Priceless, Pedinska! Without you and Bystander, my life would be far bleaker at present than even our miserable national circumstances have tried to make it. (And at times have done so more or less successfuly, depending on the weather and the time of day.) ¡Muchas gracias! Mille Grazie! Danke sehr! Merci beaucoup! большое спасибо!
PedinskaFebruary 13, 2025 / 9:55 am
I think working in the medical field in general – and for a long tie, HIV care/research in specific – leads one to an appreciation of gallows humor. I hesitate to label it a humor of last resort, but it is certainly a humor that can shore up the barricades against the current inhumanity. For however long it helps us hold.
Am I wrong in thinking that you and your friends/colleagues doing vital medical research are now far more directly on the firing line than an old retired cataloger like me? I can barely imagine how awful it must be for you. Lots of us old geezers wish we were younger for the very good reason—vanity aside—that we’d like to help you smite these prancing sadists where it actually hurts.
PedinskaFebruary 13, 2025 / 8:59 pm
I was fortunate enough to get started at OSU at a young age. We had a good retirement system then so I had my 30 years in by late 2013. Wasn’t really ‘ready’ to retire but I had back surgery and a problem employee. The surgeon told me if I didn’t change something I’d be back within 3 years for a fusion. And it took my boss a bit too long to realize I was the one telling the truth about my subordinate … being insubordinate. So I had my surgery, took my medical leave, trained my other employee to do my work and retired in 2014. At that time no one else in our entire unit carried more scientific credit than me. But I was tired of the abuse. My timing couldn’t have been better because a lot of things started changing, most of it because the system of competing for refunding means the pressure to always do more with less was real, and labs were almost always on the bottom rung, so experienced the worst of it.
My lab did nothing but research specimen processing, so there’s a good chance it will be impacted adversely, as will the rest of our research staff in the clinic (though the RNs also see patients for routine care, they still won’t need as many if research visits are cut). I am concerned about my colleagues all over the world still doing good research. And those in the ACTG/IMPAACT groups who I worked with directly during my time on the Lab Tech Committee (which I co-chaired for six years). I am concerned for our patients here as well. The destruction of PEPFAR is already doing massive damage.
But mostly I am beyond thankful that my life circumstances and career planning meant that when it became personally damaging for me I was able to walk away. It took my husband a while to convince me, but it was ultimately the right decision.
Such a waste, all of it. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t live to see the worst of it, although at the rate this rabble is going at it even the escape all flesh is heir to might come too late for me. Then there are the children and grandchildren to consider—not just mine, but everyone’s. The latest news is that Steve Bannon, of all people, is effectively calling for the military to put an end to Musk. You have to wonder exactly what kind of world they think they’ll be living in once their gladness has fully come to pass. Do any of them realize that it’ll be every bit as ugly as they are?
PedinskaFebruary 14, 2025 / 6:42 am
They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I can’t help but think the same applies to ugly. The world has moved on from much of what they hold as their lodestone. By the time most of them realize that they are considered to be (nearly) as ‘subhuman’ as those they wish to put in that category it will all be too far gone to bring back. The only thing left to consider will be what kind of future we want to – or even can – build on the crumbled foundation left.
You could take a bit of pleasure in doing this (suggested by someone on bsky yesterday, I think):
A quick resistance task:
1. Google Gulf of Mexico
2. “Gulf of America” is the top
3. Click on the three little dots to the right of it
4. Select “Send Feedback”
5. Click on “Gulf Of America”
6. Select “Inaccurate content”
7. Select “Incorrect” and type in “The correct name is “Gulf of Mexico”
IF I am recalling correctly Apple uses Google’s maps… if so, you can take your suggestion straight to Google. There’s lots and lots of space for someone to elucidate just how cowardly they all are.
Sounds like fun. I’ll definitely do it. One thing though: I’m pretty sure Apple doesn’t use Google maps. For competitive reasons, they rolled their own in 2012, which caused quite a controversy at the time, since Apple’s early versions had some terrible errors in them—most comical, some actually dangerous. Here’s the Wikipedia link, which gives more detail:
Did it. Kinda embarrassing, though, to admit just how pitifully satisfying it felt.
bystanderFebruary 12, 2025 / 6:02 pm
Nah. We take our jollies where we can get them, especially, since we are going to be afforded so few opportunities.
Thanks for the heads-up on Apple maps. Amazing the number of ways I “age” myself daily.
Spending a little time thinking about the ways I might amp up Hakeem Jeffries unhappiness with the number of procedural demands Democratic voters are insisting the Democrats take.
I’d like them all to be a good deal more pissed than they are. I want to occupy ALL the real estate in their heads until either they get serious or “retire to spend more time with their families.” Jollies where I can find them.
It’d be nice if it weren’t necessary, but no matter what, I don’t want any of them high-fiving one another in the mistaken belief that we aren’t coming after them on every front available to us. Humor, black or otherwise, is in any case better then blood, which is—and I hate being the one to have to say it—almost certainly coming.
Perfect.
I am waiting on Canada to petition Google to rename Lake Ontario Lac du Trump’s Tears.
Priceless, Pedinska! Without you and Bystander, my life would be far bleaker at present than even our miserable national circumstances have tried to make it. (And at times have done so more or less successfuly, depending on the weather and the time of day.) ¡Muchas gracias! Mille Grazie! Danke sehr! Merci beaucoup! большое спасибо!
I think working in the medical field in general – and for a long tie, HIV care/research in specific – leads one to an appreciation of gallows humor. I hesitate to label it a humor of last resort, but it is certainly a humor that can shore up the barricades against the current inhumanity. For however long it helps us hold.
Am I wrong in thinking that you and your friends/colleagues doing vital medical research are now far more directly on the firing line than an old retired cataloger like me? I can barely imagine how awful it must be for you. Lots of us old geezers wish we were younger for the very good reason—vanity aside—that we’d like to help you smite these prancing sadists where it actually hurts.
I was fortunate enough to get started at OSU at a young age. We had a good retirement system then so I had my 30 years in by late 2013. Wasn’t really ‘ready’ to retire but I had back surgery and a problem employee. The surgeon told me if I didn’t change something I’d be back within 3 years for a fusion. And it took my boss a bit too long to realize I was the one telling the truth about my subordinate … being insubordinate. So I had my surgery, took my medical leave, trained my other employee to do my work and retired in 2014. At that time no one else in our entire unit carried more scientific credit than me. But I was tired of the abuse. My timing couldn’t have been better because a lot of things started changing, most of it because the system of competing for refunding means the pressure to always do more with less was real, and labs were almost always on the bottom rung, so experienced the worst of it.
My lab did nothing but research specimen processing, so there’s a good chance it will be impacted adversely, as will the rest of our research staff in the clinic (though the RNs also see patients for routine care, they still won’t need as many if research visits are cut). I am concerned about my colleagues all over the world still doing good research. And those in the ACTG/IMPAACT groups who I worked with directly during my time on the Lab Tech Committee (which I co-chaired for six years). I am concerned for our patients here as well. The destruction of PEPFAR is already doing massive damage.
But mostly I am beyond thankful that my life circumstances and career planning meant that when it became personally damaging for me I was able to walk away. It took my husband a while to convince me, but it was ultimately the right decision.
Such a waste, all of it. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t live to see the worst of it, although at the rate this rabble is going at it even the escape all flesh is heir to might come too late for me. Then there are the children and grandchildren to consider—not just mine, but everyone’s. The latest news is that Steve Bannon, of all people, is effectively calling for the military to put an end to Musk. You have to wonder exactly what kind of world they think they’ll be living in once their gladness has fully come to pass. Do any of them realize that it’ll be every bit as ugly as they are?
They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I can’t help but think the same applies to ugly. The world has moved on from much of what they hold as their lodestone. By the time most of them realize that they are considered to be (nearly) as ‘subhuman’ as those they wish to put in that category it will all be too far gone to bring back. The only thing left to consider will be what kind of future we want to – or even can – build on the crumbled foundation left.
Amen.
You could take a bit of pleasure in doing this (suggested by someone on bsky yesterday, I think):
A quick resistance task:
1. Google Gulf of Mexico
2. “Gulf of America” is the top
3. Click on the three little dots to the right of it
4. Select “Send Feedback”
5. Click on “Gulf Of America”
6. Select “Inaccurate content”
7. Select “Incorrect” and type in “The correct name is “Gulf of Mexico”
IF I am recalling correctly Apple uses Google’s maps… if so, you can take your suggestion straight to Google. There’s lots and lots of space for someone to elucidate just how cowardly they all are.
Sounds like fun. I’ll definitely do it. One thing though: I’m pretty sure Apple doesn’t use Google maps. For competitive reasons, they rolled their own in 2012, which caused quite a controversy at the time, since Apple’s early versions had some terrible errors in them—most comical, some actually dangerous. Here’s the Wikipedia link, which gives more detail:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Maps
Did it. Kinda embarrassing, though, to admit just how pitifully satisfying it felt.
Nah. We take our jollies where we can get them, especially, since we are going to be afforded so few opportunities.
Thanks for the heads-up on Apple maps. Amazing the number of ways I “age” myself daily.
Spending a little time thinking about the ways I might amp up Hakeem Jeffries unhappiness with the number of procedural demands Democratic voters are insisting the Democrats take.
cf: https://www.axios.com/2025/02/12/democrats-jeffries-move-on-indivisible-trump
I’d like them all to be a good deal more pissed than they are. I want to occupy ALL the real estate in their heads until either they get serious or “retire to spend more time with their families.” Jollies where I can find them.
I yam DEFINITELY down with that!
Agreed. We aren’t the ones who lifted the lid on the petty jar, so fuck ’em if they take offense at us slamming it down on them every once in a while.
It’d be nice if it weren’t necessary, but no matter what, I don’t want any of them high-fiving one another in the mistaken belief that we aren’t coming after them on every front available to us. Humor, black or otherwise, is in any case better then blood, which is—and I hate being the one to have to say it—almost certainly coming.