Mar 122016
 

I needed to take an extra Lona nap, after I had my shower and Lu left.  Two new people on my floor made so much cooking smoke that they set off the main fire alarm so I had to get up twice, about three hours apart, and prepare to be evacuated.  If that wasn’t bad enough a car alarm under my window went off four times.  Therefore I has almost no sleep.  I’m running way late.  I paid my biggest hospital bill yesterday.  I haven’t received the other two yet.  My share was $1,260.  That’s pretty damn great, when you consider that the bill was $503,154.54. Weekend hugs!

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 2:57 (average 4:43).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: 6. Work too hard.

I see this from would-be start-up founders and artists and writers every day. They talk about hustling 18 hours a day. They tell you they’ve worked every weekend, every night. They buy into the fallacy that letting your work rule every waking moment is the only way to be successful.

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

“It’s all part of the hustle.”

“You can start up or rest. You can’t do both.”

This is all a complete fabrication. It’s been propagated by the insane work schedules of a small percentage of billionaire founders and visionary creatives who were able to function on a fraction of sleep every night.

They are the exception. You are the rule. If you choose to work too hard once and you burn out, that’s an awesome opportunity to learn. But you have to learn from it. You have to learn that trying to maintain that level of skewed work-life balance is rarely going to work for you. [emphasis original]

This is the sixth if six mistakes we all need to make at least once in order to learn from them and grow. Click through for the other five. Personally, I’ve made far more than these six.

From Addicting Info: The Houston Police Department and Texas Rangers are investigating after a gun nut opened fire on the office of Democratic state Senator John Whitmire a day before President Obama is scheduled to speak in Austin.

Early Thursday morning around 12:30am, a shooter fired several rounds into the two-story office. “There are bullet slugs everywhere,” Whitmire said. “One lodged in a framed picture. It’s pretty amazing.”

Whitemire, a gun control advocate, surmised that the weapon used in the attack was an AR-15 because the bullets were .223 caliber. No one was harmed in the shooting but Whitmire and his staff along with law enforcement officials are taking the incident seriously.

“We’ll take precautions. But it’s part of the job, unfortunately, in this day and time,” Whitmire said. “They are checking in this general area to see if anyone else received any gunfire. We don’t know yet. I don’t know yet.”

He had better be careful. Republican Ammosexuals are dangerous. Don’t forget that shots were fired into Gabby Gifford’s office, shortly before a Republican Ammosexual, inspired by Bloody Bullseye Barbie, critically wounded Gabby and murdered and maimed several more people.

From Alternet: The rollout for Robert Greenwald’s new documentary, "Making a Killing: Guns, Greed and the NRA," is targeting pastors, politicians, domestic violence counselors, African American leaders and others angry over the high body counts and broken lives that have shaken cities and seeped across the heartland.

The film, which premieres Tuesday, will be shown for free in church basements, colleges and state capitals and later will be available on Facebook, YouTube and other outlets. The distribution campaign mixes old-school activism with the vast reach of social media, a strategy Greenwald’s Brave New Films used on previous films that skewered Fox News, the Koch brothers, Wal-Mart and President Obama’s drone program.

Releasing "Making a Killing" in an election year that is reshaping American politics is an attempt to spur audiences to protest the National Rifle Assn. and pressure lawmakers for stricter gun regulations.

I have no doubt that this film will deserve an Oscar. In case I miss it, please give me a heads up when this hits YouTube. I’ll embed it.

Cartoon:

0312Cartoon

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  16 Responses to “Open Thread–3/12/2016”

  1. 4:16  I guess I was just drifting.

    Upworthy – I don't think I've done all of those; but I've done several.  Enough to have more admiration for someone who is willing to admit a mistake and move on than for someone who never makes one.  (BTW moving on usually includes atoning.)  (BTW someone who never makes one is usually a legend in his or her own mind.)

    Addicting – O*M*G*  Shades of Kennedy.  THis was all we needed, the beginning of a new cycle of assassinations.  Please God, it can be stopped.  Praying.

    AlterNet – I'm guessing at least one Oscar, probably several in various categories.  Not that is will receive them but it will deserve them.

    Cartoon – And of course the Rethugs HATED that.

    • BTW, the person who says he has never made a mistake is actually lying . . . those words were his most recent mistake.

  2. Upworthy: 

    Never assume you can be perfect, virtually never assume you can work 18 hours a day, day after day…and if you can go get screened for Bi-Polar Disorder, or go back on your meds.  A healthy life requires balance.

    Alternet: I hope this film hs some real impact.

    Addicting Info:  Too many gun nuts all over the place.  JFK called Texas "Nut country" the day before his trip to Dallas.

    Cartoon: Maybe the ghost of FDR can come and put some kind of pox on the GOPigs!

  3. 2:54  What an excellent piece of driftwood for an endtable and lamp.

  4. I agree with Joanne.

  5. Any chace of findiing another clip of the Trump supporter assaulting the protestor other than the autp-play one currently playihg … and playing, and playing …?

    It interferes (for me at least) with the page loading.  (And if it has sound, it might be annoying to those w/ great ears)

    • It does have sound, and, to add insult to injury, it opens with a commercial (I think a random one), and it is annoying.  I was able to hit the stop/pause button and shut it up, but I don't know whether every O/S-browser combination will do that, and I'm sure we don't all have the same.  PS – I didn't delete your comment and probably couldn't have had I wanted to, which I wouldn't.  Even for one already routed to spam, the dashboard tantalizes me with the button, but it doesn't do anything LOL.

    • See my rfeply to you on Open Thread – 3/11/2016.

      • Sorry about my error on where I posted my "Auto-play" comment.

        Yeah, I know it's relatively easy to configure one's browser (at least Chrome, Firefox & Explorer) to "Prevent Auto-Play from Playing". [NOTE: The irony of providing a tutorial on how to prevent auto-play that actually OPENS w/ an auto-play promotion is obviously lost on the PC Wolrd editors]

        It's not so bad you have to then pro-actively sekect and click which videos you want to view, but NONE of them (if they show up at all, which they may not in IE11) give you even a preview pane of what you'll be watching.

        But those auto-play ads are getting so ubiquitous at so many sites I may go ahead and block them all anyway.

  6. Puzzle — 2:54  What an excellent piece of driftwood for an endtable and lamp.

    Upworthy — I know I've done these, although I have to really think about #4 because I can't remember a specific incident.  

    Addicting Info — This guy should be arrested, tried and convicted for threatening the POTUS.  And the shooter of the Dems office should face serious charges and prison time.  Is it time to let Texas secede yet?

    "“If you get a clear shot, please fire for effect!” conservative gun nut Kriss Elliot wrote on Facebook.  …

    Make no mistake, these people belong in jail or at the very least an FBI watch list, but as long as Republicans control the state it will remain an exaggerated and embarrassing version of the Wild West."

    Alternet — Looks like a good one!  Just a quick note to any Americans thinking of moving north of the 49th if Drumpf wins in November, leave your guns in the US as Canada does not have a 2nd amendment type guarantee in our constitution.

    Cartoon — FDR, a man ahead of his time, or shout I say, a man for all times.

  7. Upworthy: I'm guilty of most of them, especially #6.As I've aged, I have learned to say 'No', or 'I can't make that appointment/meeting/class and that's okay with me for not feeling guilty. I've learned to listen more, apologize, and to help others. It's a lifelong lesson.

    AI: I would say, 'only in Texas', but it's happening all over now. I would think that anyone who states they are planning bodily harm to our President is subject to being arrested. Yes, it's the Wild Wild West here!!

    AlterNet: I didn't know about this, I'll have to look for it next week.

    Cartoon: My dad used to talk about FDR and his chats on the radio at the dinner table. Those are Good memories.

    WOW, your part of the hospital bill was great, considering how medical care is so expensive, and also prescriptions these days. Hope that you have a good evening, and take care. Thanks, Tom.
    *Happy Early Birthday too!! Hugs!

  8. $500,000+. Is that what was billed or what your insurance approved?

  9. The legislature in OK has a bill that would let abusers open carry going thru the paces at the capitol!!! This is ridiculous, to say the LEAST!

    If the governor signs this bill, so much for protective orders and safety of the victims of any kind of abuse!!! 

    So much for sanity in Oklahoma!!! ASHAMED to the core for my state!!! Totally and utterly SHAMED by the stupidity of this IDEA!!!

  10.  

    TC – look at the jigzone puzzle on 13th March – it is YOU!!  (How appropriate!).

    Addicting Info – terrifying situation – it reminds me of a talk I recently listened to by Dr Daniel G Amen – some years ago his nephew suddenly changed from being a happy, well adjusted, kind boy to being sullen, withdrawn and drawing things in his room that frightened his parents badly – so they took him to see Dr Amen.  He is a psychiatrist who does thousands of brain scans – he has a library of 100,000 – and after talking to his nephew, he did a scan of his nephew's brain and the left frontal lobe appeared to be missing – its place was taken by a giant cyst.  He then had to find someone to operate on it (which took some searching for) – he was operated on and returned to being the kind, intelligent, well adjusted child he had been and now he is a happy, intelligent adult.  Dr Amen has seen 43 other cysts all affecting people's behaviour in a similar way since. 

    Question – how many others go unrecognised and how much hideous damage to all around happens as a result?   Could such things be the cause of some of the frightening gun violence in America?

    Alternet – excellent sounding film -thanks for the heads up.

     

  11. First of all: It's the 13th of March here for a while so: Happy Birthday, TomCat. May this one be followed by many more.

    Sorry you had so little sleep, TomCat, and with a shortened night following, the catnaps must come in handy. Wow, they say life is precious, but pretty darn expensive too. That is quite some hospital bill, half a million for just one of them. American health care is really  expensive, but it was worth every penny of it. I'm sure you feel the same way paying that fraction of it, even though it's a substantial amount for you and more coming.

    Upworthy: I have done several of these and some of them quite the opposite. I've never screwed up my finances and I do hope I never have to make that mistake to learn from it, not at my age anyway. I know I must have made some selfish decisions in my time, but not consciously or big enough to remember. However the ones that hurt me most were major unselfish ones, putting myself last. Neither have I taken the easy way out and now wish I had sometimes. Not all struggles have been worth it. So there's plenty of room to make a few more mistakes and learn. We're never too old for either.

    AI: Senator John Whitmire and his staff are lucky that ammosexuals have a predisposition for heavy weapons but can't hit the side of a barn with it. I'm sure they are aware that the attention this attack receives may give some other gun nut the idea to do better and start practicing on live objects he doesn't agree with.

    Alternet: The brilliant title alone ( "Making a Killing: Guns, Greed and the NRA") is enough to make you think, and to make you want to see it. I hope people everywhere have the guts to show Robert Greenwald’s new documentary, because things are getting so heated in  America this year, the NRA will use the momentum to get gun nuts to prevent this film from being shown. I hope you'll be able to embed the YouTube version soon, TomCat., I can't wait to see it.

  12. Thanks all!  Rushing!!  Hugs!!

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