CritterKeeper

Page size is an important factor here. A paperback novel sized book is better one column per page. An 8.5x11 or larger handbook or text is usually better either two columns, or with lots of boxes and charts and graphics that break up the monotony. If a column of text gets too wide, then it's more difficult to track back from the end of one line and find where the beginning of the next is, instead of accidentally re-reading or skipping a line. It can be done, but it slows the reader down unnecessarily.

Your vet is better suited than I am to decide that, but it sounds like it's definitely worth a phone call to see what they think!

Pandora's dilemma definitely reminds me of Ashildr, from Doctor Who, a Viking girl who became immortal sort of by accident. Infinite lifespan, finite memory. She started keeping a journal with the most important things in her life, to re-read when she had forgotten who she used to be. It filled a respectably-sized library in her home and spilled out into the halls the second time the Doctor encountered her. There were places pages were stained with tears, places where pages had been torn out because she wanted to forget what those pages held. But she only knew what was in the diary as something she had read about. One wonders whether someone like that could actually learn the important lessons in life, or whether they too would be forgotten along with the details of how they were learned. Apparently she could, though, because the person who the Doctor met at the end of the universe was very different from the girl he saved from dying. They did something visually similar with Methos's diary in Highlander, kept since writing was invented, with parts of the diary on papyrus scrolls and cuneiform tablets. In that series, however, Immortals have excellent memories so I never really got the impression Methos needed the diary. From what Pandora and the Emissary of Magic said, it sounds like an Immortal only passes along what the most recent incarnation chooses to pass along. There isn't an ever-growing library of mental tomes. Or, if there is, the older ones must be much harder to access than the most recent one. Perhaps they're nested, like a hard drive archive with files for a previous archive that contains a previous archive which contains the recovered files from a crash which contains.... Hmm, wasn't there an xkcd on that? ....yup, there sure is!

I think it counts as guiding if the Immortal believes it's being done to guide. Heck, an Immortal might be able to convince themself that hurting someone to "toughen them up" would count as empowering them. Again, it would depend on why the Immortal believed they were impersonating them. If it were done to guide and/or empower then Immortal Law wouldn't apply. I read this idea in a different thread before I got to this one, but I'll repeat here, some lessons are harsh. Emotional harm which the Immortal honestly believes to be for the ultimate purpose of guiding and empowering may well pass. You seem to be limiting yourself to immediate overt harm. Voltaire impersonating Abner certainly does seem like it will ultimately bring Sirleck harm, and I would be very surprised if Voltaire wasn't fully aware of that fact, if not counting on it, not to mention the harm likely to come to Adrian, Pandora, and any other victims (likely human). Immortals are smarter than that; saying "I'm not hurting him right this minute" when the true goal is "I want do this because it will bring harm to him in a week" (or even a year), isn't going to fool the Immortal in question. They have to convince themselves that their actions truly count as empowering and/or guiding in order to take them. I do wonder about the definition of "guide" though. Strictly speaking, you can guide someone off a cliff or into traffic. Does their "guiding" have to be beneficial to everyone involved? To at least one person involved? Or can it benefit no one, as long as it's guiding? Perhaps the only way Immortals truly get more powerful as they age is that they get better at rationalizing their actions....

My interpretation of that comic is that she's looking at other options, not that she sees it as a step along the way to recreating the hammers of thwapping.

Worse, it's the Rouge Angles of Satin! Speak for yourself! I intend to live forever. (So far, so good!) Actually, my goal would be better described as to live indefinitely than to live forever, but not many notice these distinctions. ;-) I find quite interesting the three different forms of Pandora we see here. The "conscience" form is Pandora as she was while she was with Blaike, having found something in her life worth passing on to her next self, but still certain she would reset when Blaike died. The opposing side in this internal debate is Chaos, the form she became when she was long past her reset date, and apparently losing her true emotional connections to and empathy with those she interacts with. And the form she chose to interact with Tedd is how she looked just after Blaike died, when she still intended to reset at two hundred, but also the self which, when the time came, couldn't bear to let her love die.

Some lessons are harsh. If Pandora believes that the harm she is inflicting is to guide someone, then there's no conflict with Immortal rules. And possessing Adrian would likely be a subset of holding him hostage. Pandora wouldn't be able to harm Sirleck without risking harm to Adrian. Most evil option would be if, once possessed, the subject cannot be forcibly separated without dying. Sirleck would have to (claim he could) let Adrian go willingly to do so without harm. That option would, I think, be the most evil all around, in several aspects of plot and character torture. >:-) Who is Tedd showing the most distrust towards right now? If we're talking a person, I'd say his father. If we're talking in broader terms, Tedd is showing contempt and distrust towards the Will of Magic and its "Bullcrap!" Or at least he was, last time Voltaire saw him. Between Elliot's acceptance of Tedd and his pep talk about how Tedd will figure out the new magic and regain the ability to transform eventually, and Pandora's show of support and love and acceptance of her goddaughter whatever form she takes, I don't think Tedd is nearly as traumatized as Voltaire thinks she is. As Tedd himself thought, the difference between Tedd and Lord Tedd may well be the lov and support of his friends.

Again, I caution you guys not to be in too much of a hurry. If it's been helping, but you're still seeing some problems, why not wait a bit longer and see if you can get the situation truly stable? From Plumb's, the bible of pet drug dosing. So yes, tapering instead of just stopping is important! He hasn't really been on it very long, so a relatively short taper should be okay. But usually we're talking about using these drugs for several months minimum.

Sorry, I was watching Game of Thrones and then listening to podcasts dissecting the episodes. Hey, it's only seven episodes, I can afford to geek out about a show for a few weeks. Okay, yes, I already had ten weeks of geeking out over new episodes of Doctor Who but those are over now!

I tuned in to a Celtic Thunder special on PBS during the gap between the end of one show and the start of the evening news. The first song they performed after I tuned in was "The Dutchman" set in Amsterdam and written by Chicago's Michael Peter Smith. The next song was "A Place In The Choir" by Bill Staines, an American folk music icon and winner of the National Yodeling Championship. Ah. This is obviously some strange usage of the word "Celtic" that I hadn't previously been aware of. They tried, I suppose, by messing with the lyrics. The first line of the chorus is "All God's critters got a place in the choir" but they changed critters to "creatures." They changed possum to otter, and raccoon to weasel, but they left in the alligator and coyote. The only good thing was hearing the line about critters with bass voices (which, come to think of it, includes a hippopotamus!) being sung by an actual bass. Yes, the fourth line is a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference. Well spotted!

Blood? Squishy bits? Could be any of the above, or a combination of all three, varying according to situation and mood. The hope is that play becomes the dominant factor. Also that grooming, companionship, and snuggling eventually take their place in the line-up, too. If it seems like Baker has too much energy for Loudmouth, you can try wearing him out with laser pointer, Cat Dancer, fuzzy mice toys, and the like. You might even get Loudmouth interested, albeit likely for shorter and less vigorous sessions than the younger Baker.

I know you won't want to hear this, but I'm glad she's worrying about it. I don't know whether it *is* a problem, but I do know that the *potential* is there, and much as I'd like to see you completely pain-free, I also don't want you to develop a dependency or addiction. Addicts tend to come up with excuses for why they need more meds, so I can understand her worry. Again, not saying it *is* a problem now, just saying I think her vigilance is justified. Can't you use your back and foot as your measure of how well the pain meds are working? Why do you need to make something else hurt? (Not a criticism of the idea, I honestly want to know the reason!)

Got some white tea described as "snowbud" -- "gathered in the early days of spring....an airy, light tea, very delicate body, with clean, barely sweet aroma and effervescent texture. Our lightest, most gentle tea." Well, it definitely doesn't have the bitterness of black tea! This is quite yummy, and seems less vulnerable to overbrewing. White tea has the most antioxidants and flavinoids, too, so this is a good taste and good for me!

Will the game have anything to do with hammers? The possibilities Hanma lists don't seem to.

Several times lately, I've told someone to have a nice/good day/night/weekend/etc, and they've responded with "Thanks!" or not responded directly at all, instead of saying, "You too!" I'm partly annoyed with them for not reciprocating, and partly with myself for feeling cheated.

Try staying up without the Adderall, and let the results of that decide you? Either way, take the Adderall by the usual time if not before. Just a layman's speculation, mind you,

Who got the notation, Loudmouth or the Prof? Birds are notorious for doing that. They're devoted to the person that raised them....until they reach the age they want to mate, and then suddenly they love the other person in the house and want nothing to do with their "parent" figure!

Sorry I wasn't clear -- it's not people from the USA who are fleeing to Canada, it's people from Venezuela, Colombia, and the like, who flee north to the USA looking for a safe place to live. Especially children, lately. They're finding that no matter how dangerous the situation they've fled, there's no way they're going to be granted asylum in the USA, so they're having to continue north to Canada in hopes of finding a country that really will welcome those yearning to breathe free.

The rule for Lasix is amusingly phrased as, "Use as much as you need and as little as possible." Sounds like that's a good rule of thumb for opioids, too. I agree that starting with a small increase, and only increasing more if/when you have to, sounds prudent. Also keep in mind that bad days happen, and if you need a little extra on some days, that doesn't mean you have to increase what you take every day. Mrs. Prof (and you) may have to come to terms with you never being able to drive in the foreseeable future. It sucks, and it makes life more complicated, but it still might be an unhappy truth. At least there's some hope for the future, if the new pain guy is going to be doing procedures that might bring some relief, but until that happens, driving may just not be possible.

http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp.php?id=647 New NP is up!

This weekend I learned how to spin yarn on a spinning wheel. My first attempt was, of course, inconsistent and sloppy. I am told that the result is "art yarn" and that people actually pay big bucks for handspun art yarn. The thick and thin bits, the not very well twisted sections, all of that is seen as a plus in some circles. I also got to make a frit glass piece which is a dark blue background with glow-under-UV flecks and slightly larger stars, to make it look like a night sky. There's also a paw print in there, but it's black on a dark background, so you can only see it if you know it's there. Made an Arduino robot, but it didn't work and they ran out of time trying to diagnose why, so I'll have to bring it to the next con that the Blinkies guys come to. www.2Dkits.com is the main source for their various soldering projects, and the guys who make the kits were there. The robot, which is supposed to be controllable via bluetooth by a smart phone, was a new product, and they wee revising the instructions as we built them and they discovered what was missing and what worked better done a different way. Also did chain maille jewelry, which was fun but is likely too fiddling for me to take up as a regular hobby. Then again, it's fairly simple and repetitive, migt be good to do while watching TV. I got some extra rings and figure if I use them up, then it mightbe worth ordering some rings myself. Double-pointed needles for knitting. You can knit tubes, like socks, arm-warmers, and daleks, but they're rather fiddly and get in each others' way. Haven't done enough DPN or enough circular needle knitting to know which I like better yet. I signed up to build a bat house, but was so busy with other stuff I never got around to it, so they sent the kit home with me.

Leftover homemade chocolate truffles from MuseCon, along with a diet pomegranate soda that a member trucks down from Canada specifically for the con, which cannot be obtained in the states, and which I wait all year for my fix. :-) :-D

Glad you weren't shopping when it hit (aka that it didn't choose to hit while you were shopping)!

Well, since their job was putting right what once went wrong, that implies that the candidate who won was the wrong one. But we already knew that.... Just had a story on the radio about how Wisconsin dairy farms are starting to see a major labor shortage because illegal immigrants are afraid to stay, and they just can't get American citizens to work the kind of hours needed to tend livestock and milk cows etc. It's one of the biggest industries in the state, and heavily relies on immigrant labor. Wisconsin was one of the states that surprised so many by going to Trump. They interviewed employers who said they didn't think Trump was really going to crack down on their labor force, that what they wanted was a path to citizenship for good people who came here to work. Um, did they not listen at all to what the candidates said during all those interminable months of campaigning? Like how Hillary wanted a path to citizenship, and Donald wanted to throw out every illegal immigrant and build a wall to keep them out? There's now an underground railroad to help refugees seeking asylum to make it to Canada, where they have a much better chance of at least being considered for it. Not the first time I've thought Canada is doing the American Dream better than America is....

Sometimes modern medicine can surprise us, good or bad. McKinley Health Center was the student health center, "free" care included with tuiton. Nicknamed McKillMe. Yet I got some if the best health care in my life there. They were the ones who put my symptoms together and suggested I might have PCOS. They were the ones who, on hearing that my cough was something which had been spreading through the vet school, sent in samples for testing which identified "The Disease" as Whooping Cough, apparently brought back from a conference in Mexico by the Dean of Students! Apparently the first physician to think to do so, she checked for zoonotic diseases I might have picked up from patients, too.