Lycaon Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Damn it, now I want a lion cub. Suppose a Savannah Cat would be a better idea, though. So damn expensive, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thelogan Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 (edited) Yeah man, I was eyeballing a Savannah pretty hard when we were looking to get another cat. The F1's (highest percentage of Serval DNA) are absolutely absurdly priced. It would be so damn cool though, and I wanted something somewhat unusual. I was close to tapping into savings, but I talked myself out of it. They're also super active and can be assholes (like most things, really) and I work a lot. I was afraid it would get too restless without someone to play with it all the time (or just eat my other cat). I almost got a hairless, but the wife thinks they're gross (although she wouldn't think that once she had a tiny one making biscuits on her arm). I settled on a Manx. Rumpy Riser, specifically. No tail nub whatsoever, just a tiny little tuft of hair. Like a bunny. They can have health problems sometimes caused by an overly shortened spine, but they always develop when they're really young and they die early. Thankfully, she's totally healthy and rambunctious. Had her for a year now. For a cat, she has a very cute butt. CAT TANGENT! Edited September 21, 2011 by Thelogan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lycaon Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Friend's got a cat that has some Savannah in it. She says it follows her around like a dog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thelogan Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keth Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 The Cab Ride I'll Never Forgetby Kent Nerburn Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living. One time I arrived in the middle of the night for a pick up at a building that was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window. Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a minute, then drive away. But I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation. Unless a situation smelled of danger, I always went to the door. This passenger might be someone who needs my assistance, I reasoned to myself. So I walked to the door and knocked. "Just a minute," answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor. After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 80's stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware. "Would you carry my bag out to the car?" she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb. She kept thanking me for my kindness. "It's nothing," I told her. "I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated." "Oh, you're such a good boy," she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, then asked, "Could you drive through downtown?" "It's not the shortest way," I answered quickly. "Oh, I don't mind," she said. "I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice." I looked in the rear view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. "I don't have any family left," she continued. "The doctor says I don't have very long." I quietly reached over and shut off the meter. "What route would you like me to take?" I asked. For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl. Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing. As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, "I'm tired. Let's go now." We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico. Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her. I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair. "How much do I owe you?" she asked, reaching into her purse. "Nothing," I said. "You have to make a living," she answered. "There are other passengers." Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly. "You gave an old woman a little moment of joy," she said. "Thank you." I squeezed her hand, then walked into the dim morning light. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life. I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly, lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away? On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life. We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware—beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lycaon Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetalHeart Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Awh! <3 *sniffle* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keth Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thelogan Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 If you thought Don't Stop Believin was impressive, this will make you shit bricks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keth Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 Nice try thebrogan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thelogan Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 I deny everything. godamnit, it was you. I had a feeling... It's true what the say, you can't roll a roller. It's been done even before that. Link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Hakujin Posted October 31, 2011 Author Share Posted October 31, 2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thelogan Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Fuck, I don't even know which of our two emotional opposite threads to put this. It made me cry, but it kinda ran the spectrum. Zolpidem is a medication for insomnia, it helps you fall asleep. It's in Ambien, a sleeping pill. In some cases, when it's given to patients who are in what's considered a "persistent vegetative state", they suddenly stop drooling on themselves and become an actual human being. It's a fucking amazing thing to watch, and that's why the video is in this thread. His family suddenly has their brother/husband/son back, sitting there, talking to them, who appeared to be a moaning, pants shitting idiot an hour before. And he's real happy to be there. There's some muscle deterioration that effects his speech, but you can tell he's perfectly intelligent and aware. Now the reason I'm torn: it only works for about an hour a day, and once it starts to wear off... ...he knows where he's going. He knows what's in store. It's heartbreaking. I'm fascinated as to why this works. It seems like his brain thinks he's dreaming, so it releases some of the emergency protocols that it's (mistakenly and through malfunction) put in place. Ambien is a hypnotic, sometimes people do weird shit they have no memory of. Could there be some link here? Nobody really knows yet, we just know that the previously dead, dark regions of the brain light up with activity in an MRI. Interesting shit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Hakujin Posted November 7, 2011 Author Share Posted November 7, 2011 ^^Yeah, after watching that, and especially hearing that bit at the end about the fiancee's feelings for Sam, I'd say you definitely put this in the right thread. Good call, Logans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keth Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Yeah that's definitely more joyful then not, especially for the fact it opens the door to so many others suffering the same. I dunno how new this treatment actually is, but this looks pretty revolutionary nonetheless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thelogan Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 We've known about it for about a decade, and pretty much discovered it by accident. It doesn't make much logical sense that it would have this effect. The hospital ward sister, Lucy Hughes, was periodically concerned that involuntary spasms in Louis's left arm, that resulted in him tearing at his mattress, might be a sign that deep inside he might be uncomfortable. In 1999, five years after Louis's accident, she suggested to Sienie that the family's GP, Dr Wally Nel, be asked to prescribe a sedative. Nel prescribed Stilnox, the brand name in South Africa for zolpidem. "I crushed it up and gave it to him in a bottle with a soft drink," Sienie recalls. "He couldn't swallow properly then, but I helped him and sat at his bedside. After about 25 minutes, I heard him making a sound like 'mmm'. He hadn't made a sound for five years. "Then he turned his head in my direction. I said, 'Louis, can you hear me?' And he said, 'Yes.' I said, 'Say hello, Louis', and he said, 'Hello, mummy.' I couldn't believe it. I just cried and cried." Hughes was called over and other staff members gathered in disbelief. "Sienie told me he was talking and I said he couldn't be - it wasn't possible," she recalls. "Then I heard him. His mother was speechless and so were we. It was a very emotional moment." It doesn't work with everyone though. I get different numbers on Google, but it looks like about half on a good day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thelogan Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 (edited) Oh shit.. I hate to being down the thread here, but this just occurred to me: Sorry about the whole "coin flip of a chance you could have told us not to kill you" thing, Terry Shiavo. Edited November 7, 2011 by Thelogan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lycaon Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 As Jumbie said, this isn't something new(ish). I imagine it was around then, and would have been tried. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thelogan Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Jumbie said that? And nah, it wasn't tried. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mortiis558 Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 I know this has probably been pasted somewhere in this thread, and since the Draenei came out on WoW its kinda been stolen from me, but no matter how depressed I am this song always makes me happy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lycaon Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Jumbie said that? And nah, it wasn't tried. Sorry, mistook one cool person for another. As for not trying it, was even suggested, then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thelogan Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Sorry, mistook one cool person for another. As for not trying it, was even suggested, then? Oh I'm flattered, I just thought I mighta missed a shoutbox conversation or something. From what it looks like, the guys who "patented" this treatment didn't really go public with it until 2006, after they had spent some 6 years testing it to try to determine how reliable/dangerous it was. So she just missed the boat. There's a woman it worked on who was out 16 years, so it's not like Shiavo would have been out of the question or something. What really bugs me is having to admit that maybe all of the especially irritating folks, who I disagreed with at the time, might have actually been right, but that's the logical conclusion, and I like to think I'm man enough to back down from a belief if substantial evidence is supported that the particular belief is incorrect. Intellectual honesty. It's all or nothing for me. It's like if Jesus walked out of the clouds tomorrow and turned all the AAA batteries into loaves and fishes or something. I would be initially irritated, but then I'd go "well shit, I was wrong. I guess I'm a Christian now". So yeah. They shouldn't have pulled her plug. Before his treatments started, that guy up there looked just like her. And now we hear, from him, that he's completely aware and mentally capable throughout, just locked inside a body that won't respond to his commands. Then again, she may have been quite insane by then or begged for death, but now we'll never know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lycaon Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 So she just missed the boat. There's a woman it worked on who was out 16 years, so it's not like Shiavo would have been out of the question or something. What really bugs me is having to admit that maybe all of the especially irritating folks, who I disagreed with at the time, might have actually been right, but that's the logical conclusion, and I like to think I'm man enough to back down from a belief if substantial evidence is supported that the particular belief is incorrect. Bah. One makes that decision with the information they have at hand then. All else is filed under hope and faith. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thelogan Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 It's true, it's true. You're completely right. It just sucks that we didn't have all the informaton. But thems the breaks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Hakujin Posted November 8, 2011 Author Share Posted November 8, 2011 I know this has probably been pasted somewhere in this thread, and since the Draenei came out on WoW its kinda been stolen from me, but no matter how depressed I am this song always makes me happy... Nice! Ditto forthis number from Slumdog Millionaire(which I actually may have posted in here already). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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