[copper-channel/on] Because white people are ugly. [copper-channel/off] ETA: Except for Klaus, of course.

@klaus said in Our real estate market is nuts: @taiwan_girl said in Our real estate market is nuts: @klaus said in Our real estate market is nuts: Actually, many Germans do. But most of them for reasons that are not exactly noble. I don't want to be confused with one of those... Yes, I have seen some of them (not only Germans, but other Westerners). Some of them are quite sad. They move to Thailand because they can live cheaper, but after a while, they are frustrated with Thailand, but do not have enough money to return to Germany (or another country), and spend their time drinking beer and complaining about how bad life is for them. The main reason that is usually quoted here is that they move there to have cheap sex and/or "buy" a wife. I think some do that, and some because they can live cheaply, and some for a combination of both. Like anytime there is a move to a new country, there are the stages where at first everything is great. But then, reality comes up. Then they find that living on Euro1500/month (for example) is really not that good. But, they have cut off "ties" back to their home country and, in a way, become trapped in the foreign country. They cannot afford to move back, they hate where they are, so it is a bad cycle.

@lufins-dad said in The Astra-Zeneca vaccine has problems: What is going on with AZ? Why do they keep tripping over their own ****? https://apple.news/AOFxYo-DLQ16wF5XYzXtGug LOL when I saw this article I thought of your prior notes on AZ If there is not enough vaccine to put in arms, the choice is covid death vs regulatory compliance. Choose and live or die with it. And tell everyone more people are dying because of the choice to delay or cause more distrust. It’s easy.

Levine's last years: Levine suffered recurrent health problems from age 63 onward, including severe back pain caused by a pinched sciatic nerve, and Parkinson’s disease. On March 1, 2006, he tripped and fell on stage while receiving a standing ovation at the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He tore his right shoulder rotator cuff and had to have his muscles repaired surgically. At age 65, he had surgery to remove a cancerous kidney and at age 66, he missed three weeks of concerts for emergency back surgery for a herniated disk. The surgery was not successful so he missed the entire season of 2018 with the Metropolitan Opera and Boston Symphony Orchestra. He tried to return to conducting, but at age 68, he fell down a flight of stairs and fractured his spine while on vacation in Vermont. In 2013, at age 70, he conducted the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Carnegie Hall from a motorized wheelchair.

I wonder how much they pay for those interviews. I'm not saying it was bullshit, but....

@lufins-dad said in NY 50+ starts tomorrow: I just discovered that if I still smoked, I would be eligible for the vaccine. I found that odd. In MA, you can be designated as a smoker if you are an ex-smoker.

Systemic gun

@xenon said in Botched C-Section: I'm guessing where this happened - impromptu shitty surgery is the only option vs. no surgery. At a place poor enough and remote enough, that may indeed have been the case. Trolley problems are likely worse where standards of living are lower.

You mean accusing everything of being a hate crime isn’t working? What will they resort to next?

@jolly said in Masks: @taiwan_girl said in Masks: Seen on Twitter: "A man who wears a gun at church told me I was living in fear because I wear a mask!!" 555 I don't remember saying that... 555 Jolly!

Wow!!! Amazing that he was able to function for so long with that in (or near) his eyeball! Quite lucky, I think. (But even luckier if it never got in his eye, I guess LOL)

Very cool!

@horace said in Laughably Bad and Potentially Dangerous: FSD will never be a thing, from Tesla or anybody else. Obviously, not enough people are clicking through the "I'm a human" captchas.

@bachophile there's little doubt that for some procedures, like a radical prostatectomy, the robot is the way to go. I used to HATE that operation. Surgeon goes in, roots his index finger behind the prostate, tearing whatever vasculature is back there, and I have to play catch-up. Then, he'd pack it with laps while, hopefully, things clotted off enough that he could see what the FUCK is bleeding. It always took about 3 hours, and even the fastest urologists were at 2 hours. With the robot, it can take longer, of course. 4-5 hours was typical at our place. But, I never had to transfuse any of those patients. When it's time for my prostatectomy, I want Dr. DaVinci across the table from the urologist. But... When general surgeons started using the robot for gallbladders (taking a 1 hour case and making a 4 hour case out of it - not to mention standing the patient up in steep reverse Trendelenburg) that's just silly. Even sillier is when they used it for inguinal hernias. For hysterectomies, a talented gynecologist (I know, oxymoron) could do a vag hyst in about 90 minutes. An untalented one, in about 3 hours. I fail to see how it's better than a laparoscopic assisted approach, but I guess the gynes and the general surgeons need their toys. I understand that now the ortho guys are using robots for total joints. Never seen one, never hope to. I'm so glad I'm retired.

Yes, it's gonna be a mite more expensive with the current lumber prices.

Not a football fa, but I love animals ...