celestial-tapir

[celestial-tapir]

[celestial-tapir]

Same

[celestial-tapir]

Wow my complaint about last night's barking dog has led to building management sending an entire email about methods to keep dogs from undue barking I shouldn't let this power get to my head

[celestial-tapir]

We need to do what we can to protect the Internet Archive. Here is a petition that you can sign.

This petition alone might not be enough, but everything we can throw at this counts.

[celestial-tapir]

We ask your questions anonymously so you don’t have to! Submissions are open on the 1st and 15th of the month.

[celestial-tapir]

Japanese mother of pearl fantail dove, 1880

[celestial-tapir]

Hi!

Just read about your and Mouse's adventure, and in the post you mentioned that one if the kids have chickenpox (hope they get better soon!), and I don't know which country or continent you live on, but where I'm from, when a kid has chickenpox, other parents with small kids that has not had it will arrange playdates to hopefully get it (logic going that the younger the kid, the less severe the symptoms, and immunity against later infections). So. My question is then if this is a practice you are familiar with?

(I'm asking out of pure cultural curiosity here)

((a bit of a rambly ask, but I hope it's coherent enough to read))

Sure, you're asking if the UK does chickenpox parties.

I'm an American (where children are vaccinated for chickenpox) living in England (where children are not vaccinated and are expected to keep chickenpox alive in the population, the government believing that as this confers resistance, like a "top-up vaccine", against shingles to elderly adults, it is more economical.) This has always seemed a bit barbaric and backwards to me, especially so now that there's an effective shingles vaccine. I also question the economics behind it.

Ironically, when your kid has chickenpox, they're not supposed to go out in public, attend school or nursery, or interact with the elderly. So at this point in the summer holidays, the kids would have gone to their elderly grandparents, but as the NHS advises against exposing that population to live chickenpox, we have to make other arrangements. So therefore the government are also demanding that young children be miserable for a few days, and that young parents miss work and scramble for childcare, while recommending that elderly and immunocompromised people avoid exposure.

So a child and their working parents have to miss nursery/school and QUITE A LOT OF WORKING WORK, for the health benefit of a retired population, who has significantly more prosperity than our demographic and gets everything for free, and who aren't working. That is such a bizarre argument on the "economic" grounds.

And then you're not even supposed to let the sick child anywhere near the population the illness is supposed to protect.

Anyway, no, it doesn't make a lot of sense. It is genuinely one of the stupidest decisions the UK actively makes: it isn't even malice, or funneling money to the rich, it's just bewilderingly dumb and everyone knows it. As an American I said "that's stupid" and looked into purchasing the chickenpox vaccine, but as it was over £100 and two separate visits in working hours to a random place with no public transport and I don't drive, I retired in some bafflement.

Regarding your question of chickenpox parties - sort of. The thing is, in the old days, people did this more often. Today, with children having two working parents and a lacy arrangement of childcare coverage, it never feels like it's a good time to get it. One parent always has something tricky on, and the other is sick themselves, or they have a new baby, and so on.

In our social circle, we also have the looming spectre of Juliet's Kids Who Got It Twice. All Three of Them. NOBODY wants this.

However, Bug (5) has a playdate today that was already arranged, and it being the summer holidays, the parents have said they're quite keen to get it over with now. I feel absolutely awful sending over my plague rat, but better to get it from a friend, just before a few weeks that the parents have already blocked off clear in hopeful anticipation of a neatly-timed infection.

Isn't this stupid? It's stupid, right? Yesterday Bug and Dr Glass spent 4 hours in a hot isolated waiting room in the big hospital in the city - Dr Glass has ME, this wiped him out for the whole day - because Bug's vision went blurry in one eye, and chickenpox CAN attack the optic nerve and make you go blind, but apparently it was just because they had poxes on their eyelids. Had to have 2 NHS doctors and NHS 111 and a disabled carer all freak out for a few hours for this. Obviously we don't pay a dime out of pocket, but seriously? this is not economical.

thank you for hosting my chickenpox parenting rant.

[celestial-tapir]

Just the essentials!

Music credit: "Cinema Blockbuster Trailer 7" by Sascha Ende Link: https://filmmusic.io/en/song/329-cinema-blockbuster-trailer-7 License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license (CC BY 4.0)

[Video Description: A 26 second video. Orchestral, cinematic music plays. Text reads The library is on fire! Grab the most important things!

A librarian at her computer spins around in her chair in slow motion, a look of horror on her face. Video cuts between various librarians frantically rescuing items. Each scene is labeled with the item:

The South Shore Posters: A librarian completely obscured by a framed South Shore Line poster she is carrying backs out of a room.

The hand chair: A librarian hauls away a large red plastic chair shaped like a hand.

Patron holds: A librarian shovels patron holds off the holds shelf onto a cart.

Benny the library skeleton: A librarian princess-carrying a large skeleton dressed in an oversized t-shirt frantically looks around for an exit before dashing away

The cardigan pile: A librarian almost completely obscured by the pile of cardigans in her arms runs toward the camera.

3D printer: A librarian dashes up to a large 3D printer and attempts to lift it off the table

Cecily the giraffe: A librarian pats a life size baby giraffe statue and then grabs it by the leg and begins slowwwly scooting backward to slide it across the carpet

The library tree: A librarian grips an enormous planter out of which springs an entire tree and pulls with all her might. It doesn't move.

James Patterson books? : The librarian carrying Benny sprints into frame between shelves loaded with endless Patterson books. Record scratch. The sound of a clock ticking as he considers the books for maybe two seconds.

Text changes to "Not enough hands". The dramatic music resumes as he sprints off frame with Benny.

End card with the library logo. The words 'Not actually on fire. Everything is fine.' are typed across the screen. End description]

[celestial-tapir]

“The police spend very little of their time dealing with violent criminals—indeed, police sociologists report that only about 10% of the average police officer’s time is devoted to criminal matters of any kind. Most of the remaining 90% is spent dealing with infractions of various administrative codes and regulations: all those rules about how and where one can eat, drink, smoke, sell, sit, walk, and drive. If two people punch each other, or even draw a knife on each other, police are unlikely to get involved. Drive down the street in a car without license plates, on the other hand, and the authorities will show up instantly, threatening all sorts of dire consequences if you don’t do exactly what they tell you. The police, then, are essentially just bureaucrats with weapons. Their main role in society is to bring the threat of physical force—even, death—into situations where it would never have been otherwise invoked, such as the enforcement of civic ordinances about the sale of untaxed cigarettes.”

— An excerpt from Ferguson & the Criminalization of American Life by David Graeber (via actjustly)

[celestial-tapir]

[celestial-tapir]

Ah. Apparently I only asked for leave for Thurs-Mon so in fact tomorrow is my last day 😐

Starting my last day in this job well by once again oversleeping so I have to head into the office after a 9 am meeting

[celestial-tapir]

what are you wearing rn and is it representative of your style

[celestial-tapir]

[celestial-tapir]

Oh my god the fucking Onion

[celestial-tapir]

They’re calling me every slur under the sun over on twitter for this post

[celestial-tapir]

[ID: Three screencaps from Taskmaster. Jason Mantzoukas stands outdoors, looking through a pair of binoculars, and says, "Bear reading pornographic magazine." A person dressed in a cartoon bear suit sits in a camping chair, reading a magazine with Greg Davies and Alex Horne on the front and back covers. Jason says, "Sugar Guy magazine? Bear's a straight perv." End ID.]