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    • Robin

      Welcome!   03/05/2016

      Welcome, everyone, to the new 910CMX Community Forums. I'm still working on getting them running, so things may change.  If you're a 910 Comic creator and need your forum recreated, let me know and I'll get on it right away.  I'll do my best to make this new place as fun as the last one!

CritterKeeper

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  1. Thanks
    CritterKeeper reacted to The Old Hack in Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)   
    Maybe we could run a gofundme here on the site to chip in. I could probably dig out fifty or a hundred bucks if I dug deep enough into my wallet.
  2. Like
    CritterKeeper reacted to The Old Hack in This Day In History   
    Fortunately no president ever anywhere will ever again so flagrantly ignore the Constitution of a country, backed by his own terrified party.
  3. Like
    CritterKeeper got a reaction from The Old Hack in This Day In History   
    So, Liz just has to hang in another five years?  C'mon, Bess, you can do it!!
    I've read that not only was the bakery not actually on Pudding Lane, but on a side-street off of it, the site is currently in the middle of Monument Street, Pudding Lane having been moved to make room for the street named for the monument to the fire.
    I love reading entries like this, because looking further into them is so fascinating!
    According to the Wikipedia article, McKinley was accompanied by not only "his usual Secret Service agent, George Foster," but also two other Secret Service agents added at the request of McKinley's personal secretary, who had tried three times to remove the event from the President's schedule for fear of assassination attempts.
    The man directly ahead of the assassin in line to meet the President was described as "swarthy" and was looked on with a great deal of suspicion by the Secret Service and police present.  He shook the President's hand and move on without incident.  The man in line after the assassin was a mix of African and Spanish ancestry (so probably also "swarthy"), and he tackled the assassin faster than any of the police or Secret Service agents, before he could get off a third shot.
    One of the new bits of technology being presented at the Expo was a primitive x-ray machine.  Instead of using it, doctors trying to find and remove the bullet stuck their hands into the wound and fished around.  Later Thomas Edison sent another x-ray machine, but it apparently arrived with a crucial part missing.  Tesla would've gotten it working if he'd sent it!
    This one deserves to be quoted in full.  "The best surgeon in the city, and the Exposition's medical director, Dr. Roswell Park, was in Niagara Falls, performing a delicate neck operation. When interrupted during the procedure on September 6 to be told he was needed in Buffalo, he responded that he could not leave, even for the President of the United States. He was then told who had been shot. Park, two weeks later, would save the life of a woman who suffered injuries almost identical to McKinley's."
    John Hay was McKinley's Secretary of State.  He had also been Abraham Lincoln's private secretary and a good friend of James Garfield.  If he hadn't died in 1905 he probably would have been connected with JFK somehow, too.  I wonder how many people have searched for some encounter between him and old Joe Kennedy?
    Hey, it worked for Emperor Norton I!
    He was imitating the ancient Greeks and Romans, who thought that big, floppy, unwieldy dicks were hilarious and made fun of them.
    Note that Magellan had died in the Philippines, and the Victoria arrived under the command of Juan Sebastián Elcano.
    No joke or info, I just think this is really cool!
    Huh, I had no idea Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer was named after a real person!
    And Admiral Grace Hopper, one of the most important figures in the early days of computing, carefully preserved it in the logs for the day. Note that this use of the word "bug" did already exist, hence it being funny enough to find a real bug messing things up for her to make the joke in the first place.  :-)
    The goal to beat is 72 years, 110 days.  George VI died 6 February 1952, so our target is May 27, 2024.  Born 21 Aprl 1926, she'll be 98 years, 1 month, 6 days old.  That only requires going about a year beyond the average life expectancy for someone her age.
  4. Thanks
    CritterKeeper got a reaction from The Old Hack in Things That Are Just Annoying   
    Challenger  I was in high school, in class in the South Attic, with our desks in a circle.  I think it was an English class, but it could have been something related.  The launch had gotten a lot of publicity because of Christa McAuliffe, first teacher in space, and a lot of schools all over the country were tuned in.  They'd been watching the launch in the library on the second floor, and our music teacher came up and told us what had happened.  I said "Oh my god!" about half a second ahead of our teacher saying the same words.
     
    9/11  Our boss was out on the east coast for a veterinary conference and to visit family, and she was due to fly back later that day, so I was solo vet at work that day.  I almost always had NPR playing on the radio in the morning, and then in my car on the way in to the hospital.  Based on the timeline I'm reading, the first plane hit at 7:46am my time, and since I start work at 8:30am, I was probably at home getting ready for work when they announced it.  I don't think anyone realized at that point that it was anything more than a horrible accident.  The second plane hit 8:03am, not sure if I was in the car yet or not when they announced it.  Word of the plane that hit the Pentagon would have been within ten minutes after my usual start time at work.
    We didn't have a very good TV at work,  just a little TV/VCR combo we kept for kids to watch videos on while their parents and pets were in an exam room.  There was no cable, only antenna, so the picture was lousy, but we had it tuned in as best we could by the time the first tower collapsed.  I had a few appointments but watched in between them.  A lot of people were worried that Chicago would be a target, especially the Sears Tower, so even businesses without any New York connections were shutting down; we're out in the suburbs, but some clients commute and others worked at branches whose main office was downtown.  As the morning went on, a lot of people who'd been sent home from work or were supposed to be flying that day wound up calling to make last-minute appointments, and they made up for the ones who cancelled.
    They shut down all air traffic all over the country, and my boss had the good sense and foresight to get to the car rental counter before the rush, so she was able to drive back instead of flying; her return would only be delayed one day.  We're near Pauwaukee Airport and see a lot of planes headed towards or out of O'Hare, so it was really noticeable to not see any contrails or hear any engines going by overhead.
    I have an aunt who lives in Manhattan, but I looked online, must have been MapQuest back then, and could see that she was pretty far from the Towers, and she didn't work near there either, so I wasn't really worried about her being directly affected.  It was still good to hear from my mom once she finally got through that she was indeed okay.  She was worried about some of the people she knew who were closer, though.
    I haven't seen the actual site of the Towers, but when I went to a vet conference in Las Vegas, the hotel casino New York-New York had a fence around one part that had been hung with T-shirts from all the police and fire companies who lost people in the collapses.  It was quite touching.  Sort of like seeing the Vietnam Memorial wall, sad but not from direct personal impact.
  5. Thanks
    CritterKeeper got a reaction from The Old Hack in An announcement   
    A little late to the party, but I also add my voice congratulating you on coming to a new understanding of yourself, and I hope that you can find new peace and comfort as well as safety and support.
    I hope you will find this positive and not offensive....there was someone in my area who ran a prop shop who turned it into a BDSM space on weekend evenings, and they at some times presented at "Tina",  with the place being known as "Tina's Place."  But, a good chunk of the rest of the time, they presented as male (can't even recall his legal name offhand).  He had very masculine features and usually had a five o'clock shadow, if not more....and so did Tina.  They were willing to dress up anyway, at least in safe spaces, in wonderful frilly dresses and bows and sparkles.  I don't know if they just accepted the masculine features and didn't care, or had given up trying to look more female and come to terms with it.  Either way, within the "family" that gathered there, in the safe space that I knew Tina at, everyone was accepting and loved Tina for who he or she was, whichever the case might be at the time.  They also had a wonderful, charming wife, as far into middle age as Tina was, which given that this was late 90s was probably a big reason for presenting as male to the outside world....
    Older trans women always make me think fondly of Tina.  May you find joyful ways to express yourself and enjoy your new self-knowledge, and may those who love you continue to do so.  *hugs*
  6. Haha
    CritterKeeper reacted to Illjwamh in Crazy Counting Guy   
    I was being facetious, but I won't deny that keeping track of things I enjoy is a fun way to pass the time.

    As for laughing, I do that after a lot of things. Have been now for, let's see...36! 36 years! Ah! Ah! Ah!
  7. Thanks
    CritterKeeper got a reaction from The Old Hack in An announcement   
    A little late to the party, but I also add my voice congratulating you on coming to a new understanding of yourself, and I hope that you can find new peace and comfort as well as safety and support.
    I hope you will find this positive and not offensive....there was someone in my area who ran a prop shop who turned it into a BDSM space on weekend evenings, and they at some times presented at "Tina",  with the place being known as "Tina's Place."  But, a good chunk of the rest of the time, they presented as male (can't even recall his legal name offhand).  He had very masculine features and usually had a five o'clock shadow, if not more....and so did Tina.  They were willing to dress up anyway, at least in safe spaces, in wonderful frilly dresses and bows and sparkles.  I don't know if they just accepted the masculine features and didn't care, or had given up trying to look more female and come to terms with it.  Either way, within the "family" that gathered there, in the safe space that I knew Tina at, everyone was accepting and loved Tina for who he or she was, whichever the case might be at the time.  They also had a wonderful, charming wife, as far into middle age as Tina was, which given that this was late 90s was probably a big reason for presenting as male to the outside world....
    Older trans women always make me think fondly of Tina.  May you find joyful ways to express yourself and enjoy your new self-knowledge, and may those who love you continue to do so.  *hugs*
  8. Haha
    CritterKeeper reacted to mlooney in Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)   
    Well, not with the rear teeth I assume.
  9. Like
    CritterKeeper reacted to Don Edwards in Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)   
    Well, one's broken, so definitely not the whole tooth. And the other is scheduled for a crown, so not nothing but the tooth.
  10. Haha
    CritterKeeper reacted to Pharaoh RutinTutin in Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)   
    Dentist in court and no comment about the tooth, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth?
  11. Like
    CritterKeeper reacted to ProfessorTomoe in Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)   
    Finally, some good news from the podiatrist. He found the source of the ulcer problem on my right foot.
    I had a sliver of metal buried way up inside that wasn't visible upon earlier examinations.
    It explains why my foot hurt so bad even when I wasn't putting pressure on it. Anyway, he managed to remove it, and my foot feels different already. Not 100% better yet - just strange, like a weight has been lifted from it. I'll be on Augmentin antibiotics for 2 weeks or so, and Mrs. Prof will be putting Iodosorb on it and bandaging it until she leaves on Saturday. After that, no Iodosorb and no bandages.
    Prognosis is, finally, good.
  12. Haha
    CritterKeeper reacted to mlooney in Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)   
    That, in a word, sucks the big one.   No, wait that's 4 words...  You know what I mean.
  13. Haha
    CritterKeeper reacted to Pharaoh RutinTutin in Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)   
    Having known several people with knee and hip replacements, the results are almost always very good or very bad.
    You either end up with a working leg, or you have a new set of problems.
    There is no middle ground.
    And remember to take any medical ID they give you when you go to the Airport.
    So what's a seedy joint like this doing in a nice guy like you?
  14. Thanks
    CritterKeeper got a reaction from The Old Hack in An announcement   
    A little late to the party, but I also add my voice congratulating you on coming to a new understanding of yourself, and I hope that you can find new peace and comfort as well as safety and support.
    I hope you will find this positive and not offensive....there was someone in my area who ran a prop shop who turned it into a BDSM space on weekend evenings, and they at some times presented at "Tina",  with the place being known as "Tina's Place."  But, a good chunk of the rest of the time, they presented as male (can't even recall his legal name offhand).  He had very masculine features and usually had a five o'clock shadow, if not more....and so did Tina.  They were willing to dress up anyway, at least in safe spaces, in wonderful frilly dresses and bows and sparkles.  I don't know if they just accepted the masculine features and didn't care, or had given up trying to look more female and come to terms with it.  Either way, within the "family" that gathered there, in the safe space that I knew Tina at, everyone was accepting and loved Tina for who he or she was, whichever the case might be at the time.  They also had a wonderful, charming wife, as far into middle age as Tina was, which given that this was late 90s was probably a big reason for presenting as male to the outside world....
    Older trans women always make me think fondly of Tina.  May you find joyful ways to express yourself and enjoy your new self-knowledge, and may those who love you continue to do so.  *hugs*
  15. Haha
    CritterKeeper reacted to Darth Fluffy in Things That Are Just Annoying   
    Cat had knittens.
  16. Haha
    CritterKeeper reacted to Don Edwards in An announcement   
    Don't feel bad about being slow - I figured out that I'm mildly genderfluid about a month after my great-grandson's first birthday.
    But this could explain why I've occasionally gotten an impression of carefully-contained, undirected bitterness from you.
    Maybe the realization will help you. I know that while the 20-minute bouts of gender dysphoria a few times a year weren't ever really a problem for me, finally actually recognizing what they were helped me deal with them when they happen. So it would make sense that the same sort of understanding would help someone with a more substantial case (but then, there's a lot about humans that doesn't make sense).
    And I hope the realization doesn't cause you a lot of grief from outside.
    Aside: swiped from notalwaysright.com
     
  17. Like
    CritterKeeper reacted to The Old Hack in An announcement   
    I don't know. Dark haired, serious, not very open to taking shit from anyone... I like Susan and am perfectly happy to use her as a role model.
  18. Like
    CritterKeeper reacted to The Old Hack in An announcement   
    Hey everybody,
    I have an announcement to make. After some recent developments in my life I have finally come to the realisation that I am transgender. I have been so deep in denial about this, repressed so many memories, that the first of my close friends I spoke to about it was not surprised to learn at all. The irony of this is not lost on me.
    I've changed my avatar; that was the easy part. I am still working on the rest of it. You do not have to pay attention to this if you do not feel it concerns you. I merely wished to announce it here. That's all.
    Best regards,
    ~tOH.
  19. Thanks
    CritterKeeper got a reaction from The Old Hack in Story Monday, August 12, 2018   
    I'm sorry you felt pressured or targeted, that was not my intent.   I was engaging in a theoretical discussion, using hyperbole to illustrate a point.  Social ostracism has been shown, time and again, to be one of the worst punishments a person can face.  Hence why "shunning" was so feared, and so effective a deterrent.  The person I quoted (who was not you) had brought up the point of what our goal should be regarding those who commit social offenses, and I was agreeing with them.  You had not addressed their point in that matter, so I wasn't seeing myself as replying to you, only to them and the overall discussion.
    That's the point I was replying to.  Not your post, or I would have quoted you instead of them.
    Trying to resist the temptation to quote Magneto....that might be seen as rude....
  20. Haha
    CritterKeeper reacted to The Old Hack in This Day In History   
    I definitely prefer 'free to be rude' to 'jackbooted into arresting and imprisoning/executing/sending to labour or extermination camps for Voicing The Wrong Opinion or an accident of birth'.
    Well, either that or his watch stopped.
  21. Like
    CritterKeeper got a reaction from Scotty in Story Monday, August 12, 2018   
    This, for me, is the crux of the matter.  What would we want someone who has done something terrible to do?  Should they dress in sackcloth or a scarlet letter, and never ever be a part of society again?  Should they kill themselves because they can never, ever make up for their error?  Or should they change, stop doing the terrible thing, sincerely apologize to those they have harmed, and resolve to do better, to become a force for good instead of evil?  And if they can make that change in themselves, shouldn't we encourage that, instead of continuing to vilify them just as hard as if they had never changed at all?
  22. Like
    CritterKeeper got a reaction from Scotty in Story Monday, August 12, 2018   
    This, for me, is the crux of the matter.  What would we want someone who has done something terrible to do?  Should they dress in sackcloth or a scarlet letter, and never ever be a part of society again?  Should they kill themselves because they can never, ever make up for their error?  Or should they change, stop doing the terrible thing, sincerely apologize to those they have harmed, and resolve to do better, to become a force for good instead of evil?  And if they can make that change in themselves, shouldn't we encourage that, instead of continuing to vilify them just as hard as if they had never changed at all?
  23. Sad
    CritterKeeper reacted to mlooney in Things That Are Just Annoying   
    I pulled my back falling out of bed.  Got my feet caught up in the sheets and went down like a ton of bricks.
  24. Like
    CritterKeeper reacted to ProfessorTomoe in Things That Make You Happy   
    I've spent a good part of the past two days piggybacking on the one and only Jon St. John's convention booth at the Let's Play Gaming Expo 2019 in Irving, TX (a Dallas suburb). He and his agent were kind enough to let me set up and sell copies of my Calibrations CD. Didn't sell too many, but it's the experience and the camaraderie that count. Had some fun conversations with Jon during slack time, none of which I'm at liberty to share.   Big thanks go out to him for this year, as well as for the invite to return next year!
  25. Like
    CritterKeeper got a reaction from Scotty in Story Monday, August 12, 2018   
    This, for me, is the crux of the matter.  What would we want someone who has done something terrible to do?  Should they dress in sackcloth or a scarlet letter, and never ever be a part of society again?  Should they kill themselves because they can never, ever make up for their error?  Or should they change, stop doing the terrible thing, sincerely apologize to those they have harmed, and resolve to do better, to become a force for good instead of evil?  And if they can make that change in themselves, shouldn't we encourage that, instead of continuing to vilify them just as hard as if they had never changed at all?