((Cat Whisperer))
I shake a belated fist at that mini-van driver! :mad:
But wouldn’t having to run this world wide fluoride conspiracy cost *more * money?
But, it’s okay, I was told it’s my body and if I want to put toxic sludge in it I have that right, so I’ve got that going for me. 
“Woo” being defined as Jenna McCarthy type bullshit. I’m sorry that you have to deal with that, Lady of the Lake. I actually saw a frickin’ acquaintance of mine dismiss science and medicine as being male while with her supposedly superior female intuition she had access to all kinds of (bullshit) non-scientific crap that, um,…didn’t do squat. Thanks, I’ll take the science.
For clarification on my own situation: I grew dissatisfied with the VA's treatment as I kept experiencing insomnia, nightmares, night terrors, day terrors, what the fuck ever. Whereupon they gave every appearance of retaliation and I fired the whole lot and demanded new providers. They cut off my transportation, then my meds, leading to agonizing withdrawal and the abrupt return of symptoms of severe PTSD, which has been confirmed by every non-VA doctor I've had access to. Without meds, I can't leave the house, and without leaving the house the VA won't give me meds, which friends of mine have experienced as a one-two punch in their own cases: when desperation led to claw their way to the hospital, the VA triumphantly declared that aha! Malingering fraud! and tried to cut off their benefits, without which they cannot get care. In my case, there's also been medication errors and botched surgeries, but that's a whole nother story.
Your sister sounds lke a small slice of hell and I hope her offspring will not be infected by the woo. I do confess that I’m curious as to how one’s shower curtain can have an effect on one’s weight. Are you eating the shower curtain or something that you neglected to mention?
I wish the world would grow the fuck up about Valentine’s Day… by which I mean, STOP hating it, STOP being intimidated by it, STOP avoiding it.
It’s a nice little bright spot of a holiday during the worst, most disgusting part of winter. It’s about hugging and kissing the people you love, and getting them little no-brainer gifts (a box of chocolate. a small toy. a card. maybe flowers. NO YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE CREATIVE). It’s about finding something, anything, to celebrate when the whole outside world has been cold and dark and bedraggled for way longer than anyone wants to stay “cozy” indoors.
Jesus christ. Get over it and grow a pair.
There is hope for children of the woo. I have a friend who only recently opened up to me about her parents’ (specifically her mother’s) woo and how she had a huge cultural shock in college when she was physically removed from their presence. I would have never guessed she had anything other than a relatively normal, two parent middle class upbringing in the suburbs.
That’s just the government making you think that way in the first place!
It’s a stupid, moronic greeting card holiday, wherein men are supposed to go buy jewelry or candy or some other bullshit for somebody else, just to keep the fucking peace. Women don’t have any such obligation, of course, other than to offer stony silence if they don’t receive some meaningless gift. I retain my right to hate this “holiday” with a seething passion, and ignore it completely.
That’s just what the TV says. Do you know real people who act like that?
My husband does. A couple years ago, two of his female coworkers insisted to him that no, I really did want something special for Valentine’s Day and that I really didn’t mean it when I said I didn’t, and that he’d better pick me up at the airport (from the business trip I was on at the time) on the 14th with some nice jewelry at least. They were relentless. Like they know me better than he does, or something. :rolleyes:
I bought him a gift. I usually do. And I always ask for flowers because it’s fucking February and there’s four feet of snow and I am SICK unto death of the cold.
You need to find a better girl, mate.
I bought kaylasmom a nice bunch of stargazer lilies because fragrance in her flowers is more important to her than color. To me too, frankly.
And some See’s truffles, because truffles are yummy, and she’s pretty good about sharing. 
The SO and I are going out to dinner and a movie, a rarity for us during the week because of our schedules. I’m getting him a card and a massage certificate, 'cause he needs it. I have no idea what he’s getting me, and don’t care. I don’t mind Valentine’s Day, in the same way I don’t mind Thanksgiving - we all SAY that we should spend everyday with an awareness of our relationships, romantic or otherwise, but having a reminder to do so might create an impetus to actually do it.
And while I know a few people, mostly women, who get all freaky about the day, they are FAR outweighed by the people I know who are either “meh” about it, or who kinda look at it the way the SO and I do.
Wow…so not just anti-science, but sexist too!
Also, ouch! I think I understand more about your frustration from your description. They suck, they really, really suck. 
hug
From the back of an airport bookstore science thriller:
Umm, no. It’s kinda sad when you don’t even have to read the book to know that whoever wrote the blurb is full of shit. Why do I always buy that crap anyway?
Share the title, please, so we can all point and laugh with you.
No, they send you home and you wait for two years (that’s assuming you don’t keep getting bumped).
The new government keeps throwing money at the problem, but we’re are discovering that - too much infrastructure was dismantled (buildings and educated people), and it’s really difficult to build it up again. We have three hospitals in all of Calgary now, for over a million people. There are plans to build more, but as you can imagine, hospitals aren’t built and staffed overnight.
I didn’t shake a timely fist at him, but there certainly was shouting.
Stargazers are just lovely - one of my favourite flowers. I might plant some in my yard - they’d go nicely with the casablanca lilies I planted last year.
Sure: my ex-wife for 21 years. And it wasn’t limited to VD; mothers’ day required gifts, but of course fathers’ day did not. My present wife and I give gifts during the year when we feel like it, and show affection for each other on a daily basis.
That sounds more like you should blame a bad woman, not the whole holiday. But I guess 21 years of crap would sour you on something, sure enough.
Oh, LOTL, girl, she had so many issues she subscriptions! She came to visit me once, and while I’ve had wonderful experiences with people I’ve met online she was one of those that you fear might make you a guest on Maury Povich or something. “So…you didn’t have a clue?”
I used to get up early because I used to sleep. And when she found this out…the next morning I woke up to find her sitting next to my bed…staring at me. She didn’t bathe for the time she was hear. She used the bathroom with the door open. “Oh, we’re both women!” No. Thanks. Don’t care. Shut the damned door. She would literally sit next to me while I worked. She later turned into a rabid, rabid, Obama opponent, who idolized Sarah Palin because—why? Huh? It was clear that her opposition to Obama was based on racism that she thought she’d finally found an outlet for. (“He’s going to enslave women!”) She worshiped various kinds of Anime, all things Japanese (even though it turned out that most of her facts came from fairy tales or stupid shit) and then there’s the science thing. Oh God, the science thing. Yeah, you go right ahead and keep those woo crap that you think will keep you safe. More of the good stuff for the rest of us! Worse yet, she’s not alone. The whole ‘rejecting science on behalf of bullshit’ is a growing problem. Even some of the anti-Obama people with whom she hangs out now—who are not above blatantly lying to make their points—still shy off from the anti-science crap.
It’s “Ancestor” by Scott Sigler. The tagline is:
Secret experiment
Tiny island
Big mistake
I have to admit, though, now that I’m halfway through: It is entertaining.
Oh, I’ve read a couple other Scott Siglers. Dammit. Now I have to read this, it sounds right up my alley.