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So every post on this message board has a little bent-over butt in its lower right corner, and if you like what you see you express your approval by tapping that?

It is almost as if the label attached to a person can't be relied on to accurately define them.

Baker the cat's ordeal is over! The vet removed his feeding tube today and pronounced him healthy. We don't have to give him any more medicines or anything like that. All we have to do is keep his neck collar on while his feeding tube hole heals up. We were afraid Baker was going to die on us when all of this began. If it wasn't for a group of great vets and Baker's will to live, we would have lost him. We nurtured that will to live - Mrs. Prof, especially - and now, Baker is back to his sassy self. Thank goodness.

Maybe it might have in the 1970s. But most government work enforces No Smoking rules now.

Baker asleep with his feeding tube visible:

I popped into my PANTARDIS to find out who ruled Denmark at the time. Turns out it was me. I arrived just before the coronation and accidentally squashed the about-to-be-King flat. Seems like nobody liked the guy that much anyway so they drafted me as a replacement. That turned into a big mess and it took me months before I could find a better replacement so I could make my escape.

Actually, we had a GREAT waterpark. What you now call the Second and Third Cataracts of The Nile were specifically designed to be white water rafting facilities. We probably would have enjoyed far more repeat customers if we also included helmets, life vests, and other safety gear with the ticket. As for the hippo rides? We tried. We REALLY tried! But the hippos simply refused to wait in long lines.

I would greatly appreciate it if those with suggestions of how to improve it attempted to implement them!

It just occurred to me you forgot an important event yesterday: 2002 - The first strip of a webcomic we're all familiar with was posted.

I remember him. He was surrounded by scandals. Surely the most scandal haunted president of all time. He brought a locker room atmosphere to the Oval Office. A blemish on its reputation it may never live down. I bet he also used locker room talk, which is so unforgivable that he should have been impeached for it. Then it got worse. See? He was so unbelievably unpresidential. Surely the United States will never see a president who is more unprofessional and undisciplined than that.

Well, she sneaks around the world from Kiev to Carolina She's a sticky-fingered filcher, from Berlin down to Belize She'll take you for a ride on a slow boat to China Tell me, where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Both within two days? Ouch! I hope it wasn't something bad that took out both of them, although I guess I don't even know if that would be any worse or better. May you find comfort all the happy memories the three of you shared!

I am so juvenile. I can't stop snickering at this.

Overdue update on Baker the cat: Baker has been through a lot since my last update. He's home, being fed through a tube by Mrs. Prof several times a day. He's also finally eating on his own to supplement the tube feeding. Mrs. Prof thought we were going to lose him at least once, but I reminded her of what the vet told us (especially when he found out we have pet insurance): Don't Give Up. Sure enough, Baker pulled through on the night in question and has improved steadily. He's now off his pain medication and back to climbing his cat exercise tree. The vet did blood work at yesterday's follow-up appointment and was very happy with what she saw. Baker's white blood cell count is getting back to normal, as are his BUN numbers. Other numbers are still slightly out of whack, forcing him to remain on some medications (ursodiol, for one). He's also going to get a booster dose of appetite stimulant. He'll be back in the vet in a week to have his abdominal stitches removed, then again a few weeks after that to have his feeding tube removed. All in all, we're not out of the woods yet, but we can at least see the highway from where we're standing. Attached picture is of Baker (feeding tube not visible) with Mrs. Prof in the background.

Transferring the current data (including the stuff suggested here and possibly some more suggested over on the Discord) from Dia into GraphViz allowed me to make use of its layout engines, rather than trying to lay it out myself. So, here's circo:

Croquet mallets are all wood. Golf clubs are a mix of wood and iron. On the other hand, in Croquet there are times you can knock your opponent's ball off the playing field. In Golf, you need to wait for your opponent to drive his own ball into the rough. My opponents don't need to wait very long for that...

Fucking polar vortex. And those anti-science morons claim that this is proof there is no global warming. On a related note, I just ate, so world hunger is over.

The tightness in my back is almost gone, which is nice. Another nice thing is the fact that I can once again lift my left leg more than about 4 inches off the ground. Before, I couldn't lift it onto a chair or other raised surface to help with putting on shoes, getting into a car, or drying off after a shower. This was due to pain linked to one of my spinal nerves. Now that those nerves have been ablated, I no longer feel the pain and can once again lift my leg. It's like someone hit a light switch and turned off the pain - a wonderful sensation.

Update: the burning sensation has gone, leaving only the tightness, which is fading. Problem areas remain just above my hip, with continued sensations of tightness there. The hospital called to check up on me - they said this was more or less a common reaction that I should be done with in no more than a week or two, if that long. I've been sleeping with my head on a pair of stacked pillows to keep my spine straight. Seems to be helping, since I wake up from each oxycodone-induced nap with a little bit less tightness.

Note: overall, we're both glad we have very good pet insurance. Mrs. Prof took the prudent step to call and confirm Baker's coverage this morning. The agent on the phone said we are covered, thankfully. There's a $250 deductible, then everything is covered at 90%. We're already approaching (if not exceeding) $5,000 in real world charges for Baker, so this takes the sting out of that and makes decisions about his care much easier. We haven't had to say no to a procedure yet.

Eek! My heartfelt sympathies. My Pippin got into dark chocolate twice, xylitol gum once, and oatmeal raisin cookies once. Oh, and an entire pound of turkey once, and this was the dog with the shunt on a low-protein diet. A vet I know, her newly adopted dog ran out the front door and got hit by a car right in front of her. It can happen to anyone! The important thing is that she took good care of him and is taking steps to make sure it doesn't happen again. Pancreases are funny things, sometimes they go through bad stuff directly and are fine, sometimes you just look at them funny during surgery and they get inflamed. The section of gut where the pancreas is may have gotten folded up and pinched the wrong way, or they may have needed to make an incision in a place they couldn't help but handle it. I'm glad he's at a place he can get such good care, with ultrasound and 24-hour staff and all that. I'll be sending good wishes his way in hopes it's not too bad and he recovers soon!

I'm having a back procedure done today (radio ablation of the spinal nerves, L2-S5, left side) to help alleviate my chronic, severe back pain. I'll be in the hospital at about 8:00 a.m. CST and for a few hours afterward, if things go well. I'm hoping for no adverse side effects from this procedure, because there is at least one (a nasty, prolonged burning sensation of the affected area) that I definitely do not want. Please wish me health and luck through the procedure - I need all of both that I can get.

Except among veterinarians -- the woman was the public face of an ad campaign that drilled into peoples' heads that taking their dog to the vet is a huge hassle and should be avoided whenever possible. The dogs mostly love getting to go in the car, saying hi to lots of nice people, getting petted (albeit in strange ways sometimes), and getting treats from the nice people. Shots are barely worth registering for most dogs. But no, taking your dog to see their vet is awful and you should avoid them! Just buy your pet's medications online, supporting a massive corporation instead of your vet, and yet expect the vet's prices to stay ridiculously low compared to human medicine for everything else when a health problem (that's been brewing for months and might have been diagnosed sooner if you'd brought them in) becomes an emergency and suddenly you realize you do need your local veterinarian.... Sorry. Bit of a sore spot. She may be a very nice lady, but the very thought of her is forever poisoned by her being in those commercials.

Camdin's a jerk, putting his eagerness to get more information about magic and butting in on a private conversation, Grace can easily just say its none of him damn business what they can transform into, and can even claim the unfairness of being asked to show anything without knowing Camdin's actual identity first.

It IS the Executive Edition. It just went up in smoke.

It's been a week since my last post, and Baker continues to astound us with his progress. He has returned to his pre-thread-eating weight of 13.6 pounds and has, to a limited degree, resumed running through the house again. Last night was the first night that he broke out into a sprint, albeit a somewhat hampered one. He also showed interest in his laser pointer for the first time since all this began last night. He's eating more kibble, however he got into his housemate's kibble and wound up throwing up yesterday. Fortunately, there was no damage to his feeding tube. He's still being fed through the tube several times a day, and he's getting wily about feeding time - he runs off and tries to hide, even though he is docile during the actual feeding. His stitches are out, so now he just has a shaved tummy and some minor scabbing. He's also got a new feeding tube collar which Mrs. Prof mail-ordered. He's not too keen on it: he keeps scratching at it. The old one is in the wash, so he's stuck with this one until the old one dries. I'm watching him closely - right-side scratching is okay, but left-side ist verboten. His body has finally filled back out again, thanks to the weight gain. He was looking very gaunt when his weight was in the mid-12-pound region. You could feel the bones along his back and see that his face was very angular. Now, his face is round and full, and his back and shoulders/hips have some muscle on them again. His next trip to the vet will be Thursday of this week to determine when his feeding tube comes out. He may have to be weaned off of it, because even though he's eating kibble, he's not eating enough to sustain himself. All will be told at the vet's office.

Anybody remember when postal workers actually got decent pay and benefits?

There's a TV show (also lots of episodes available on YouTube) called "Prehistoric Fossil Breeding". I'm pretty sure that "fossil" precludes "breeding".

On February 6 in History: 1685 - James II & VII of England and Scotland, respectively, becomes king(s). He's Catholic, so we're doin' this again. 1755 - Future U.S. Vice President and Hamilton-killer Aaron Burr is born. 1778 - France officially recognizes the United States. This is done mostly to troll Great Britain, but we'll take it. 1895 - George Herman Ruth Jr. is born. I'm going to deliberately refuse to make the obvious pun, knowing that it will gnaw at you for the rest of the day. Mwahahaha! 1918 - British women over 30 who own a certain amount of property are now able to vote. This had to be rushed through to make sure they beat the Americans to it; that would have been embarrassing. 1945 - Bob Marley wakes up and lives. A doctor spanks him and admonishes, "No, baby. No cry." 1952 - Elizabeth II becomes Queen of the United Kingdom, and a bunch of other places. Rumor has it she also unlocked the crown's ancient secret to immortality, but that remains to be seen. 1966 - Another celebrity is born, and there's a video that explains it better than I could: https://tinyurl.com/Feb-6-Video

Check around for any prominent graffiti that translates to "Hello, Sweetie!" What many people don't understand, or don't want to believe, is that the Founding Fathers were afraid of too much democracy. It's the old saw about three wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch. The Tyrrany of the Majority. The Electoral College was meant to make the choice one step removed from the popular vote. Instead of voting directly for a candidate, we are supposed to vote for someone we admire and trust and think will make a good choice, and then let them decide who to actually vote for. The whole idea of a delegate promising to vote for one specific candidate and no one else is bringing the system back to the popular vote pretty much electing the winner directly, with a little bit of a slant in a couple of ways. Far too much power in the hands of the uneducated masses. I'm not sure how they would want things done if they were magically transported to the modern age, with its near-instant communication and fairly accurate polls, its sound-bite advertising and short attention spans. The current literacy rate is so close to 100% that they probably would consider it universal, and television, radio, and internet enable everyone to have access to vast amounts of information, but also exposes everyone to vast amounts of misinformation, with very little education in how to judge which of it is accurate, whose arguments are full of fallacies and whose are to the point and logical, how to tell if claims are backed up by truth or were pulled from someone's nether regions. There are plenty of books and videos out there about such things, but they get lost in the sea of crap. Maybe they would think there should be no pledged delegates, and candidates should be forbidden from promising to vote for someone in particular. Or maybe they would say, get rid of the Electoral College, the masses are smart enough and educated enough to make a much better decision than our masses would have been. Maybe they'd think that low voter turn-out was a good thing, people who didn't care enough or feel they knew enough to vote selecting themselves out of the process (quite likely with the mindset and attitudes of their day and age), or maybe they'd say the countries with mandatory voting have the right idea and everyone should vote in every election (which would also require everyone having the chance to vote, with either guaranteed time off of work, or a wide variety of ways to vote available over a long enough period of time that everyone really would be guaranteed a chance. It's an interesting intellectual exercise, but there's no real way to know, as scholars who have spent their whole careers studying the writings of the Founding Fathers disagree about what they would have thought or intended. I'm now picturing a Scandinavia and the World comic with UK having a bunch of foster/adopted kids running around, some of them teenagers wanting their own car and telling England "You're not my real father!!!"

A note on why Japan was so fanatically anti-Christian in those days: Under Shinto (the Japanese state religion up until WWII), the legitimacy of the Emperor (and the Imperial bloodline) to rule was based on the assumption that the Imperial Family were blood descendants of Amaterasu, the Shinto solar goddess. Thus, any religion that would call the Shinto gods false gods is directly undermining the legitimacy of the royal family (and by implication, anybody in government who is appointed by the royals).

Yes, I do. It occurs to me that the rules for appearances were in the original thread, which was deleted. Here are my criteria: -On panel appearance (duh) -Off panel dialogue -Partial appearance. This one is iffy, but I usually require around 25% visibility (or a face) AND clarity as to who the character is. Said clarity must exist in the strip itself, not including context from previous strips. Rare exceptions have been made to the visibility requirement, such as when The Boar died and only its hoof was visible, but I generally stick pretty hard to it. -Flashbacks and fantasy sequences count -Recurring apparitions that are not real, such as Susan's personality aspects, are counted as "semi-characters" -Characters with alter-egos (such as Elliot) receive credit for the appearances of those alter-egos, and the alter-egos themselves receive credit as semi-characters -If two alter-egos appear in the same strip (like Cheerleadra and Heidi, say) they would both receive individual credit, but Elliot would only be counted once -Different versions of the same character, like Zeus/Jerry, or any alternate universe versions like Beta Tedd or Second Life Ellen, are counted as separate characters Mon. Feb. 4 Grace: 834 Sam: 40 FULL COUNT

Such a good kitty.

I was mostly commenting that sexual preference and gender identity aren't necessarily tied to each other, since there are examples that don't appear like they are tied to each other but. Like in Sam's case, because he likes girls he originally thought he must be a lesbian, but being trans male would make him heterosexual, Tedd on the other had still has a strong peference (not 100% mind you) for girls regardless of what gender he feels most like at a given moment. Basically, it boils down to just because you're gay, doesn't mean you're trans, and just because you're trans, doesn't mean you're gay

My thinking is that Ms Pompoms dislikes men so much she doesn't see why anybody (male or female) would want to be in a relationship with one.

I seem to remember once reading that one reason Mrs. Kitsune resents her sister is that she left her husband and child. I suspect she feels very protective of her nephew even as she is being standoffish to her brother-in-law. ... yeah. It makes more sense if she wanted to distance Nanase not from Tedd but from Edward Verres specifically. (Although I'm not sure if this is canon or reader speculation. There doesn't seem to be any details here.)

I personally never saw a conflict between gamist and immersionist styles in RPGs. I usually did both, simultaneously. A character doesn't have just a class, he also has a particular role in the party which may differ from character to character and party to party, even if the classes and levels are identical. A minmaxer will maximize certain abilities available to the class, and define the character's role to fit; an immersionist will let the role develop and maximize the abilities needed for that role - the result is about the same, with a character whose abilities are well tuned to his precise role in the party. Where I saw a conflict was when the player had one idea of their character's role in the party, and another player tried to push them into a different role. (Note: D&D4E categorized classes into roles - but that isn't what I mean as those roles are FAR too general. As becomes apparent when one considers a large party. Your two Wizards will both be effective but in different ways. Your two Rogues will have different specialties. And so on. Your two Leaders, a Cleric and a Warlord, will be vastly different.)

Yeah, I'd much rather see politicians attacked for their policies and prejudices, rather than for silly mistakes like believing a card handed to him by a teacher must have the correct spelling on it. Their actual policies, mind you, not sound-bite strawmen.

This strip and thread got me thinking about Grace's cover story... On the one hand, it would be easier to remember and give people a better understanding of Grace if the cover story was as close to the truth as possible without breaking the masqurade (I'm not sure how you'd deal with the childhood in a lab part, but the "raised by an abusive kidnapper" part works fine if you leave out his powers and plans for world domination). On the other hand, it wouldn't really be fair to expect Grace to tell everyone she was abused, and I'm glad Mr. Verres didn't ask that of her.

But hips don't lie!

I think it has to do with Edward having prevented so many apocalyptic scenarios that the government pretty much owes him, it's revealed recently by Arthur as the reason he allowed the fake Cheerleadra sighting. I think if Edward asked for pineapple on pizza*, no one would question it. *pineapple on pizza is delicious. I'll fight you if you disagree

Baker is home. His first act was to try and run under the sofa. Twice. He's since been isolated in a prepared bedroom, where he's spotted all of the areas that we didn't prepare properly and tried to get out through them or hide in them. The cat is well and truly freaked. The only solution was for Mrs. Prof to go back and sleep with him on the guest bed. Baker is, after all, her cat, based upon how much time he spends with her and how much she spoils him. (Loudmouth would be considered my cat by those same benchmarks.) When I last checked, Baker was curled up against the wall on the mattress, and Mrs. Prof was curled around him, with her nightly accoutrements close at hand. Baker was no longer trying to get away. This is going to be a very long, very tedious, and very trying time for all of us. Please wish us (including Baker) luck so that we can make it through the ordeal.

Blood tests and ultrasound results are back for Baker. The diagnosis of severe pancreatitis has been confirmed, with his pancreas described as "angry" on the ultrasound. Pancreatic numbers were around 25, way above the zero-to-threeish normal range. No other problems were found in his abdomen. The doctors are now going to insert a feeding tube into Baker's neck so he can be fed liquids to prevent fatty liver development. They'll then send him home so that we can take care of him. They said they want him out and about, and no longer cooped up in a kennel. Fortunately, our other cat should avoid him just because of the odd smells. He's not out of the woods yet, but he'll be out of the hospital soon enough. Any step forward is an encouraging one.

Once you pop, you cannot stop. Dang, it is hard to not miss Pandora. Two hours? Nah, it would be two days of non-stop moping.

Medical Update of the Day: Cramps suck. Thank you, modern medicine, for the variety of analgesics available today! If only they took effect instantly instead of taking up to an hour. Still, bless them and their inventors. That is all.

Just watched Ep 1 of "series" 3 of "The Grand Tour". While not as good as E1S1, much better than E1S2. 8 out of 10.

"I'll Be Your Mirror" written by Lou Reed. ©1966, 1994 Oakfield Avenue Music Ltd. From the album The Velvet Underground and Nico. So... is Nanase Craft confessing her feelings for Sarah; is the dungeon still messing with her mind; or is she just trolling? As Hanma would say, "Nobody knoooooows...!"

I have joined the rest of the world and acquired an electric teakettle for myself. As a result, I am having more fun than an American ought to be allowed. For starters, the kettle is a VAVA brand 1.7 liter stainless steel cordless electric kettle with six preset temperatures: 160°F, 175°F, 185°F, 190°F, 200°F, and 212°F (boiling, a.k.a. 100°C). It's got a keep warm function and an anti-"boil dry" preventer. The water level is visible and lit in blue. It was just $43. The first one arrived DOA, but the manufacturer got a replacement out to me very fast and didn't insist on me returning the original unit (I did have to send them a phone video of how it was malfunctioning, however). Now, no longer do I have to rinse out the Keurig, scrub its nozzles, or set/reset its temperature whenever I want to make a cup of tea, nor do I have to put a pot of water on the stove and boil it when I want to brew up some pu'erh. Fresh water is always at hand, with no worries that I'm going to piss off my wife by forgetting to reset some arcane setting and ruin her morning coffee. All of the things that made me give up making tea for well over a year. The kettle has allowed me to go back to my tea discovery days, before I got tired of farking around with the Keurig, and I have done so with gusto. I've relearned the joys of a simple cup of wild lapsang souchong. I've re-experienced the wonder of a steeper of dragon pearl jasmine tea as the tiny pearls unwind and expand into intricate shapes, filling the steeper. My smoky lapsang souchong has picked me up and reinvigorated me once again, just long enough to order a replacement supply of the organic version online. Not all of my tea survived the hiatus, I'm sad to say. My last ball of pu'erh came out smelling like catfish skin, although the taste was actually pleasant. My white tea pearls from Adagio Teas refused to unwind, making them undrinkable. They were consigned to the trashbin. I have, however, slowly moved back into the land of experimentation. An encounter on the Internet led me to Steven Smith Teamaker, and in particular to his British Brunch blend. It came highly recommended, so I've purchased a flip-top package to see how it stacks up against my Chinese teas. All of this fun from a $43 electric kettle. Who says Americans can't learn from the rest of the world?