Tag: history

Medical Update

Happily, I can share a major change for me. My right compression sock has arrived.

TL/DR: my custom sock arrived for my right leg, ankle, and foot, freeing me from the bandages I’ve been wearing. I can bath normally again.

Longer story. As background, I had a few medical setbacks starting about six years ago. It began with an enlarged prostate gland which led to a obstructed bladder and an emergency room visit. A catheter was inserted up my johnson and I wore a bag on my ankle to collect urine for a few days. Of course, I was also put on Flomax.

Around the same time, I noticed some swelling and redness around my ankles. I didn’t know it then, but edema was developing.

I then suffered two broken bones in my left arm during a DIY effort about two years later. That slowed me down. My edema worsened. I’ve always been active. I had been averaging walking eleven to thirteen miles a day. Now that dropped way down. Six became a challenge.

The edema worsened. It was affecting the skin on my lower legs, ankles, and feet.

I then somehow ruptured my right peronous longus tendon. It snapped as I was crossing a street in Oakmont, PA, in May of last years. MRIs revealed it completely severed at my ankle. It’s supposed to wrap around under my foot, but nothing remained of it on my foot’s underside. Besides pain, it created major instability for me. And it slowed me more. My edema worsened.

Surgery was done for the ruptured tendon. The surgeon removed what was left of it and sewed up the end. My surgery wouldn’t heal. Now restricted to this boot to stabilize and strengthen my ankle, I was limited to bed rest for several weeks and reduced activity. The surgery wasn’t healing becaus the edema was worsening, causing my right ankle and foot to balloon.

It was a frustrating spiral.

Along the way, the medical ‘they’ decided that I seemed to be affected with lymphedema. In abbreviated explanation, my lymph fluid was not going up the lymph vessels and was accumulating in my calves, ankles, and feet, causing the swelling. Lymphedema massage therapy to stimulate the lymph fluid flow was set up. Three times a week, I went in and had my limbs from my calves down massaged and then wrapped in cotton, foam, and elastic bandages.

I’d also done some research about my lymphedema. Following advice and guidance from the net, I sharply reduced my sodium intake and heavily increased how much water I drank each day. I also reduced coffee and alcohol consumption, and added specific exercises to combat lymphedema to my daily routines. Part of that are self-massages to stimulate lymph fluid flow. See, from what I can tell, my body doesn’t process sodium well. Sodium is often used as a binding agent in processed food. The same thing was happening to me. Sodium is probably thickening my blood and thickening my lymph (or lymphatic — they express it both ways) fluid, driving the swelling. I drink more water to thin my blood and lymph fluid. I’m still walking six miles a day.

It all seems to have worked. I began my lymphedema therapy in Feb. Within a week, the left side graduated to the custom made compression sock. It was doing very well. I still wear that sock every day, washing it each night by hand. I’ve not had any swelling on that side. They will be providing me several more custom socks for it, and the right side.

My right side, which was the side of the surgery, also quickly improved. I no longer have swelling there, either. In fact, on Feb 19, my massage therapist put in the order for the right side’s custom sock. We expected it to arrive by the end of Feb.

But it didn’t. Concerned that it was lost somewhere, I called the company who provides the sock. They confirmed that they didn’t order it for me until the end of February, nine days after the order was put in. It seems that government bureaucracy slowed its progress, as it had to be approved by the powers before the order was created.

Anyway, the right side sock arrived yesterday. I get to go to physical therapy and have it put on today. And that means, a shower. See, the bandages could not get wet. So I was not allowed showers. I could wrap the bandaged limbs in plastic garbage bags and bath in a tub with my lower legs and feet outside the tub, but man, that wasn’t very satisfying.

So tonight, I shall shower. I suspect it will be long and hot shower, and very, very sweet.

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The Three Rs

Daily writing prompt
What activities do you lose yourself in?
View all responses

My primary time suck comes down to the three Rs: Reading, Riting, and Research. Yes, I spelled writing wrong, dropping the ‘w’. But it’s a silent ‘w’, isn’t it? Does riting sound that different from writing? Does riting sound rong?

Looks weird as hell, I admit.

I could have also just changed the title to The Three Ws, adding a silent ‘w’ to reading and research, creating wreading and wresearch.

I enjoy words. Their histories fascinate me. And I enjoy making things up. That’s why I rite fiction.

I also love reading, or, as some might rite it, wreading. The ‘w’ is silent. I read multiple genres, although I shy away from horror and wromance. Science fiction narrowly leads fantasy and historical fiction, but I enjoy thrillers and mysteries, too. I also enjoy non-fiction about history, economics, politics, quantum mechanics, and time.

Besides wreading and writing, I enjoy wresearch. Wresearch can easily become a time suck. Once upon a time, a show called Connections aired. The British science historian, James Burke, hosted the show. The show explored technological and scientific progress but veered off into tangents and side effects about how such advances were employed, resulting in surprising revealations. That sort of revelatory pingpong the show employed stirred me to continue such wresearch. The Internet is a tremendous catalyst to such wresearch.

My wresearch goes everywhere. Some of it is anchored to childhood memories of sports, politics, historic events, science, and pop culture. I remember things but often want to validate my memory. Verifying that I correctly remember matters causes me to delve deeper into details and background information, and often triggers side journeys into related matters.

When I was employed, my three time sucks secured me solid positions and helped foster my success. Now a retiree, I happily pursue them every day.

There are way worse ways to live.

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Frieda’s Theme Music

Winter is perched in Ashlandia and its surroundings for another day. Yesterday, we sequenced through snow, sleet, rain, sunshine, repeat. Today seems like a duplicate effort. Snow is falling, the temperature is crowding 38 F with a questionable chance the air temp will light up 48 F. This is Frieda, March 14, 2025.

I read with serious dismay that the US Postal Service struck a deal to let DOGE ‘improve’ services.

That’s great news, innit? Yes, that’s snark.

I don’t find it great news at all. All that I’ve seen of DOGE so far is cutting headcount without having knowledge about what they’re doing. This has fed chaos in many areas of government. Facing outrage and backlash to the chaos, GOTP politicians have stopped holding townhalls and avoid meeting their constituents. Meanwhile, many agencies which had DOGE cuts had to hire people back, either because vital positions had been cut, or courts ruled that what DOGE did was illegal. Coupled with PINO Trusk’s tariffs, economic war, and imperial military interests, the stock market is rushing down, talk of a Trumpcession is heating up, and corporations are putting plans on hold and laying off/terminating employees due to ‘economic uncertainy and instabilitly’. Good times! So much winning!

Anyway, I’m not optimistic about what will happen to the mail system with DOGE’s ‘help’. The length of time needed for mail to be delivered has already increased. So have stamp prices. Post offices and satellite offices have been closed. We all drive further to wait longer to get postal business done. Our mail takes laborious, convoluted routes. Doesn’t go from A to B no even A to C. No, it now goes A to K and then back to H, up to P, back to D, and then, finally, B, it’s destination. Dog knows what DOGE will do to it.

Another series of uplifted dreams washed through my sleep. I awoke feeling rested, vigorous, and almost joyful. Weirdly, The Neurons inserted a 1986 song called “Mad About You” by Belinda Carlisle into the morning mental music stream. I have nothing against the song; I know it from the car radio. Driving in my car, doing errands, commuting to work, etc. It’s a bouncy tune with easily heard and appreciated lyrics, simple for a sing along, Maybe you know it and will sing along.

Coffee has established its presence in my system. I’m ready to get out into the snow and wind — didn’t mention the wind before, did I, but, yes, there is wind — and get down to bidness. Have the best day possible for yourself and yours. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Thirstda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

41 days into the Trusk Regime, and Trump floats the idea of militarily taking over Greenland. As in, invading them. You know, as Russia did with Ukraine and several others.

Welcome to the New Dark Ages

A bullshit right-wing site claims that Greenlanders ‘want’ to be part of the United States. An actual poll, with supporting information, reports that 85% of polled Greenlanders have no interest in it.

And what of the United States and its people? Do they want to attack nation, as the United States did back at the turn of the century? Have they already forgotten Dubya’s invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan?

Most U.S. voters probably have. Because, you know, it’s hard. Hard to keep up with the Superbowl, the NBA playoffs, March Madness, the Oscars, and the stock market, along with political news, you know, when you’re sick, worried about bird flu, RSV, COVID-19, measles, and a ration of misinformation and garbage spewing from the government. Especially when money is tight and newspaper owners slant the news to kowtow to the Trusk Regime.

Not surprisingly, because this is Donald Trump, MAGA, and the GOTP discussing the idea, some Americans support the idea.

Half in US say Greenland takeover a bad idea: Survey

More than half of U.S. voters in a new survey don’t support the U.S. taking over Greenland, a prospect President-elect Trump has entertained publicly in recent weeks.

In the Suffolk University/USA Today survey, 53 percent of likely voters say they oppose the idea — including 86 percent of self-described liberals, 61 percent of moderates and 25 percent of conservatives.

Of course, I’m pretty much a fool, discussing polls and voters under the Trusk Regime. As if polls and voters matter. As if the law has a place in it. Only thing that matters in the Trusk States of America is what Trusk wants. Donald J. is the figurehead, and the GOTP answers to his whims.

Just a pause, you know, a sidebar to the activity, invading Greenland would probably take a chunk of money. Moving troops in there, etc. You know, like we’re doing along the southern U.S. border, where we now have 9,000 military members stationed there. Maybe it’s just me, but you’d think that while the Trusk Regime and the Grand Ol’ Trump Party are working to cut money to reduce the deficit, you know, probably by cutting Medicaid, they would be leery of spending money on a new military boondoogle.

But that’s probably just me. Truth is, if Donald J. wants to go after Greenland, the GOTP will quickly feed the propaganda machine about what a great idea it is and indulge him. Meanwhile, a third of the nation probably will be oblivious to it happening.

It’s the American Way in the New Dark Ages under the Trusk Regime. Because, In DOGE They Trust.

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Thirstda’s Theme Music

Winter returned, granting snow some visitation rights. An inch of the white crystallized water coated my home’s area when I looked out. By 8 AM, it was melting. 9:30 found it a swiss-cheese icy shell of itself. 35 F, we’re not expectin’ any great warming and ‘they’ tell us that 40 F is where the temperature reach will end. No more snow is expected but the surfeit of swollen clouds suggest rain is an option. The sun seems to be peering out and saying, “I think I’m gonna stay out of this.”

I have a Doobie Brothers song from 1978 in the morning mental music stream. Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins wrote it. Then Loggins recorded and released it, followed by a Doobie Brothers release with McDonald on vocals. The Neurons plugged it into the morning mental music stream after reading a Justice Alito opinion. Ever an impatient, irritated rightwinger, Alito is adept at twisting words and ideas to support rightwing ideas.

From Alito’s Fiery Rebuke of Supreme Court Ruling Against Trump: The Supreme Court recently ruled that the Trump administration was wrong to withhold foreign aid funds owed to nonprofit groups. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett broke from conservative justices in the decision. President Donald Trump has publicly expressed his plans to cut 90% of USAID foreign aid contracts and slash an additional $60 billion in foreign aid spending.

What really has hizzoner is a tizzy is that he thought the lower court Federal judge is overstepping by ruling that PINO Trusk’s regime must pay its obligations. The money was already earmarked for proper payment, through proper and legal process. Doesn’t matter for Alito, who bends over whenever PINO Trusk orders it.

The song “What A Fool Believes” is about relationships, of course. But embedded in those lyrics is an unwillingness to accept the truth. The song is about a man trying to return to a relationship without understanding that the other person has long since moved on, and whatever love was there is no more. In the same sense, Alito and other hard right winger wants to see whatever benefit they can in every situation for Trump, and deny what is really happening. This is often wonderful for the GOTP but detrimntal to our nation.

I also got drawn into a gleeful reading of a Law & Crime article:

‘Is that really how you think this all works?’: Outraged judge repeatedly mocks DOJ lawyers, tears into them for being unprepared during hearing on transgender military ban

The judge ripped into the DOJ lawyers for trying a Wizard of Oz defense: “pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”

The man behind the curtain is PINO Trusk’s Defense Secretary Hegseth. He’d X’d, “Transgender troops are disqualified from service without an exemption.”

The DOJ’s lawyer resisted the implication that Hegseth’s repost was in any way determinative of the government’s actual policy.

Reyes did not credit this approach.

“Why shouldn’t I look at the words of the guy who issued the policy?” the judge asked at one point.

The government’s attorney replied that people use colloquial terms to mean more specific things all the time.

The judge strongly rejected this argument.

“Is that really how you think this all works?” Reyes asked. She went on to explain that the X accounts in question collectively have “millions of followers” and are funded by the U.S. public. “We’re not talking about people, we’re talking about the secretary of defense.”

The lawyer went on to essay the notion that Hegseth was possibly using “shorthand” to refer to the overall policy.

Again, the judge rejected the notion.

“Do you believe the secretary of defense was using loose language he didn’t comprehend or that he didn’t think out?”

The attorney quickly replied: “I’m not arguing that.”

The DOJ lawyer went on to insist the court should look to the words of the policy itself rather than Hegseth’s social media post. The court, however, remained unconvinced.

“The record is that his word is: this covers all transgender people,” Reyes told the government lawyer.

That’s what we witness out of the Trusk Regime and the GOTP time and again: what you see them doing is not what they’re doing. What they’re saying is not what they’re saying.

I’m glad a Judge called them out on that bullshit.

Coffee is singing its love song to me again. Have a the best day you can. Here we go again. Cheers

0

Wenzda’s Theme Music

Weather is dipping our beaks into the winter pot. Rain has shown itself, following a path fashioned by a lumpy charcoal and gray sky carpet. Sunshine has shown no plans to be much involved today, telling us in its slow way, you’re on your own for warmth.

This is March 12, 2025, in Ashlandia. 45 F and light rain, it’s down from an earlier temp of 48 F. 51 F is supposedly the day’s high.

With all the negative news stories raining through our days, another blogger brought out one of the world’s classic protest songs. “Ohio” was written by Neil Young and recorded by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young in response to American National Guard shooting protesting students at Kent State University in May of 1970. What a dark time. Before then, most adult Americans distrusted and blamed the protestors. This event marked the beginning of a change. Shame that such a watershed moment had to be bloody but that’s often the outcome when change is sought, and that’s not just in the United States.

With “Ohio” in my ears, The Neurons began thinking of other famous protest songs. They were soon queuing in my head. One eventually took over the morning mental music stream. “Get Up, Stand Up” was written by Peter Tosh. Bob Marley and the Wailers came out with it in 1973. The lines hooking The Neurons this morning were part of a stanza saying, “You can fool some people sometimes, but you can’t fool all the people all the time. So now we see the light, what you gonna do? We going to stand up for our rights.”

That’s the protest needed now. As the Trusk Regime rages like a fire through people’s rights and needs, burning the protections set up by checks and balances, people need to stand up.

Coffee has stood up for me again. Hope you have a solid day in all needed regards. Time to press on once again. Cheers

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Sunda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

Mellow and quiet are the best descriptions for Ashlandia today. Turning attention to politics for a bit, I found a few sites with ideas that merit being shared with others.

Lithub presents, What Is Donald Trump Doing? Three Theories for the Madness.

  • Theory 1: Trump is a Russian Asset. This theory isn’t new, but let’s be real: If someone had laid out Trump’s actions over the past several years and presented them without names attached, the conclusion that he’s working to advance Russian interests wouldn’t sound like a wild conspiracy.
  • Theory 2: Trump is Trying to Foment Global Chaos. For a man who ran a campaign on the promise of putting “America First,” Trump sure seems intent on making the world and America a far more unstable place.
  • Theory 3: He’s Just Worse at Presidenting Than Last Time. As shocking as this might sound, it’s possible that Trump’s presidential skillset second term is shaping up to be even less stellar than his first.

‘Less stellar’ made me chuckle. I think the author, Aron Solomon, is being generous.

Over on The Democracy Labs, they’ve provided us with a very useful map. The Trusk Regime is wielding DOGE to curtail leases on thousands of government buildings. This can well mean that people will need to go further and wait longer to reach the Federal office which can assist them. You know, places such as the VA office, FEMA, Social Security, IRS, Medicare, Medicaid, NOAA…

Driving longer distances isn’t good for people or the environment: it came mean longer trips in motor vehicles. If you’re in a gas or diesel powered vehicle, you’ll spew more emissions into the air. And you’ll pay for more vehicle fuel. If you’re worried about inflation, buying more gass can translate into more demand and higher prices.

Driving further and waiting longer will also mean that if you’re a person being paid by the hour or working the gig enonomy, it may well cost you more in your wages. Then there’s the age and handicap issue: traveling longer distance and waiting longer can often be emotionally wearing and physically tiring.

This essentially demonstrates how little the Trusk Regime cares about people.

What this map does is show us what’s being closed where, and importantly, what member of Congress to contact about it. You know what to do with your phones and keyboards, right? That’s right: raise your voice.

Finally, Jill Dennison shares a story of the sublime. Don’t Say That Word!!! covers the growing list that the Trusk Regime forbids to be used in official documents.

What follows is a list of words that are either forbidden or ‘discouraged’ in federal government communications, both formal and informal, under the current regime.  Take a look for yourself … even words like ‘women’, ‘racism’, and ‘pollution‘ are taboo!  And of course ‘Gulf of Mexico’ cannot ever be used in federal communications!  An article in the New York Times provides more information, but do take a glance through this list … it will raise your hackles!  

And that’s always something that I need: something else that the Trusk Regime is doing that raises my hackles.

2

Sunda’s Theme Music

Another Sunda has come upon us, and it’s landed on 3/9/2025. We set our clocks ahead today in most of the continental U.S., part of our human struggle to make the best use of time and light and be productive. Arguments abound about the productivity of changing time and I’m not going there. It’s 48 F in Ashland, mostly sunny. A soft zephyr hisses around trees. Thin clouds skirt the area and sunshine peeks through, giving us a springy winter pastiche.

I don’t know why one song dominates the morning mental music stream. The Neurons have shuffled a 1983 Michael Jackson song in. “Human Nature” is a soft pop ballad written by Steve Porcaro…originally Porcaro had success with a band called “Toto” that he helped found. Meanwhile, he played keyboards or synthesizers on Michael Jackson songs. The Toto song, “Rosanna”, was said to be based on Porcaro’s girlfriend for a while, Rosanna Arquette, which was denied and then acknowledged. Porcaro played on so many albums with other artists in the late 1970s through the 1980s, if you listened to pop and rock during that period, you were exposed time and again.

Michael Jackson, of course, was the King of Pop for a long reign. This song was from the Thriller album, which was the #1 album for 37 weeks. “Human Nature” was one of seven hit songs from the album, with all of those songs reaching the top 10. The biggest hits from that album would be “Billie Jean”, “Beat It”, and “Thriller”. With all of those songs on that album, the album became the best-selling album of all time, selling over 70 million copies. Staggering.

Meanwhile, “Human Nature” was written originally by Steve Porcaro. Quincy Jones was producing Thriller. He heard a demo of “Human Nature” and liked the sound but he had the lyrics re-written by John Bettis, a songwriter who wrote over 1600 songs for pop and country music performers. His songs and music was often featured in hit films of that era, like Cocktail, Say Anything, Vision Quest, Curly Sue, and a whole chunk more. What a business it all is.

The chorus of “Human Nature” is well-known:

If they say why (why?), why (why?)
Tell them that it’s human nature
Why (why?), why (why?), does he do me that way?
If they say why (why?), why (why?)
Tell them that it’s human nature
Why (why?), why (why?), does he do me that way?

h/t to AZLyrics.com

That phrase, “tell them that it’s human nature,” is often used to explain the unexplainable about people’s actions.

Coffee has overtaken me again. Hope you have a most excellent Sunda to repurpose an old phrase. Here we go. Cheers

2

Sattida’s Theme Music

Welcome, welcome, welcome. It’s Sattida, March 8, 2025. The spelling for today is inspired by memory of how one of my younger sisters used to pronounce the day. She was a sunny child. When I laughed and teased her about the way she said it, she glowered with thunder cloud intensity. That put an end to that.

Right now, we’re a 39 F but it’s climbing fast as the big swirling ball of energy breaches the blue sky. An upper limit of 64 F is expected, the weather ‘they’ tell us.

Happy International Women’s Day. International Women’s Day (IWD), marked annually on March 8, is a global day of recognition celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women while also calling for increased gender equality.

This day has evolved from its early 20th-century socialist roots to a worldwide observance embraced by the United Nations and countless organizations globally.

The observance dates back to the first International Women’s Day in 1911 when over one million people across Europe protested for women’s suffrage and labor rights, according to UN Women.

Women are still protesting for women’s suffrage and labor rights, over 114 years later. As others note, as we witness it, the progress they’ve made is reversible. Many men will state things like, “I think it was a mistake to give women the right to vote.” So, apparently men are born with that right, but men gave it to women. What a crock of maladjusted, egotistical thinking.

The Neurons invited an Elton John song into the morning mental music stream. “Your Song” has lyrics written by Bernie Taupin. Released in 1970, I was fourteen. I found the song to be introspective, a person thinking about who they are, what they want, and where they’re going. That felt perfect for me in that age and era. Bernie wrote the song but Elton John found the inflections and tone to sharpen the focus and enrich the words’ sensibilities.

It’s in me this morning because of dreams. Not a specific dream but the way my dreams lifted me up. I admittedly view the world through a lens of disappointment. We we do not live up to our potential to be so much more. We seem to be regressing, perhaps even devolving. It could be true that we’re doing both of those things, and pondering the mechanics and influences which might make them true is a challenging bit of logic work on its own. Despite my outward anger and disappointment, I constantly experience uplifting and reassuring dreams these days. Like our state of the world, the why behind these dreams are worthy of their own thinking and writing time. We’re still explaining dreams as a species, trying to understand what creates them. Either way, my dreams’ uplifting nature feels like a gift. I’m just not sure who is sending it to me.

“Your Song” wasn’t featured in a dream, though, no. It came about from my thinking, “It’s funny how I feel inside despite my pessimism and disappointment.” It was a short flea jump from that bridge to Elton John’s opening vocals, “It’s a little bit funny, this feeling inside.”

Hope your Sattida lives up to your needs and hopes. Coffee has been welcomed into my gullet once again. Time to rock another day. Cheers

0

WTF, America

In another bit of WTF, America, some new DOGE bullshit springs into the spotlight.

Military to Remove ‘Enola Gay’ Photos for Violating DEI Rules

Images of “Enola Gay,” the aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in Japan are among those targeted by the U.S. military in an initiative to eliminate content related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

They are among a number of photos unrelated to DEI that have been mistakenly flagged, including those from an Army Corps of Engineers dredging project in California, seemingly because an engineer in the image had the last name “Gay.”

I mean, how, how, how amazingly ignorant is the Trusk Regime? How stupid is DOGE?

Beyond the fundamental stupidity of making a decision based on a single word, they are demonstrating amazing ignorance about our heritage. Our history.

Does that history matter to them? No, apparently not.

And that really brings the Trusk Regime’s crock of shit about ‘gay’, DEI, woke into an electron microscope level of insights. Our history is being denied based on some shallow, closed minds? They’ll deny the role of an aircraft in our history because of a single word, literally one of the most critical moments in modern human history, the one and only damn time when one nation used atomic or nuclear weapons on another nation? What are they going to do, rewrite the textbooks so that Colonel Paul Tibbets and his crew flew an unnamed aircraft on that historic mission? How much of a disservice is it to not just the crew that flew that machine but the enemy killed on the ground?

That’s just the damn bottom of the barrel, though. The Trusk Regime and the GOTP is trying to deny the role of anyone who does not fit their narrow, bigoted views. Gay, trans, lesbian military members who fought for the United States are being washed out of history by this pathetic group, most of whom never served in a military capacity.

Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. But those who deliberately wipe it out are bent on creating a new circle of ignorance.

But, I mean, come on. Seriously. What did we expect of ol’ Bone Spurs Trump? His grip on history and logic is pathetically weak.

He who cited the use of aircraft and airfields in the American Revolutionary War.

He who referred to Senator McCain, a navy aviator who was captured and held as a prisoner of war, as a loser.

He who warns of the threats of cancer from windmills, a claim without any merit.

He who used a marker to try to change the projected course of a hurricane.

He who had his staff saying that he suggested nuking a hurricane.

He who was documented to lie over 30,000 times in his first administration.

A man who still lies as much as he breathes.

That individual is a fucking idiot.

And you know what that makes his supporters and enablers.

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