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The 'rally'

Leftovers & Links #51 

A boss's philosophy:

"Always be happy when an employee finances a car or a new house. It means they HAVE to work and will put up with more before they quit."

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Here’s a company that’s working on creating humans in laboratories, without such inconvenient old-fashioned concepts as fucking and pregnancy. They want to do it all in vitro — in test tubes, Petri dishes, and other manufactured environments. 

I love science fiction. Some of it, though, probably shouldn't come true.

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A hospice nurse relates two unexplained phenomena that often happen in the last days of a fatally-ill person’s life. I don’t think it’s woo-woo stuff; too many people are saying that it’s common. 

Quote: This happens to patients so frequently, they will educate families of the phenomenon so they don't feel such a total devastation when their loved one dies suddenly.

The first recurring anomaly is that a terminally ill patient might ‘rally’ — briefly seem to be recovering, before the end. The second is, the doomed often believe their already-dead loved ones are beckoning for them.

I’ve never seen the second phenomenon, but I don’t doubt it. It sounds like something you'd almost expect, springing from the imagination as folks who know or suspect their time is almost up come to terms with it. The first phenomenon, though — the ‘rally’ — I’ve seen twice.

In the 1980s, a friend in his mid-20s, hospitalized and dying of leukemia, became so lucid and energetic that we left the hospital to go for a walk, and he outwalked me. I thought he was having a miracle recovery. He was dead two days later.

The second ‘rally’ I saw was my wife. She’d been hospitalized, in intensive care, barely and rarely communicative, until one day she was awake and completely herself again. I thought she’d turned a corner, really got my hopes up. The next day she was effectively comatose, and by the weekend she was dead.

Sure wish some doctor, nurse, or nurse’s aide had said something about the ‘rally’ phenomenon. There are a thousand things I would’ve wanted to say to my wife that day, if I’d known or even suspected that it was our last conversation.

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Is it nutty to compare NFL auditions to a slave market? 

Quote:  I thought it would be like a job interview with a Fortune 500 company, but then I walked into a room filled with a lot of older men. They gawked at me in a way I’d never been stared at in my life. I finally knew what it felt like to be objectified, the way so many women are. It was also clearly on me to impress them, to act like I was cool with the poking and prodding. I felt like they were Kardashians and I was an NBA starting center.

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The Art Institute of Chicago has ‘fired’ all of its 122 active docents, who were mostly unpaid volunteers, because … they were too dang white. They’ll be replaced by paid docents, people the museum hopes will be less white. 

Smells like a lawsuit to me.

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Here’s a Reddit post that explains why Kyle Rittenhouse walked

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Let’s ban cars. 

Quote:  In summary, cars are disgusting and if you live in a city you are morally obliged to use public transport whenever possible. 

Sounds good to me. By far, the best car I’ve ever owned was when I didn’t own a car, and got around San Francisco on buses, streetcars, and trains.  

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There are more than twice as many births than deaths, every day. 

I'm doing what I can to help. 

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Do-it-yourself railroad cars cross tracks on dams connecting islands that are flooded 50 times a year. Awesome!

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Oh, Remi, Remi, Remi. Now he’s pranking UFO-believers. 

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I saw my doctor a few days ago, not because anything’s aching or inflamed, only because he’d refused to renew my permanent prescriptions unless I made an appointment and saw him, in person. Co-pays are pure profit.

A woman in front of me at check-in, with her two children, was told that she owes them $90 because they'd forgotten to collect her co-pay on some previous visits. She was on the verge of tears. "I don't have an extra $90 today, or ever."

Why does someone who obviously can't afford it have to pay $90, for seeing a doctor? What bastards set up this bastard system? There are days when I hate this country, and what the Republicans and Democrats have done to it — often with grand bipartisanship.

Universal health care? Sign me up.

A public option? Sign me up.

You got any other pinko commie ideas? Sign me up, probably.

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 Mystery links  — Like life itself, there’s no knowing where you’re going:

—①—
     —②—
          —③—

 Sing along with Doug:
Nothing, by the Fugs


Sincere tip 'o the hat:
BoingBoing
Captain Hampockets
Follow Me Here
Hyperallergic
LiarTownUSA
Messy Nessy Chick
National Zero
Ran Prieur
Vintage Everyday

Voenix Rising

EXTRA SPECIAL THANKS:
Becky Jo
Name Withheld
Dave S.

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6 comments:

  1. >"Always be happy when an employee finances a car or a new house. It means they HAVE to work and will put up with more before they quit."

    A hungry dog is an obedient dog. Didn't they LITERALLY say this on fox news a few weeks ago, in those words?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jeez, I wouldn't know. Haven't seen even a moment of Fox News in at least ten years...

      Delete
  2. Why do you think I haven't retired yet? I still have a bit less than four more years of car payments...

    ReplyDelete
  3. If it isn't too late, my condolances on your wife's passing. This comment was a punch in the gut. You are one of my favorite people I have never met and since you thought highly of her I know she would be another.

    ReplyDelete

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