Broken bones and broken dreams

You ever notice how when you tell someone about an injury, some will feel obligated to top it? I broke my collar-bone over the weekend, it’s not that bad, especially compared to the broken back I suffered a few months ago. And I know it’s not that bad. It hurts some and I’m told by readers it may hurt a long time, but I don’t expect this to be the worst injury evah or anything like that. Nevertheless, almost every single person I know in real life who has learned of my little fall immediately launches into their own story of their broken collar-bone/leg bone/arm bone or any bone. And they seem to feel challenged to beat my fuck up in some way. It’s odd; this is not a trauma contest. And even if it was, losing it would be the only way to win imo. [Read more…]

The surgery went well

Needless to say I haven’t been around for a couple of days. Reason being I had a minor operation early yesterday and early signs are everything went swimmingly. In fact I fell pretty damn good! Sorry for the absence, I should be back to a regular blogging schedule later this week.

The prayer circle and the miracle at E-rock

That's me, about pitch 20, a little over halfway up the 3000 foot face on a route called the Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite. Which has almost nothing to do with the story below. Unseen are my two awesome team mates, JP and Action Jackson.

About 20 years ago I was at a climbing area in Central Texas, a beautiful potassium feldspar pluton formed half a billion a years ago, and recently exposed by uplift, now blooming into classic exfoliation domes the size of small towns. In this region there is a designated rappelling rock, a great location with a panoramic view, featuring sheer 25 meter drops almost all around. For climbers, rappelling is not a sport, it’s a risky necessity only done when needed. Sometimes it’s the easiest way down, but few climbers rap for fun.  [Read more…]

Now Showing: Mittens of Romney vs. Newton of Gingrich in The Bainwreck

I don’t know if you’ve been keeping up on the latest comedy stylings of the GOP traveling clown-car show. Latest update in pure text — I’m working without links here folks! The pro Mittens but absolutely-not-coordinated with Romney SuperPAC laid down a beating on Gingrich in New Hampshire by pointing out what lying, cheating sack of shit he is, and now a pro Newt but completely-unconnected to Gingrich SuperPAC is returning the favor by pointing out that Romney is a spoiled corporate maggot who went from rich to filthy chomping its way through the corpse of the middle class. Rick Perry joined in the feeding frenzy on Willard at least temporarily, but his true appetite for rotting flesh remains to be seen. [Read more…]

Insight into anti-vaccination

This comment was posted on Daily Kos by the (Obviously admirable) parent of an autistic child. I thought it appropriate and well written enough to reproduce in its entirety below. — DS

“I have a teeny insight into that large faction of antivaxxers. (My biology degree, ironically, “immunized” me from believing their arguments, however.)

When someone sits you down and tells you that your child has this “terrible affliction,” you usually know almost nothing about it beyond a few Hollywood stereotypes. All you know is that your life, your entire world, has been flipped upside down. You can’t breathe. This must be a mistake, you think. I can’t do this. I don’t understand how this happened. [Read more…]

Republicans deserve Newt Gingrich

Really, let’s just recognize the performance artists making up what was formerly known as the Republican Party are getting their just rewards. It’s been going this way for a long time and, like an abusive spouse with a love of the bottle hitting middle age, it’s been getting noticeably worse over the last few years. Conservative propaganda, funded by corporations and rich whackos, empowered with everything mass media and Madison Avenue can deliver, have hit the trifecta. [Read more…]