I was there. Mid-70’s southern Florida. The most batshit crazy fundies making my life an utter misery for around 4 years. Surely they don’t still exist.

Only know about chicken fish from Tom Waits and John Lurie.

“What’s all this sectarian racket then? We don’t get Buddhists playing bagpipes in our bathroom or Hindus harmonizing in the hall! The Shintoists don’t come here shattering sheet glass in the sh__house and shouting slogans-”

One web LLM I was screwing around with had Job Interview as a preset. Ok. Played it totally straight the first time and had a totally positive outcome. Thought the interviewer way too agreeable. The next time I said the most inappropriate stuff I could imagine and still the interviewer agreed to come home with me to check out the rock collection I keep under my bed and listen to Captain Beefheart albums.

It’s shocking to see the assault on libraries across Appalachia. Sad to see it’s a broader problem. For as little finding as they require they provide critical services. So many nasty politicos trying to win some points with the lowest common denominators of humanity must see them as an easy target.

I’m ever astonished at the variety of deep fried stuff at Appalachian festivals and fairs. All these stalls trying to one-up the rest with the lengths they are willing to go into hot fat depravity. Grease-boiled confections and savories of every niche. A healthcare nightmare. But this is a region steeped in despair. It’s tough to heap blame on folks giving up.

Needs more grapefruit.

Maybe everyone should listen to the Jonestown tape at some point. It’s truly horrible, but may provide some inoculation against demagoguery.

It’s sorta playful, but seems like it could get out of hand. Mostly goes for the wheels. The playbow must be a powerful piece of dog language. There’s a consistent misunderstanding when anybody tries to tie their shoes here.

Yes!

My crazy dog has always wanted to bite the push mower whenever it moves. I suspect he thinks it growls at him. He’s fine until it starts moving, then he goes crazy. Naturally he’s contained for his safety when mowing takes place.

How many sets of footprints in the sand??

“The Deliverator belongs to an elite order, a hallowed sub-category. He’s got esprit up to here…”

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Oh no. It’s getting hit on the head lessons in here.

For the last time …we aren’t interested in browsing your collection of stolen pocket watches.

Yeah, maybe. Though what if Grandpa Joe is chronically ill with waxing and waning debility. There are lots of folks in that boat. Maybe he was just having a very good week. One of the chief complaints I hear from friends that are so stricken is that when they are having an ok day, and are out doing something important or essential or even fun, they are seen by some dillweed that takes it as proof they are a lazy, shiftless malingerer.

Once, I used a bunch of plastic storage bins as a bedframe. Properly elevated bed, plus a lot of storage.

This is my speculation too. Been super-sick a number of times. Always swabbed negative. Anecdotally, I know folks that tested a lot more often and only came back with a positive on the 4th try or so when feeling ill. The fine-print of my at-home tests say they’re only something like 76% accurate. Maybe I need to play the odds.

Somebody explain this to the trees that drop millions of nuts in the surrounding forest every few years skyrocketing not only rodent populations but also their parasites; ticks, chiggers, fleas. Predators are here, but they can’t seem to catch up to the mouse output.

Same boat. It took my health totally imploding to galvanize my resolve to look closely at what I might do and do it. I lost 115 lbs and have kept it off 22 years this summer. Managed to resolve all my metabolic health problems and vastly improve some unrelated ones. My quality of life improved in many ways. A tough row to hoe. Yet totally worthwhile for me anyway. And I do recognize there is a privilege in being able to devote the resources to one’s health. I know it’s far tougher for lots of folks. And certainly more so now than a couple decades ago.