Cancer Chronicles 3: The Naming.

It’s amazing how one thing can make such a big difference. In my case, stomach muscle. That’s sliced in order to do the colostomy, and it’s sheer agony to force that muscle into action, and there’s no choice about that, either. You can’t just lie flat for the time it takes to heal. Well, I suppose you could, but that’s not me, and I don’t like catheters. Anyroad, while you’re still in hospital, the mass amount of drugs helps to blunt the pain a bit when you have to get into a sitting or standing position. Once you’re home, it’s a symphony of contortion and pain trying to figure out the easiest way to get yourself sitting or standing. The injured and screaming stomach muscle, along with the stoma, feels incredibly heavy, you feel very weighed down. I’m 10 days out now, and the stomach muscle still feels sore, like it would after a heavy workout, but it’s a world of difference, being able to sit up, stand up straight, and be able to get into and out of bed without mass problems. I don’t feel weighted down, either. So. Much. Better.

I’m finding a need to hang on to my sense of humour with everything I have. Still on a lot of fart humour here. Makes me feel very juvenile, but that’s okay. Better than feeling ancient. So, as we’ll be living together quite a while, I figured it was time to name my stoma. Yeah, yeah, it’s silly. I don’t care. I have this very old name book, and I was flipping through, when a meaning caught my eye and made me laugh: helmeted battle maid. I looked down at my stoma, freshly bagged, and thought “that’s perfect!” The name? Grimhild. Seriously perfect. Out of curiosity, I looked Grimhild up – turns out in any incarnation, she wasn’t a nice lady type. That works too, because I am not feeling at all nice towards this part of me gone rogue.

Things get better when you get your appetite back, too. This took me quite a time, I didn’t have much appetite at all until a couple of days ago, and eating small amounts throughout the day/evening works best for me, rather than trying to do standard meals. I’ve also learned it’s best to be very fluid when it comes to sleep. This isn’t an option for everyone, especially those who want to get back to work; but I’ve found I often just can’t get to sleep when I want, so whenever I feel like I could nod off, I lay down and sleep for as long as I need. So far, that’s keeping me feeling fair energetic.

Now, I do believe Grimhild is making noises along the lines of ‘feed me’, so breakfast it is.

Bat.

Portrait of the bat. Compared with many other bestiary illustrations, this is a fairly accurate ventral view of a bat whose wings are shown as a membrane stretching from its three fingers down to its toes and tail. Its furry face has the typically uncanny human look. The artist has realised that the flight membrane joins the fingers, legs and tail even though there should be five fingers with four supporting the wing. It is classified as a bird because of its wings rather than as a mammal because of its fur.

Portrait of the bat. Compared with many other bestiary illustrations, this is a fairly accurate ventral view of a bat whose wings are shown as a membrane stretching from its three fingers down to its toes and tail. Its furry face has the typically uncanny human look. The artist has realised that the flight membrane joins the fingers, legs and tail even though there should be five fingers with four supporting the wing. It is classified as a bird because of its wings rather than as a mammal because of its fur.

Text Translation:

[Of the bat] The bat, a lowly animal, gets its name from vesper, the evening, when it emerges. It is a winged creature but also a four-footed one, and it has teeth, which you would not usually find in birds. It gives birth like a quadruped, not to eggs but to live young. It flies, but not on wings; it supports itself by making a rowing motion with its skin, and, suspended just as on wings, it darts around. There is one thing which these mean creatures do, however: they cling to each other and hang together from one place looking like a cluster of grapes, and if the last lets go, the whole group disintegrate; it a kind of act of love of a sort which is difficult to find among men.

Folio 51v – the bat, continued. [De gragulo]; Of the jay.

Japanese Tip.

installation view | photo by Kakijiro Tokutani.

installation view | photo by Kakijiro Tokutani.

This is just too cool!

Yuki Tatsumi was working as a waiter in a restaurant when one day, as he was cleaning up a table, he noticed that a customer had intricately folded up the paper chopstick sleeve and left it behind. Japan doesn’t have a culture of tipping but Tatsumi imagined that this was a discreet , subconscious method of showing appreciation. He began paying attention and sure enough noticed that other customers were doing the same thing. Tatsumi began collecting these “tips” which eventually led to his art project: Japanese Tip.

Since 2012 Tatsumi has not only been collecting his own tips but he’s reached out to restaurants and eateries all across Japan communicating his concept and asking them to send him their tips. The response has been enormous. He’s collected over 13,000 paper sculptures that range from obscure and ugly to intricate and elaborate.

Earlier this month Tatsumi staged an exhibition in Tokyo where he displayed 8000 of some of the most interesting sculptures sourced from all 47 prefectures around Japan. “Japanese Tip is a project between restaurants and customers,” says Tatsumi, “to communicate the ‘appreciation for food’ and ‘appreciation of the service’  by using the most common material used at any Japanese restaurant.”

The exhibition has since closed but you can see some of the paper sculptures on his website and you can follow the initiative on Facebook.

Such a cool and thoughtful thing to do. You can read and see more at Spoon & Tamago.

Top Ten Child Corruption Trends! Oh My.

Jack Bennett (@makeuupbyjack) has more than 300,000 followers. He’s 10. Credit Lauren Fleishman for The New York Times.

Jack Bennett (@makeuupbyjack) has more than 300,000 followers. He’s 10. Credit Lauren Fleishman for The New York Times.

Linda Harvey, always a delightful bag of poison, is going on about all the worst of the worst of child corruption taking place in 2017, and it will most likely continue! Oh, how absolutely awful it is, to see children treated as more than adults in waiting, to be silent and obedient. Goodness me, they are being treated as if they were people.

10. The mainstream media continue to aggressively sell America on the bizarre and deviant as positive options for kids. The New York Times published a radically irresponsible story, “His eye makeup is better than yours,” about a 10-year-old boy and his Instagram make-up following. Do you want to vomit yet? I do.

No, I don’t want to vomit at all. The NYT is right, Mr. Bennett’s eye make-up is much better than mine. I always did suck at the eye make-up. There’s nothing at all wrong with men wearing cosmetics, they have been worn by men throughout history, and men look just as nice in make-up as other genders do. Why not look nice? Especially if it makes you feel good. I would say the following these young people get is a fair indicator that there are a whole lot of kids out there who are aching to express themselves, and why not do that with the artistry of cosmetics? If this was face-painting at a county fair or something, you wouldn’t think twice about it, Ms. Harvey.

9. Corrupting children in public must be a big turn-on for sexual anarchists. This year, the latest assaults on decency were the “drag-queen story hours” at public libraries, where men costumed in female attire read books to innocent children, with pandering parents as onlookers.

Oh yes, Alex Jones was having a fit about this, too. This is great! Teaches acceptance and provides representation at the same time. Sprogs don’t have a problem with such things, just nasty, bigoted, toxic assholes, especially asshole christians.

8. Movies and TV for children pushed more “LGBT” depravity in their faces than ever before. Disney topped the list of offending producers. Their remake of “Beauty and the Beast” cast one of the males as a homosexual character.

Yes, yes, so the fuck what? No one is going to die because a character is gay. There are gay people everywhere, Ms. Harvey. One side character in a movie isn’t all that much.

TV shows that introduced obscenity and/or homosexual themes to children included Netflix’s “Big Mouth,” and Disney’s “Doc McStuffins,””Andi Mack” and “Star vs. the Forces of Evil.” Does anyone still doubt Disney’s agenda? It is also a major donor to GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

Disney does not have an agenda, outside of appealing to as many sprogs as possible. Being inclusive is a big part of that. I don’t know if there’s a queer character in A Wrinkle In Time, but right about now, I’m seriously hoping there is, just so you’ll scream even louder and your tears shall be ever so salty.

7. Some schools allow children to express sexual and gender-defiant identities they conceal from parents. A New Jersey bill passed that guaranteed “confidentiality” for kids engaging in “trans” behavior, because, as we all know, parents are the enemy, right? Similar school policies exist in Maine, Maryland, Hawaii and elsewhere.

Well, Ms. Harvey, for your information, yes, parents are often the enemy. Let’s not pretend that parents are never awful and that abuse never happens. There have been generations of children tossed out on the street because they are queer, and came out to their parents, hoping for love and acceptance. A lot of those remarkably abusive, shitty parents are christian, and they’d rather see their children dead than to be happy, and to be who they are. This is not “gender defiance”. This is simply people needing to be who they are. For all the children stuck in homes with shitty parents, they must have a safe outlet somewhere, or else they will often end up in a very unsafe situation. Caring adults want those kids to be safe. Unlike their shitty parents.

6. Hollywood rushed to give awards to a movie featuring the “romance” of a teen boy being seduced by an adult man (“Call Me by YourName“) while accusations pile up of alleged abuse of boy actors by powerful Tinseltown males. Former child actor Corey Feldman’s long-time allegations are finally getting a hearing.

Oh FFS. Can you asshole christians really not see the difference between a consensual relationship and assault? No wonder you have problems. I had to do some reading about this film, and it involves a fleeting romance between a 17 year old and a 24 year old. I’m sure this comes as an awful shock, Ms. Harvey, but a whole lot of 17 year old people aren’t virgins.

5. Continued promotion in schools of homosexual and “transgender” behavior by GLSEN and the Human Rights Campaign, backed up by the NEA and ACLU, tragically misleads thousands of American youth every year. GLSEN’s propaganda events like the April “Day of Silence” and fall “Ally Week” can hardly be taken seriously anymore. There is no “silence” with this obnoxiously loud agenda.

Sigh. All the obnoxiously loud agenda crap is solely on your side, Ms. Harvey. You fucking assholes never stop shrieking that the sky is falling over this, that, and whatthefuckever. Acceptance, it’s the road to all good things. All those things you have no use for, like peace, happiness, inclusivity, creativity, etc.

4. Radical pro-abortion forces have teamed up with homosexual activist groups to push for more-explicit-than-ever “comprehensive sex education” curricula in schools, where seventh graders are told that vaginal, anal and oral sex are equally valid sex practices, all normal for teens and manageable with condoms (which are demonstrated on plastic models). The sound alternative of authentic abstinence education is dismissed and mocked.

Authentic (?) abstinence education is dismissed and mocked because it is fucking stupid, and not remotely reality based. When you refuse to acknowledge the burgeoning sexuality of young people, they find their own methods of justifying things, like classifying oral or anal sex as ‘not really sex’ sex. Want young adults to be safe, healthy, and not find themselves in need of a termination? Educate them. Provide contraception. There ya go.

3. The sharp rise in child pornography is a huge threat to America’s children. Too many vulnerable children are violated and videotaped for the voyeuristic pleasure of evil adults.

Well, no shit, Sherlock. This is not a new problem, it’s as old as the hills, and yes, all people need to do more to put a stop to practices which harm children. There is no divide here, it’s not a secret cabal of lefties or righties doing such things; unfortunately, there’s no simple way to point a finger. Putting a stop to child sex trafficking and child porn is a big job, and there isn’t an easy way to deal with it.

2. Those who have charge over children are sometimes deliberately directing them away from Christian faith. And brave Christian voices are bullied into silence, like teacher Michael Stack in San Luis Obispo, California, who resigned after his letter to the school newspaper was greeted with outrage from the homosexual community – and a death threat. The letter included passages from Romans 1 about homosexuality, mischaracterized as advocating “death to homosexuals.”

Was it mischaracterised? Let’s look at a tiny bit:

So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and shameful things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the creator Himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, He abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them too.”

No, that’s not mischaracterised at all. Teaching children that your godmonster hates them and that there’s just no choice, no, they have to die, and be tortured for all eternity, for being who they are, that’s really shitty. And abusive. And wrong. You asshole christians are not brave – it doesn’t take bravery to bully children. You’re cowardly asses who shriek “persecution!” every time you’re told no, you don’t get oppress and harm people. There are a lot of great teachers out there, and I’m sure that includes some christian teachers, who manage to put the children first. But if you’re a teacher, and you just have to point out how all the queers are icky and deserving of punishment, you are not a good teacher, and you shouldn’t be around children at all.

1. While the chance to believe in Jesus Christ is the most important opportunity we can offer a child, those who are not allowed to be born in the first place never have that chance. Abortion of the unborn continues to be the biggest preventable threat to children in the U.S., yet is still supported up until birth by many progressives and Democratic Party politicians.

Oh, enough. Go fuck yourself every which way, Ms. Harvey. What I do or don’t do with myself is my fucking business, just as any medical procedures are also my decision.

Blecch. If you want to go read the whole mess, you can do so here. I think I need a shower.

A Heartwarming Moment.

Via Twitter.

The Tiny Tyrant’s Veep is on vacation, and the owners of the house he’s staying in, and the neighbours had a lovely, gay message for the Pence family, on just how to do that MAGA business right. :D

A rainbow flag with the words “Make America Gay Again” was posted at the end of the driveway to both houses, the Aspen Times reports.

The banner was hung by the daughters of the homeowners — and one of their girlfriends.

“You couldn’t miss it,” Pitkin County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Buglione explained.

Deputy Buglione explained the homeowners brough chili and corn muffins to the deputies and Secret Service agents posted.

“They’ve been really nice to us,” Pitkin County Sheriff Joe DiSalvo.

Now, that’s the way to make friends and influence people! Great job.

Via Raw Story.

Hoopoe.

Hoopoe in a roundel. The hoopoe has a comb-like crest and startling black and white bars across its body. The crest illustrated is more like a peacock's crest. Compare the totally different version of the hoopoe on f. 36v.

Hoopoe in a roundel. The hoopoe has a comb-like crest and startling black and white bars across its body. The crest illustrated is more like a peacock’s crest. Compare the totally different version of the hoopoe on f. 36v.

Text Translation:

[Of the hoopoe] The Greeks call the bird by this name because it roosts in human ordure and feeds on stinking excrement. The filthiest of birds, it is capped with a prominent crest. It lives in burial places amid human ordure. If you rub yourself with its blood on your way to bed, you will have nightmares about demons suffocating you. On this subject, Rabanus says: ‘This bird signifies wicked sinners, men who continually delight in the squalor of sin.’ The hoopoe is said to take pleasure in grief, as the sorrow of this world brings about the death of the spirit; for this reason those who love God should ‘rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing and in every thing give thanks’ (see 1 Thessalonians, 5:16-18) ‘for the fruit of the Spirit is joy’ (see Galatians, 5:22).

In addition, Physiologus says of the hoopoe that when it grows old and cannot fly, its offspring come and pull out the oldest feathers from its body and constantly care for it, until it has recovered its strength as before and can fly. The young hoopoes provide, therefore, an example to those evil men who, when their parents grow old, throw them out of their home; who refuse to support, when they are weak, the parents who raised them when they were still in their infancy. Let man, who is endowed with reason, learn his duty to his mother and father, from the way in which this creature, which lacks reason, provides (as we have already shown) for its parents’ needs when they are old.

Then there’s a bit more on the Night Owl:

Of the night-owl The night-owl, noctua, is so called because it flies at night and cannot see in the daytime. For its sight is dimmed by brightness of the sun when it has risen. The night-owl, noctua, is not the same as the owl, bubo, which is bigger. But the night-crow, nicticorax, is the same as the night-owl, because it loves the night. For it is a bird which shuns the light and cannot bear to see the sun. This bird symbolises the Jews who, when the Lord our Saviour came to save them, rejected him, saying: ‘We have no king but Caesar’ (John, 19:15); and ‘loved darkness rather than light’ (John, 3:19). Then our Lord turned to us, the Gentiles, and gave us light as we sat in darkness and the shadow of death; of the Gentiles it is said: ‘A people which I knew not shall serve me’ (Samuel 2, 22:44; Psalms, 18:44); and in another prophet: ‘I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved’ (Romans, 9:25; see Hosea, 2:23). Of the people of the Jews, the sons of strangers etc.

Folio 50v – the owl, continued. [De hupupa] ; Of the hoopoe.