, concerned about profit above all else. That would be a convenient story, pitching me and my colleagues and friends as people who just care too much about The Truth to yield before the gale-force winds of Capitalism, but it wouldn’t be a true one.

• Work is going global. American Factory’s directors explain how they captured its challenges. -- The documentary is a fascinating look into the future.

• Home health aides care for the elderly. Who will care for them? -- One of the fastest-growing jobs in America is also one of the hardest.

• Aquarela is the most metal documentary about water you will ever see

• Cracking the code of dyslexia

• Families transformed by gun violence -- At least 272 mass shootings have occurred this year in the U.S., according to the Gun Violence Archive. People who have lost their loved ones in past shootings talk about how the attacks have changed their communities forever.

• A Nation of Survivors: The Toll of Gun Violence in America -- “The fact is gun violence has taken so many lives. And not just in Florida or D.C. or Chicago. Gun violence is everywhere and, as a nation, we need to be paying more attention to the problem.”

• Blood Pressure and Alzheimer's Risk: What's the Connection?

• Revealing the new face of a 3.8-million-year-old early human ancestor -- A complete skull belong to an early human ancestor has been recovered in Ethiopia. A composite of the 3.8 million-year-old cranium of Australopithecus anamensis is seen here alongside a facial reconstruction.

• DNA analysis traces African slaves back to their roots

• Jet-car speed racer Jessi Combs dies trying to break record

If you didn't know who Rosalía was before, she's making sure you do now. The Spanish singer was nominated for four awards at MTV's 2019 Video Music Awards Monday night, taking home Best Latin Video and Best Choreography with J Balvin for their song "Con Altura."

Edited August 29, 2019 by Cupid Stunt

[peacheslatour]

Oh, AngelKitty, what a run of horribleness you endured in the last week. I'm so sorry. I feel so bad for you right now. (((hugs)))

[lovemesomejoolery]

10 hours ago, AngelKitty said:

My little Nelson passed away yesterday Rest in peace sweet kitty 8/17/01 - 8/28/19.

I am so sorry to hear this.  You've had a very tough week here.  Please take care of yourself!

Peace to sweet Nelson!

[peacheslatour]

1 minute ago, lovemesomejoolery said:

I am so sorry to hear this.  You've had a very tough week here.  Please take care of yourself!

Peace to sweet Nelson!

I'm sure Nelson had the best life ever. He got all the noms, loves and scritches in the world.

[valleycliffe]

we are getting new kitchen countertops next month.

installer came yesterday to take measurements and stuff and told bob what had to be done before installation..water shut off, kitchen drawers removed etc...i originally wanted marble or quartz but after looking at the prices of those we settled on formica..

hubby has to go to the shop tomorrow and give them a 50% deposit and then we wait.  

LOL  while they were taking measurements  hubby called me in and we are going to add about 9" to the top of the peninsula so that we would have sort of a bar you can sit at.  also i can use the extra space when cooking.

[peacheslatour]

16 minutes ago, valleycliffe said:

we are getting new kitchen countertops next month.

installer came yesterday to take measurements and stuff and told bob what had to be done before installation..water shut off, kitchen drawers removed etc...i originally wanted marble or quartz but after looking at the prices of those we settled on formica..

hubby has to go to the shop tomorrow and give them a 50% deposit and then we wait.  

LOL  while they were taking measurements  hubby called me in and we are going to add about 9" to the top of the peninsula so that we would have sort of a bar you can sit at.  also i can use the extra space when cooking.

That sounds awesome. When we redid our kitchen I wanted a glossy counter top but you couldn't get glossy laminate in solid colors so I opted for a faux marble laminate. This was 1982 and it still looks fantastic today.

[OhioSongbird]

Oh AngelKitty...I'm sending ((hugs)) your way, too.  He looks a lot like my Casper.  The term fur babies is apt.  We love 'em quirks and all. 

Counters....we built our house in 1999 and I got to design the interior and I put in a large island \_/ (don't know how to put in the top part but you get the gist) with a 10" overhang on the far side so people could sit on stools at it.  Love it.  I always wanted one and the 1901 Victorian we lived in for 25 yrs...damn, I still think about that house everyday and I miss it...lots of memories as we raised boychild there but I digress.  It is the control center of my kitchen.

...and AngelKitty...another one will find you.  After what you've been thru the love is on it's way.

Edited August 29, 2019 by OhioSongbird

[boes]

15 hours ago, AngelKitty said:

My little Nelson passed away yesterday Rest in peace sweet kitty 8/17/01 - 8/28/19.

Oh Angelkitty, love to you, you need a break, not losing that inestimable source of unconditional love, Nelson.

I'm so very sorry.

[Snaporaz]

15 hours ago, AngelKitty said:

What a handsome cat .  When we all go to The Kingdom, Nelson will show us all of the good places to hide.  Be at peace, sweet boy.

5 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

I'm sure Nelson had the best life ever. He got all the noms, loves and scritches in the world.

For 18 years and 11 days!  It still is never enough... I'm so sorry, @AngelKitty.  

3 hours ago, OhioSongbird said:

Oh AngelKitty...I'm sending ((hugs)) your way, too.  He looks a lot like my Casper.  The term fur babies is apt.  We love 'em quirks and all.

...and AngelKitty...another one will find you.  After what you've been thru the love is on it's way.

Amen to that.

Edited August 30, 2019 by Snaporaz

[Cupid Stunt]

Mr.Stunt and I just arrived Mackinac Island for a vacation. We're splurging for our anniversary, 2 whole weeks of no pencils, ratings book or co-workers dirty looks. Have a good Friday and a Happy Labor Day Weekend! You earned it!

[pearlite]

AngelKitty, I'll pray for comfort, health, and peace for you.

[AngelKitty]

Thanks so much for all your support. This has been so hard on me because I hate to admit when I'm sick. I just have to ask other people to do things for me. Yesterday I tried to clean the kitchen and I was feeling funny so I stopped. I had a major trauma to my body and I have to realize that and not do too much.

[valleycliffe]

happy anniversary mr and mrs stunt....have fun

[boes]

2 hours ago, Cupid Stunt said:

Mr.Stunt and I just arrived Mackinac Island for a vacation. We're splurging for our anniversary, 2 whole weeks of no pencils, ratings book or co-workers dirty looks. Have a good Friday and a Happy Labor Day Weekend! You earned it!

Congratulations and have a great time!!  Mackinac Island is pretty wonderful, and what a nice change this must be for the two of you.

Have a wonderful time!

[bannana]

6 hours ago, Cupid Stunt said:

Mr.Stunt and I just arrived Mackinac Island for a vacation. We're splurging for our anniversary, 2 whole weeks of no pencils, ratings book or co-workers dirty looks. Have a good Friday and a Happy Labor Day Weekend! You earned it!

Ohhh, Lake Huron is my favourite!  Sounds so lovely. ⛱️🌞📵

[Cupid Stunt]

6 hours ago, AngelKitty said:

Thanks so much for all your support. This has been so hard on me because I hate to admit when I'm sick. I just have to ask other people to do things for me. Yesterday I tried to clean the kitchen and I was feeling funny so I stopped. I had a major trauma to my body and I have to realize that and not do too much.

Try to be kind to yourself, AngelKitty. Allow others to help you, to be with you -- They need and want to extend the same love and support you have given them. You've had a big health scare and a profound personal loss. Take this time to recuperate and mourn with the people that love you.

Please. We want you around a long time, Honey.

5 hours ago, valleycliffe said:

happy anniversary mr and mrs stunt....have fun

5 hours ago, boes said:

Congratulations and have a great time!!  Mackinac Island is pretty wonderful, and what a nice change this must be for the two of you.

Have a wonderful time!

1 hour ago, bannana said:

Ohhh, Lake Huron is my favourite!  Sounds so lovely. ⛱️🌞📵

Thank you!

We've always wanted to visit to Mackinac Island, and it sat in the middle of our Travel List for years. I am so happy we decided to make this trip just for us. It is so beautiful! Cool temperatures, brilliant blue skies, a few leaves starting to turn gold and red, forests, glacial-cut lakes, pebbled beaches, low-key/horse-drawn ambiance. Sweatshirts and jeans casual.

We're on a fishing charter on Lake Huron right now (Wifi is everywhere) -- I caught my limit of lake trout (3/12", threw back one) and Mr.Stunt has a Northern Pike he's going to release -- A fresh trout dinner is going to be fantastic!

It's our 26th anniversary. We went to Chincoteague Island, VA with the whole family for our 25th anniversary last summer, so we decided to do something more laid back this year. Thing2 is back to school/housesitting to maintain the gardens and keep Melvin from running amok; he was sullen and cranky after his last kennel stay, but get's a little cootsie by himself for more than a couple of days.

Edited August 30, 2019 by Cupid Stunt

[peacheslatour]

Quote

We're on a fishing charter on Lake Huron right now (Wifi is everywhere) -- I caught my limit of lake trout (3/12", threw back one) and Mr.Stunt has a Northern Pike he's going to release -- A fresh trout dinner is going to be fantastic!

Mmmm lake trout! My fav. Sounds like you are having a wonderful anniversary, I hope you have a blast.

[Cupid Stunt]

• Florida citizens and Preverts, keep us updated on your situation -- The storm is expected to slam Florida on Labor Day

• Are we doing enough to prevent human extinction? -- Journalist Bryan Walsh explains why the threat of extinction is bigger than you think and why we need to prepare now

• How not to get scammed, according to a former con artist -- Frank Abagnale of Catch Me If You Can fame explains why we’re in the golden age of scamming.

• This guy gets it. Now if his superiors would listen -- 'I am talking directly to you': US attorney delivers powerful rebuke to white nationalists

• Black children are being killed in St. Louis. Their deaths are going unsolved. -- At least a dozen black children have been shot and killed in the city since April. Their deaths are part of a larger problem

• How a Ring of Women Allegedly Recruited Girls for Jeffrey Epstein

• Wave of child sex abuse lawsuits threatens Boy Scouts

• 41 charged in opioid ring allegedly responsible for distribution of 23 million pills

• Let's throw a lot of fentanyl on the opioid epidemic --How America’s opioid epidemic could get even worse -- A new report warns about the possibility of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, going west.

• World's 2nd-largest Ebola outbreak surpasses 3,000 cases

• China tariffs: New duties target clothing, TVs, other consumer goods -- I tried to get as much Christmas shopping done during Amazon Prime and after. There are lots of Labor Day sales on new mech, so try to get ahead of the tariffs pricing.

• US intel report says mysterious Russian explosion was triggered by recovery mission of nuclear-powered missile, not a test

• The northern lights will be visible as far south as Wisconsin and Michigan over Labor Day weekend

• California Is Considering The Strictest Vaccine Law In The Country After Anti-Vaxxers Gamed The System -- Most states allow a variety of exemptions to vaccine laws, but that's not enough to keep kids safe, says the doctor behind the California bill.

• City of Milwaukee urges residents to stop vaping 'immediately'; 89% of Wisconsin sick cite THC

• The risk level is 'critical' for a mosquito-borne virus in dozens of Massachusetts communities

• Art School: The scandalous painting that helped create modern art -- Western art followed the same rules for centuries. Until “Olympia.”

• Panera is losing nearly 100% of its workers every year as fast-food turnover crisis worsens

• Peloton, a bike company, claims it “sells happiness” and is “so much more than a bike” -- Behind the easy-to-parody language, the new IPO candidate is a cultural touchstone and a real business.

Musical Structure Analysis by Rick Beato: What Makes This Song Great? Ep. 3 Steely Dan -- Kid Charlemagne

[OhioSongbird]

Happy Anniversary Stunts!  

I'm jealous....always wanted to go there.  We used to camp at Lake Erie with our friends every summer at East Harbor State Park and take the Port Clinton ferry to Put-In-Bay.  No cars, great clubs, awesome seafood stands, you walk everywhere.  Lots of fun.  We'd charter a boat and fish for walleye, take them to the fish cleaning shop (those women can fillet a fish in record time), fry some up over the campfire that night in my old 12" cast iron skillet and ice down the rest to take home.  Ah....good times and good eatin'.

Those were the days my friend...we thought they'd never end.

Now that I've given y'all an earworm....ta!

Raise a glass for me Stunts!

[peacheslatour]

Quote

- Kid Charlemagne

Love, love, love Sreely Dan. We saw them at the Ste. Michel Winery a few years back.  The winery has a big amphitheater attached. They were utterly flawless. It was a beautiful summer evening and they always have hot air balloons floating above in the sky.

[OhioSongbird]

Royal Scam is one of my all time favorite albums.

Donald Fagan and the late, great Walter Becker were genius.  The harmonies on Peg (on Aja, another fave) with Michael McDonald...whom I adore, too...were perfect.  I really can't think of a song that isn't good they recorded.  They gathered the best studio folks around.

[Petunia13]

@AngelKitty I’m so so sorry for your loss. It doesn’t seem fair the ones with purest hearts and best spirits are here for such a short time. I also hope you are recovering well and feeling better ❤️ Lots of love and prayers sent for you, sweet cutie Nelson,  and your other babies. 

The man who broke into my car and tried to take me has his preliminary hearing next week. I have to meet or teleconference with the assistant state’s attorney and victim coordinator after. The guys still in jail and has a public defender.

Happy anniversary @Cupid Stunt sounds like you had a wonderful time. Although, from everything you’ve shared over the years it seems like you always make fun wherever you are and the best daily 😊 you’d make a party out of a dmv line. 

[paisley]

Kid Charlemagne is a lovely way to start a 3 day weekend. Think I'll have a Steely Dan marathon. I do love them so. Thanks Cupid Stunt.

[Capricasix]

Kid Charlemagne is one of my favourites!

[Cupid Stunt]

14 hours ago, OhioSongbird said:

Happy Anniversary Stunts!  

I'm jealous....always wanted to go there.  We used to camp at Lake Erie with our friends every summer at East Harbor State Park and take the Port Clinton ferry to Put-In-Bay.  No cars, great clubs, awesome seafood stands, you walk everywhere.  Lots of fun.  We'd charter a boat and fish for walleye, take them to the fish cleaning shop (those women can fillet a fish in record time), fry some up over the campfire that night in my old 12" cast iron skillet and ice down the rest to take home.  Ah....good times and good eatin'.

(((Ohio)))

The Great Lakes are a wonderful place to vacation. 10 years ago we rented a houseboat and toured the Apostle Islands around the Bayfield Peninsula in northern Wisconsin. Loved every minute of it! We fished and hiked and swam (Brr! Cold!), toured Duluth/Superior, falling stars, Aurora Borealis and lightning bugs, bird and ship-watched. The Things didn't want to go home.

Quote

Those were the days my friend...we thought they'd never end.

Now that I've given y'all an earworm....ta!

I've got Mary Hopkin warbling in my head now. 

Quote

Raise a glass for me Stunts!

Will do. 

We're on California time, so after our trout dinner we took a carriage to the harbor and hit the gin joints. I chatted up a tipsy local and she invited us to a house party with a garage band -- dancing and keg beer flowed like mother's milk. 

Presently nursing a lack of sleep and a Bloody Mary that'll take paint off the shutters on the golf course with the house party hosts. 

Mr.Stunt suggested we keep the divots and felonies to a minimum … Okay, fine.

[lovemesomejoolery]

Wisconsin's lakes are so beautiful.  When I was a kid, my dad always had a week long conference during the summer in Lake Geneva, so that's where we summered every year for most of my childhood.  Such a beautiful area!  Not the same as the Great Lakes, but Wisconsin is such a beautiful state.

Happiest of Anniversaries to you and Mr. Stunt, @Cupid Stunt

Edited August 31, 2019 by lovemesomejoolery

[Cupid Stunt]

2 hours ago, lovemesomejoolery said:

Wisconsin's lakes are so beautiful.  When I was a kid, my dad always had a week long conference during the summer in Lake Geneva, so that's where we summered every year for most of my childhood.  Such a beautiful area!  Not the same as the Great Lakes, but Wisconsin is such a beautiful state.

That's lovely. What a wonderful memory … I heartily recommend the entire Upper Midwest as a destination and place to explore, summer and winter. There is so much to see and do. All you have to do is dress for it. 

Quote

Happiest of Anniversaries to you and Mr. Stunt, @Cupid Stunt

Thank you, lovesme.

Golf. Brunch. Nap. Run. Shower. Lunch. Walk to horse barn. Inspect the horses we're renting tomorrow. Meander. Lounge in the sun and read book. Join a no-holds barred croquet game as a fourth. Win $30. Dinner and a play and back to the gin joints with our house party hosts tonight … A perfect Day 2.

[Cupid Stunt]

• Live Updates Hurricane Dorian -- Threatening South Carolina Coast

• As Puerto Rico Braces For Storm, DHS, FEMA To Move $271 Million To Border Operations

• FEMA staffing stretched thin as Atlantic storm season intensifies

• It's Labor Day Weekend -- Here are the states that treat workers the best and the worst -- Guess which states ban businesses from silencing employees who discuss their salaries.

• Why it’s been so lucrative to destroy the Amazon rainforest -- G7 countries offered $20 million to combat fires in the Amazon. But it’s nowhere near enough to stop the deforestation.

• The Amazon Cannot Be Recovered Once It’s Gone -- The fires blazing in Brazil are part of a larger deforestation crisis, accelerated by President Jair Bolsonaro.

• The Amazon Fires Are More Dangerous Than WMDs -- One person shouldn’t have the power to set policies that doom the rest of humanity’s shot at mitigating rising temperatures.

• Another county heard from -- The Amazon Is Not Earth’s Lungs -- Humans could burn every living thing on the planet and still not dent its oxygen supply. -- Not that it helps air quality and particulate polution ...

• 6 Hongkongers on how the protests have transformed their lives and their city -- “If we don’t win ... I don’t think we can win. But I just feel like we should do something, even though there’s a slim chance.”

• Hong Kong activists arrested on eve of pro-democracy movement anniversary -- Demonstrations were planned to honor the 2014 Umbrella Movement but authorities did not grant a permit.

• Blue dye, tear gas and petrol bombs on Hong Kong's 13th straight weekend of unrest

• Osn't every day is Straight Pride Day in Boston? --Boston's Straight Pride Parade is here after months of debate

• Study: Transplant Teams Turn Down Donated Kidneys Without Patients' Knowledge -- The study suggests that many of the organs that were refused could have been good enough to improve the patient's quality of life.

• Tyler Skaggs family ‘shocked’ over possible Angels link to death -- Texas coroner said in a report made public Friday that Skaggs died after choking on his vomit with a toxic mix of alcohol and the powerful painkillers fentanyl and oxycodone in his system.

• Dollar stores fined for selling expired drugs, obsolete motor oil

• A woman says her cries for help were ignored as she gave birth in jail. Her story is one of many. -- Diana Sanchez’s federal lawsuit in Denver is part of a much larger issue facing incarcerated women.

• You know you want to sit across from a hay burner in Business Class -- What it’s like to take a mini horse on an airplane -- Yee Haw!

• Front-Page Voter Registration: Q&A with the Ithaca Times -- Why and how local papers can help with hurdles to voting, at every stage

• In the era of neurocapitalism, your brain needs new rights. -- Brain-reading tech is coming. The law is not ready to protect us.

• We caught a cosmic ray, one of science’s biggest mysteries -- Cosmic rays are hitting us all the time. What are they?

After delivering what was by any measure the song of the year — and making it official tonight when he won the trophy for Song of the Year — Lil Nas X would have been well within his rights to just give the people what they want by performing “Old Town Road” for the nth time at the VMAs. Instead, he brushed that idea aside in a winking prerecorded opening that saw “President Lil Nas X” dropping a 3,162nd remix of “Old Town Road,” and then moved straight into new material off his recent EP: “Panini,” his ode to the cartoon rabbit of the same name from Cartoon Network’s Chowder. Between the omnivorous pop culture references and the Tron-inflected dancers, Lil Nas X showed off exactly why he’s the brightest young star to make it from TikTok to the top of the charts.

• Lil Nas X’s lone CMAs nod is faint praise from country music’s biggest award show -- Country fans still struggle to embrace the artist, no matter how massive “Old Town Road” gets. Lifelong assumptions and bigotry are hard to shake off, even with a catchy tune.

Edited August 31, 2019 by Cupid Stunt

[OhioSongbird]

Girl...what you doin' working on vacation??

[Cupid Stunt]

15 hours ago, OhioSongbird said:

Girl...what you doin' working on vacation??

Preverts are never work. I'm a news hound … I've got my college football pool, and was Emailing end of season back-to-school purchases for the station school charity.

• Pacific White-sided Dolphins -- How Many Dolphins Are Left in the World

• The Infectious Idealism of the U.S. Women’s National Team

• Megan Rapinoe Is a Patriot  and makes Resistance Look Effortless

• Female scientists are up against a lot of unconscious bias. Here’s how to fight it. -- A two-year study published Monday in Nature Human Behavior examined how 40 scientific evaluation committees decided which researchers should get promoted to plum positions. It found that most scientists on the committees — whether they were men or women, and whether they worked in particle physics or political science — unconsciously associated science with men.

• Sad Trombones for Boston Straight Pride Parade

• Savage x Fenty’s “membership fee” keeps tripping people up.-- We may never know how many people have accidentally signed up to pay Rihanna $50 a month -- Really?

• Are Skinny Jeans Going to Kill Me? -- Can pants be so tight that they cause blood clots, or back pain?

• Toward a Universal Theory of ‘Mom Jeans’ -- Straight-legged, high-waisted jeans were almost casualties of reductive stereotypes about motherhood—but now they’re back.

• White Claw Is What Happens When Being Cool Becomes Exhausting -- Here’s to giving up …  Particularly when it leaves an alum aftertaste.

• I Gooped Myself -- I spent $1,279 of The Atlantic’s money on creams, crystals, and a vibrator from Gwyneth Paltrow’s wellness empire -- What, no Yoni Eggs?

• Does Fluffy Really Want to Be an Adventure Cat? -- No, and certainly not on a leash. It tells the story of Copurrnicus, who lived through the initial paralysis of suffering a harness (Ric fell over on his side, too, the first time) to become an adventure cat, even going camping. Also hints about how to accustom a cat to a harness and leash. It takes a run at figuring out how to tell if a cat is stressed, but gives up easily. "All told, this means that cat owners should be attuned to signs of stress. But cats, can be difficult to read." -- It's more like cat takes you for a walk, no the other way around.

• Why Soviets Sent Dogs to Space While Americans Used Primates -- Researchers didn’t know how people would react to weightlessness. So they sent animals first

• It's a Mistake to Focus Just on Animal Extinctions -- Population declines tell a much scarier story.

• The Alarming Case of the Missing Insects -- A pair of researchers found evidence that the insect population in a Puerto Rican rain forest was in free fall. But another team wasn’t so sure.

• Google says hackers have put ‘monitoring implants’ in iPhones for years -- Visiting hacked sites was enough for server to gather users’ images and contacts

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - A 17-month-old female victim of a shooting in Midland-Odessa was flown to University Medical Center after a shooting that killed at least five people and injured 21 others. She is said to be in satisfactory condition.

• The Second Amendment is Again Waging War On The First: Alabama and Texas editions  -- Mobile, Alabama, high school football game shooting: what we know -- Ten people were injured at the game. At least six were shot. Police have made one arrest.

• Texas Shooting Leaves 5 Dead and At Least 21 Injured Near Odessa

• Texas loosens firearm laws hours after the state's latest mass shooting left five dead -- <heavy sigh>

Edited September 1, 2019 by Cupid Stunt

[AngelKitty]

Mr. AK took me to the shelter and we got a new black kitty! I'll post pictures in a bit

[peacheslatour]

40 minutes ago, AngelKitty said:

Mr. AK took me to the shelter and we got a new black kitty! I'll post pictures in a bit

Yay! I love black kitties, every one I've ever had is just the sweetest. Can't wait to see pics.

[valleycliffe]

3 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Yay! I love black kitties, every one I've ever had is just the sweetest. Can't wait to see pics.

lol  well, not all of them..

[peacheslatour]

4 minutes ago, valleycliffe said:

lol  well, not all of them..

Que?

[valleycliffe]

1 minute ago, peacheslatour said:

Que?

lol  my cat isis is a terrorist.  she is all black..even when she was a kitten she would allow you to pet her about 3 times...then she bites you.  she never wanted to be held.  she will also lay in wait for you to walk by.  then she will jump out at you and bite your ankle..  but she will still bring me gifts.  once it was a baby garter snake.  freaked me out.

[AngelKitty]

That sounds like my former orange cat!

Who could imagine it would be so hard to take a picture of a tiny kitty?

[peacheslatour]

4 minutes ago, valleycliffe said:

lol  my cat isis is a terrorist.  she is all black..even when she was a kitten she would allow you to pet her about 3 times...then she bites you.  she never wanted to be held.  she will also lay in wait for you to walk by.  then she will jump out at you and bite your ankle..  but she will still bring me gifts.  once it was a baby garter snake.  freaked me out.

I used to have a little tabby called Daisy. Once I was in the kitchen with the door open because it was hot out. She pranced in with a garter snake and dropped it at my feet. I yelled "Daisy! You take that thing out of here right now!" And much to my astonishment, she picked it up and took it outside.

[Snaporaz]

Happy Anniversary to you and Mr. Stunt, @Cupid Stunt!  May your honeymoon never end!  According to Hallmark, art is the traditional gift for 26 years.  Any good galleries where you are?

And congratulations on your furry bundle of joy, @AngelKitty!  I'm sure Nelson is smiling down on you, happy that all that love will be showered on someone else.  And thank you for adopting!  You just saved two lives, the kitty you adopted AND the one the shelter now can take in to take his place!

Edited September 2, 2019 by Snaporaz

[jpagan05]

I was away for a few days last week and missed a lot of news! I'll post a couple of pics soon.

@AngelKitty I'm so sorry for your health woes and your sweet kitty. My hubs has had three strokes. They are so mysterious and scary. I hope you feel completely well soon. Congrats on your new kitten!

Congrats to Mr. and Mrs.@Cupid Stunt on your anniversary! ❤️

[AngelKitty]

This is the weirdest hurricane I have ever seen. The TV pictures do look scary but it's just sitting there. I was going to say we didn't even have wind and rain but that just started ... and ended. Weird.

[lovemesomejoolery]

18 hours ago, AngelKitty said:

Mr. AK took me to the shelter and we got a new black kitty! I'll post pictures in a bit

YAY!  Mr. AK is the best!!  Can't wait to see that new kitten!

[Cupid Stunt]

19 hours ago, AngelKitty said:

Mr. AK took me to the shelter and we got a new black kitty! I'll post pictures in a bit

Congratulations on the new kitten, AngelKitty. Mr. AK is a prince of a husband.

13 hours ago, Snaporaz said:

Happy Anniversary to you and Mr. Stunt, @Cupid Stunt!  May your honeymoon never end!  According to Hallmark, art is the traditional gift for 26 years.  Any good galleries where you are?

Thank you everyone. We went to see a musical put on by the locals and summer residents (Babes in Arms, very well done and entertaining) at the refurbished harbor movie theater. There are old movie posters for sale, and we purchased three (Stella Dallas, Flying Tigers, Serpico). We haven't done much shopping other than fudge; my hips are pleased about that. I'm going to seriously peruse the shops next week. 

Quote

And congratulations on your furry bundle of joy, @AngelKitty!  I'm sure Nelson is smiling down on you, happy that all that love will be showered on someone else.  And thank you for adopting!  You just saved two lives, the kitty you adopted AND the one the shelter now can take in to take his place!

So true, Snaporaz. Shelter animals that choose you are a blessing.

Love the kitten pic -- Look at those catchers mitts for paws! More toes are better to climb the curtains.

Edited September 2, 2019 by Cupid Stunt

[Cupid Stunt]

Labor Day Fast Facts

-- An eight-hour work day wasn’t always the golden standard: Two centuries ago, American workers often clocked double digits at physically demanding and often unsafe jobs—something workers protested on September 5, 1882 in the first Labor Day parade, in which approximately 10,000 people peacefully marched from New York’s City Hall, the New York Times archives show.

In the years that followed, protests continued. In early May 1886, after a series of peaceful protest meetings, the police attacked protesters in Chicago on May 3. A protest meeting was scheduled for May 4, 1886, but a bomb sparked violence and the police rounded up ‘anarchist’ suspects.

Some of those suspects were sentenced to death. After these events, labor unions in the United States felt that the state and federal governments did not support workers but rather the corrupt corporate interests.

Labor unions such as the Knights of Labor continued to fight for shorter work days and safer working environments, and these unions selected May 1, or ‘May Day,’ as an annual worker’s holiday to recognize the efforts of the unions.

But in 1893, the U.S. faced a severe economic recession. Workers at the Pullman Car factory in Chicago went on strike, as did with workers from the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. These workers were joined by many others in 1894, and, like the Haymarket Square Protests, workers were brutally put down—this time by police and federal troops.

Congress didn’t want to honor May 1 as a holiday, fearing its connection to the Haymarket Square Protests, Risk explains. So, instead, the government decided to give a nod to U.S. workers on the first Monday in September. (May 1 remains International Worker’s Day.)

On June 28, 1894, congress passed the act designating Labor Day as the first Monday in September.

This Labor Day will be observed on September 2, 2019, when “the U.S. Department of Labor celebrates and honors the greatest worker in the world—the American worker,” according to the department’s website. This year’s celebration marks the 125th anniversary of Labor Day as a holiday. Unfortunately, some Americans may not realize the origins of either May Day or Labor Day, and how labor movements brought reforms to the workplace by the 20th century.

This Labor Day, keep in mind that the holiday is about honoring the hard workers in our lives, both past and present.

[peacheslatour]

3 hours ago, AngelKitty said:

This is the weirdest hurricane I have ever seen. The TV pictures do look scary but it's just sitting there. I was going to say we didn't even have wind and rain but that just started ... and ended. Weird.

Ugh. Please stay safe.

[Cupid Stunt]

New York. Lunch atop a Skyscraper. Photograph taken in 1932 by Charles C. Ebbets

• One of the most iconic photos of American workers is not what it seems

• Hurricane Dorian pummels Bahamas with Category 5 assault

• Sharks, tornadoes and taxes: Cape Cod’s had a tough summer

• NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week -- August 30, 2019

• Newly Discovered Giant Planet Slingshots Around Its Star

• An asteroid larger than some of the world's tallest buildings will zip by Earth next month

• Where’s the pope? Stuck in Vatican elevator until rescue

• ‘This ain’t your mother’s marijuana,’ surgeon general

• Expert predicts 25% of colleges will "fail" in the next 20 years

• Women steal the show at the Newport Folk Festival: "It's time!"
• Dolly Parton: Making the most of everything

• Made in USA: Bringing manufacturing jobs back to the homeland

• Eric Liu on what makes a true patriot

• The L.A. Times brought back Column One, an iconic feature that was axed a few years ago: "Blink once if you can hear me …" -- For months, he lingered in a purgatory between wakefulness and nothingness

• Nature: Beavers in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, where beavers are as busy as, well, beavers.

• How an L.A. man with cancer got a parking ticket while in the hospital and ended up losing his car -- A lien sale after less than 5 days of being towed is hyper efficient for the city of L.A. Curiouser and curiouser.

• 1st charges filed in string of child homicides in St. Louis

• Governor steps in to help woman keep ‘PB4WEGO’ vanity plate -- Live Free or Die

• Some states, towns skeptical over proposed opioid settlement

• Ohio attorney general sues to stop upcoming opioid trials -- I want my bite to be the biggest outta' that pie.

• Epstein's Little-Known Lawyer Lands in Spotlight

• Jeffrey Epstein’s Links To Scientists Are Even More Extensive Than We Thought -- Scientists took Epstein’s money or associated with the financier after he was jailed for soliciting an underage girl for prostitution. Some say they are sorry. Others didn’t comment.

Edited September 2, 2019 by Cupid Stunt
Fixed broken link on college closures

[jpagan05]

My hubs works for Hyatt so we used a few comp nights and airline miles and went on a inexpensive trip to Kauai. We did the same last year but were at the tail end of tropical storm Olivia so it rained most of our time there. There was really bad flooding and lots of roads were washed out. They are mostly recovered so we got to do a lot more sightseeing this time. Here are a couple of highlights:

Waimea Canyon- Mark Twain called it "the Grand Canyon of the Pacific". It was stunning, insanely quiet and peaceful.

We hiked down a (kinda scary) dirt trail through the wood to a place called Queen's Bath. I wore the wrong shoes but the scenery was beautiful.

Sign at the bottom of the trail right near the ocean...

This is Queens Bath! It's a sinkhole with natural tide pools. It was so fun. People (not me) were jumping off the cliffs, drinking beers and watching the fish and sea turtles. I loved it and definitely want to go again.

This is the mascot for a book store in Hanapepe called Talk Story. Her name is Celeste and she's 16 years old. The store was awesome, so eclectic. They had comics, records, tons of vintage pulp, art and great decor, including life-sized replicas of Tom Servo and Crow.

Their mystery section😄

[Petunia13]

Tomorrow is my birthday (do people even celebrate or acknowledge birthdays past 30?) and the day after is the preliminary hearing grand hearing for my car jacker. So hoping for some good luck this week. Also I think I’m going to start looking for something else as my day job instead of my car sales gig. I sold 2 cars already and aced all my certifications easily but it’s quite a boys club there and my nerves from what happened lately give me a vibe to move on. Today was Labor Day and had different hours and no one, not the sales manager or any coworkers said it was different. I even asked about it to one senior sales guy (“do we get holiday pay? When is it open?”) and he didn’t tell me. I showed up super late and missed the customer rush and sales and now have to make up those hours on another day to get my base, which isn’t always easy when you have a second job and ill parent and dog. 

I also talked to someone at my grocery job I quit. They still haven’t replaced me and the guy I worked who made me haul his freight w mine and manager who marginalized me are now doing my ordering and freight plus their own jobs. I’m sure 7 pallets of 56 boxes of alcohol are super easy to do in shift along w helping customers and ordering. 

[Snaporaz]

Have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY tomorrow, @Petunia13!  Do yourself a favor and try not to think about work crap or stupid people's hang-ups or the hearing or anything unpleasant.  That can all wait for another time.  Treat yourself to a nice trinket, do things that make you happy, spend time with George and others you love, eat some great food, and celebrate even harder for every year over 30!  Enjoy your day.  You deserve it!