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28673. arkymalarky - 7/4/2015 6:38:10 PM And check out nuplanet's recent stuff in the poetry thread! 28674. RickNelson - 7/4/2015 7:05:32 PM Yes, it was definitely Ace!
Nu in poetry, awesome! 28675. judithathome - 7/4/2015 8:47:25 PM It's all over the Sarawakian news now, so it's made it to the front of their media. Some day it might make it here?
Rick, I saw an episode of VICE News on HBO recently and they've shown a light on the oil palm industry in Indonesia...they have a very good site...VICE.com...and probably have access to the HBO shows online. The weekly shows are half an hour, two subjects each week, which run right after Bill Maher's show on Fridays. (He actually produces the VICE shows) I think they may be off doe the summer months but check it out online....they also have a newsletter to which I subscribe.
I love their investigative journalism and wish we had far more of it.
Great to hear from you, by the way!! 28676. judithathome - 7/4/2015 8:48:15 PM doe = for 28677. wabbit - 7/4/2015 11:38:20 PM Rick! How wonderful to see you, and so many other missed voices...Bhel, Prof, vonK, phillipdavid, nuplanet...I remain in the background, but I'm around.
MsIT is very cool, I was fortunate enough to meet her in person many years ago. Diva too. I always liked concerned. I didn't agree with his politics (usually), but he was one who could agree to disagree without always resorting to the usual bile. He was a good read.
I remember people thinking I was weirder than usual when I went to Seattle for Spring Break many years ago to hang with Irv and family, PD, Lemwalker (speaking of cool!), DaveN (and his gracious wife who put me up for a night), mondaugen...there is a photo floating around of our visit to Slate, where we met Michael Kinsley. Good weekend! 28678. Ms. No - 7/5/2015 4:51:26 PM Good to see you, Rick! Glad to hear things are going well. 28679. Wombat - 7/12/2015 10:56:18 PM Hey, Rick welcome back! If you want to see the full deranged beauty of Acey, check out the Ace of Spades web site.
Wombette is completing her third year as an undergraduate, and will be moving to the graduate part of her combined program in physical therapy at Ithaca College. Wombino starts at St. Johns College in August.
On the employment front, after a four-year drought, I have been offered an analyst position on a Department of Homeland Security project. The project deals with what are called "active shooter" incidents (Dylan Roof and others). Both interesting and au courant, and easily linkable to the "lone-wolf" trend in terrorism. 28680. RickNelson - 7/13/2015 3:10:10 AM Thanks for the welcome.
I hope more coverage of palm oil corruption is exposed.
And I'm recalling Diva and Lemwalker, and I knew M Kinsley ran the show back then. Isn't it cool to see Dickerson as a major media personality? I wonder what Pinsky is up to?
I do recall Ace. I ran across his website some time ago. I don't recall what I read. his writing was about many topics. I think I thought he was like infowars back then?
Good to hear that Wombette is getting along so well, and Wombino has such excellent prospects!
Wow for the "active shooter" issues you may work on? I've been very aware of fringe group growth, and most alarmed by militias. I don't know if lone-wolfs have grown out of militias, or been influenced somewhat?
I have been disgusted with politicians, like Palin's target map, or other inflammatory rhetoric out there. Alex Jones has to be one of the worst?! 28681. Wombat - 7/13/2015 2:04:02 PM Rick, my sense is that "Lone wolf" attacks are more inspired by groups, rather than planned in conjunction with other activities or organizations. The internet makes so many things possible.... 28682. bhelpuri - 7/15/2015 6:19:09 AM Hello there, Rickster! Nice to "see" you. 28683. arkymalarky - 7/22/2015 10:52:13 PM We've been struggling the last week or so. We were an hour into our trip to Colorado when we got a phone call that Stan's brother had collapsed, we turned around and headed back, and he died of a massive heart attack before we could get home. I hadn't felt like posting about it, and its been crazy because now Stan is in charge of all of his mother's affairs, including thinning all the pines, and I've never seen him this sad. His brother was his best buddy, but he hadn't been to see him when he was sick with pneumonia about a week before he had the heart attack, and everybody was leaning so hard on his brother in so many ways because since she was a little boy he had always been the family ambassador and as an adult after Stan's father died the family anchor, especially after Stan's mother had to go to the nursing home and he became her power of attorney. We're going to go to Colorado for about a week, but that's strictly to preserve our sanity by getting away from the chaos for a few days. It won't be the fun trip we were planning. I've felt so much for people who have suffered loss in the mote over the years, especially Judith, but since I've been on the mote this is the first real grief we've had to deal with. Stan father's death was a release from a lot of suffering. With Stan's brother, there's a lot of questions about how we could have done things differently to ease some of the burden on him and Stan wishes that he had gone up to see him. They had spent a lot of time together and talked on the phone a lot, but he got over the pneumonia and Stan thought he was okay, so We left without seeing him. 28684. judithathome - 7/23/2015 12:09:41 AM Arky, I am soooo sorry to read this...sending both Stan and you our heartfelt condolences.
I know it won't help but I think it was more connected to the bout of pneumonia than stress. 28685. arkymalarky - 7/23/2015 12:25:58 AM Thanks Judith. That really means a lot. I think the pneumonia was symptomatic of of a weakened system on his part. He had had diabetes very very badly, and although he had gotten his blood sugar under control I think his organs had been severely damaged before he was diagnosed. He's one of those who just never wanted to go to the doctor for anything, and he hid pain and health issues rather than getting them checked out. By the time he had his diabetes diagnosed his a1c was higher than the charts went. The dr tried to save him and said his arteries were just too clogged and his heart was just too damaged from the strength of the attack. Its a family thing, and Stan got marched to the doctor today. He's having a stress test before we go to Colorado. 28686. wabbit - 7/23/2015 2:50:06 PM Arky, I am so sorry to hear about Stan's brother, you both have my most sincere condolences. 28687. arkymalarky - 7/23/2015 3:50:22 PM Thank you Wabbit. I'm going to post some more details, because I know you're entering a similar situation. Your support network is very different, which means your burden is going to be a lot heavier. You are the David (my BIL) of your family.
Stan is going to meet with timber people about cutting the trees today. He and David were looking into that before David died. He is doing better, transitioning everything to his name, and he lives a lot closer. Managing my MIL is now to her assets, not money. He also made his sister first call for the nursing home which will help immensely. Stan made a grim statement a year ago that his mother's illness was going to kill her children before her. They're not exactly the picture of health. After David, who looked perfectly healthy to outside observers, other three are starting to take that comment more seriously. I've been saying for awhile that they need to handle this situation differently and I'm going to be very protective and supportive of Stan in his new role. I told him that we can't stop living our own lives because of this.
David had so many responsibilities before he died--that was always his personality and he loved them up until he got sick and had to face his diabetes about three years ago. Stan only has that part involving his mother. David's church, wife, and (grown) children will have to adjust and it will be hard. Thankfully, they're wonderful strong people.
I told a friend of mine that no one expects the person they lean on the most to just fall over, but it stands to reason that that's what would happen. And no one expects to be the one who falls over. I'm sure David didn't. With his family history and his bad health, he was a ticking time bomb. The thing was, to everyone else he didn't look like it. He wasn't overweight. He was very active and strong. His blood sugar was down. But he was having serious symptoms and suffering a lot of pain and fatigue before the pneumonia. The way he found out he had diabetes was when he tried to get life insurance and they turned him down. He wouldn't have been looking for life insurance had he not known he was really sick. Stan is incredibly sad, but he feels guilty that he didn't take on more. But you can't respond to what you don't know about. 28688. judithathome - 7/23/2015 5:21:36 PM Well, I hate to bring this up but this sentence: He wouldn't have been looking for life insurance had he not known he was really sick is definitely a cautionary tale. One should think about life insurance while they are young, healthy, and don't really need it. 28689. arkymalarky - 7/23/2015 6:07:41 PM True. And he didn't really need it more than just getting concerned about how he felt, I think. He had zero debt, good retirement, and t-drop money from teaching (a lot). His wife will be fine financially. But he must have felt something he didn't share with anyone to have blood sugar that high and that made him act atypically from what he ever had. 28690. judithathome - 7/23/2015 8:37:21 PM Well, I am just a fan of getting life insurance while young and healthy. Amazing how much it adds up over the years...for very little strain on one's budget. 28691. vonKreedon - 7/24/2015 3:05:41 AM So sorry for your family's loss, Arky. 28692. arkymalarky - 7/24/2015 4:01:46 AM Thank you Vk!
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