For those of you who won't be getting a total eclipse today (like we are in my part of Texas) it seems only fair to share something else that you probably shouldn't look at without eye protection. In this case, another collection of questionable products from Amazon Vine - the service that lets a lucky few select free items in return for honest reviews. Some of those products are actually great. Others...not so much.
GENERAL UPDATES
I haven't been able to post much lately owing to some oddities with my health which are almost certainly due to my recent (or ongoing?) bout of the Fauci Flu. Something is rather dramatically robbing my muscles of energy after the shortest of exertions, forcing me to use a walker much of the time, and I still have wracking coughs despite recent x-rays showing my chest clear. Blood tests and heart scans have been done and nothing has been discovered so far.
I don't feel bad most of the time, but a trip to the mailbox can feel like a marathon. We may have to look at more obscure conditions to figure this out. Covid can cause "micro-clotting" which sends little clots throughout the body to block capillaries and cut the flow of oxygen and nutrients to cells. And the laughably-named "vaccine" can stimulate the ongoing production of so much spike protein in the body that your tissues become suffused with it...and your immune system starts attacking your own muscles and organs. Hopefully I've got neither (let alone both) of those conditions, but it's an odd time. And big baby that I am, it hurts not to have Kathy here to take care of me or, more likely, tell me to quit whining and do something useful.
Like taxes, for instance. I haven't done mine yet and will be sending a request for an extension tomorrow. In hilariously typical IRS fashion, you can request an automatic extension just by asking for it, with the codicil that if you owe any taxes you still have to pay them by April 15. Well, if I KNEW I had taxes to pay and how much they were, my return would already be done, wouldn't it?! Bah.
I don't feel bad most of the time, but a trip to the mailbox can feel like a marathon. We may have to look at more obscure conditions to figure this out. Covid can cause "micro-clotting" which sends little clots throughout the body to block capillaries and cut the flow of oxygen and nutrients to cells. And the laughably-named "vaccine" can stimulate the ongoing production of so much spike protein in the body that your tissues become suffused with it...and your immune system starts attacking your own muscles and organs. Hopefully I've got neither (let alone both) of those conditions, but it's an odd time. And big baby that I am, it hurts not to have Kathy here to take care of me or, more likely, tell me to quit whining and do something useful.
Like taxes, for instance. I haven't done mine yet and will be sending a request for an extension tomorrow. In hilariously typical IRS fashion, you can request an automatic extension just by asking for it, with the codicil that if you owe any taxes you still have to pay them by April 15. Well, if I KNEW I had taxes to pay and how much they were, my return would already be done, wouldn't it?! Bah.
But on a lighter note, I've continued experimenting with AI music and now AI video generation. So just for the fun of it, I thought I'd share some recent works. The first being "Ten-in-One" which is my salute to the oldtime freak shows that fascinate me. The lyrics are mine and I've seen most of the human oddities mentioned in the song personally. Stars in my somewhat unusual pantheon.
On a more upbeat note, here's a fun rocker that is a reworking of a song played by a band I helped create, The Nukes, with my twin brother about 45 years ago. We performed in white lab coats and strange eyewear. These are my original lyrics (and the band's theme song) but the melody, music, and vocals are generated entirely with AI as were all of the visuals - there's nothing "real" in here at all. I edited the clips into a mostly coherent form but the credit (?) goes to artificial intelligence here. These are crazy times, my friends!
The toy X-58 missiles go well with "We Are The Nukes"...
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you aren't right, physically anyway. We know you aren't right in the head, lol. Do check any meds you are taking for side effects, believe it or not coughing can be a side effect. One of my asthma meds did that. Also have them check your potassium levels, that's another fun side effect and it's very unpleasant when you are too weak but have to function.
ReplyDeleteAlso, don't get that hummingbird feeder! You don't want those mean little bastards anywhere near your face. Hubs and one of the boys found that out when they got dive bombed by some angry ones. They ran two big guys off like you wouldn't believe.
And if you listen real careful I'd bet you can hear Kathy saying that anyway!
ReplyDelete@M. Mitchell Marmel- Ooh, you're right. Maybe I should go back and order those...
ReplyDelete@mamafrog- I like hummingbirds but attracting them to my face is on my "no" list. And you're quite right about Kathy's voice being loud and clear.
Sorry to hear about your health problems. You might find some ideas and/or support here:
ReplyDeletehttps://covid19criticalcare.com/protocol-categories/recovery/
RayK
Sorry you’re hurting physically, Stilt, keep hanging in there. Lots of family in for the big eclipse deal today as we share the totality path with you! Talk about over rated!
ReplyDeleteOh well. It’s a thing and we’re going with the flow.
All the best brother.
NWPa Ray
In your general update "Blood tests and heart scans have been done and nothing has been discovered so far." Well there' your problem -- no blood no heart.
ReplyDeleteKreacher bird pack can double as a solar oven if you forget it and leave in sun too long.
ReplyDeleteTaxes. Just paid them, really took it in the kachungas. Once kids grew up and no more deductions, Uncle Sugar got busy with my tax return. I really get upset when I hear of the freebies given away to non U.S. citizens. That ain't right man.
Sorry to hear of recent health developments. No advice - just keep on keeping on.
My brother had those symptoms and cardiologist and pulmonologist couldn’t find anything….a doctor a friend recommended checked … his d dimer and found micro clotting…promptly put him on a baby aspirin a day, no sugar and very low carbs and he’s doing great….
ReplyDeleteOoooh, if you got the carrot tops and the missiles you could have a cleverly disguised underground silo system to eliminate neer-do-wells.
ReplyDeleteCheck your Vit. D level
I hope your condition improves, there are a myriad of things that the vaccine, much less the disease, can screw up.
ReplyDeleteThe songs are...interesting. There is a similarity to current popular music that is uncanny. Your songs (both of them) seem to reflect the artificiality of today's pop music, as well as that of earlier days. Almost a fake sincerity. Or maybe I haven't had enough coffee. Or I need a gummy.
The "Ten In One" reminds of a book I read and re-read years ago originally titled "Step Right Up", later re-released titled "Memoirs of a Sword Swallower". It is the autobiography of a guy (adult) who ran off and joined a carnival. Not quite the same as a circus.
Work to improve your health, please. We need you for a diversion from the carnival in DC. It's worse than a side show, most of them are freaks and their acts are terrifying.
Be well.
The Snark
Thanks for Ten-In-One. That song is the BEST. It made my day!!!!
ReplyDeleteJAW
ReplyDeleteI don't know why, but the "Alzheimer's Bath Mat" made me laugh more than any of the other selections. Maybe it's because I'm kinda old-ish myself...
I listened to the two songs and then got sucked into watching/listening to "King Of The Southern Sea" and "Something's Alive". Nice work, @Stilt!
Here's hoping you can get through the Fauci super-crud soon. Although I'm reading that much of the idiotic, detrimental response to the Wuhan bug came from Scarf Lady Birx, rather than anyone else. I sincerely hope they all get the cosmic justice they deserve!
So sorry you're not feeling well. For the 2nd year in the row, I've suffered what I call a "malaise"; it hits with spring and every little ache or minor-middle-age malady I occasionally suffer hits all at once, along with a severe fatigue that makes one want to climb back into bed most of the day. I'm at the tail-end of it now, and this year's was no where near as bad as the case I had last year. My doctor had no answer for any of it as my blood tests were largely normal. So I muddle through it because the other option (just say in bed indefinitely) just isn't an option as far as I am concerned. I'd like to blame it on the Wuhan Flu or "the shot" which failed to prevent my subsequent bout with the Wuhan Flu.
ReplyDeleteIt's amusing to note that we have one set of experts (the CDC) who argue that "long COVID" isn't a thing, and other (the NIH) who say that it is. So even the guardians of the narrative can't arrive at a consensus. All we can conclude is that all of the "smart people" have f-ed up everything.
For some strange reason, I got my taxes done weeks ahead of normal. Another sign of the end times?
Stilt-My close friend, age 70, got the 1st coof & it laid him low for weeks. Even when he finally tested negative, he could not walk to his mailbox without sitting down every few yards to catch his breath. He was so ill, he was literally at death's door. He saw innumerable docs, none of whom could get him any better. Finally, he told his wife to go out to the garage, open the safe, and collect all the documents they will need when he dies. He had thrown in the towel. I cornered his wife and shared the FLCCC website with her, she made a same day appointment for him with a clinic (listed on the website) that follows their protocol. Within a couple weeks, Bob's O2 level was back in the 90's and his terrible cough was subsiding. Last I saw him, he was 100%. These guys know what they're doing & you've nothing to lose-https://covid19criticalcare.com/protocol/i-recover-long-covid-treatment/
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear of your medical issues. Hang in there and perhaps follow some of the advice given above by other readers. The 10-In-1 backdrop was very dark. It reminded me of the world we currently live in. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteThat 10 N 1 song wants a soaring guitar solo in it so bad it hurts!!
ReplyDeleteI'm willing to bet they have some of those bath mats in the White House.
ReplyDeleteLook ya'll, I get the bath mat is funny but every time I think of it I see my 87 year old mom (with dementia) standing outside the house in a most inappropriate manner. It has happened and it still makes me cringe inside. Hubs would have thought it was funny but I think I've lost my sense of humor lately. That or the happy pills are strong enough (they're not).
ReplyDeleteI didn't get the flu this year for a change, of course I stopped taking the flu shots when they said I had to get the 'covid' one and haven't been sick since. People stay cooped up inside all winter now and a lot still wander around with rags on theif faces and then wonder why they get respiratory illnesses from holding all the germs in for a long time in a warm moist environment o.O
ReplyDeleteThere are other reasons for illnesses, they've been going on since the dawn of time and were a leading cause of death until everything got relabelled as 'covid' to the exclusion of all else.
Hope whatever you caught clears up quickly, try the chicken soup, it might not help but it couldn't hurt ;)
@mamafrog- There's nothing wrong with your sense of humor but there was sure as heck something wrong with mine. Alzheimer's isn't funny in any context and I'm genuinely sorry that I probably hurt multiple people with my thoughtlessness. I've changed the caption to "Biden's Bathmat" (as suggested in the comments above by @John25mm) which is what it should have been to start with. My sincere apologies and a long-distance hug for all you're going through.
ReplyDelete@Stiltie - I'm sorry for giving the impression of being hurt or offended about the bath mat, though your second title is funnier. I was trying to be funny, it's the only way I can approach dealing with mom right now! Dementia is funny, unintentionally perhaps, many times. As I said it's the only way you can deal with much of it. I think I was too tired when I wrote the comment and ask your forgiveness for giving the impression again.
ReplyDeleteThe incident with mom isn't one I saw, I caught it on our security cam, worse yet! She was standing outside, undid her jeans and tucked her shirt in while facing the street. All the family had eye rolls and forehead slaps over that one.
There was also the cops coming to the door before I'm even dressed asking about mom. First thing out of my mouth was what the hell has she done now? I wasn't really awake and just wanted to go pee and put some clothes on so I could go find her, lol. We are, unfortunately, "known" to the police for several incidents now, which is part of the reason I live with her. This time it was her crossing a very busy street and going dumpster diving in a shopping mall across the street from there. She's never done that before. And it was a week after she got out of involuntary commitment so we could get her a dementia diagnosis. She hates doctors and medicine so I have to go to many strange lengths to do things at times.
Anyhoo, you can see what I mean about having a bad sense of humor now. Honestly I'm ready to try her CBN if she doesn't cut it out, except I have to drive. I really was just trying to be silly. And yes, I'm pleading lack of sleep, and or caffeine (diet coke). I love your irreverent humor so don't change. If someone is offended they can put on their adult panties and deal with it!
Mamafrog you have my deepest sorrow for what you are going through, it's one of the toughest thigs anyone can go through. I dealt (really unfriendly word for this) with an invalid Grandmother, then my mother who had Parkinses and then my sister with it also until she passed away. Being a family are giver. You want to do your best and make life as good as possible if nothing else because they took care of you. The only problem is it just doesn't seem to end, and you just plain burn out. Make sure you get a break every now and then just to recharge your batteries so you can keep on keeping on. I say a prayer for family care givers just because of this sort of thing. Please see if there is any group/service that can come in and help you with it even if it's just for a few hours every now and then.
ReplyDeleteAlso don't forget to have a laugh every so often it really helps.
@John25mm You have my sympathy too. We all have different burdens, like Stilton and many of us on here. Much of the time all we can do is get through each day as it comes. I will admit to praying for mom to die, quick and in her sleep, because this no life for a woman who spent a lot of her life taking care of others. She had 6 kids (though taking care of them fell on me a lot and I don't begrudge that), and two husbands. One divorced and one died of cancer, sadly. She was independent and took care of herself a lot, too. I just want her to have peace but her body is stubborn so it's going to be slow.
ReplyDeleteI also sneak out of the house a lot to run errands alone, lol. I can't trust her staying in the car while I run in stores now. And thank goodness for my baby sister, I can vent to her and vents to me about stuff so it works. One of my brothers who doesn't live in our state and his wife are relief valves too and I'm grateful.
And I do laugh, a lot. Silly videos, silly cartoons and silly friends.
@mamafrog & John25mm- Group hug!
ReplyDelete@Readers- Not that anyone is on the edge of their seat waiting to hear my test results, but some bloodwork shows that I test VERY positive for some sort of auto-immune thing going on. Unquestionably caused by Covid, the "vaccine," or both. It remains to be seen if my doctors will take that tack or will try to pigeonhole me with having spontaneous and really, really, really coincidental lupus. On the plus side, I'm feeling pretty good. On the negative side, my immune system may be treating my muscles and organs as enemies.
Well...yay and I'm sorry? Did you tell them you don't know how to feel about that? I think it's Clan Mac time.
ReplyDelete@Stilton, I had a parent with Alzheimer's and not only was I not offended by the bath mat joke, I found it quite funny. One of the things one has to do when personally dealing with Alzheimer's is maintain a sense of humor. You aren't laughing at the sufferer; you're laughing at the absurdities that you are faced with and can't do anything to fix. It's just a way to deal with the suffering without going mad yourself within a very long, painful, and stressful process. It's okay to laugh. It's healthy. In fact, it was necessary.
ReplyDeleteGod invented humor for this very reason.
@John the Econ
ReplyDeleteEXACTLY !!!
If you can't force the situation to make you laugh then it wins.
The strident wailings and gnashing of teeth are just the sounds of surrender, fight back.
Alzheimer's runs rampant on both sides of my family, but only in the women.
ReplyDeleteThe men don't live long enough to worry about it.
My 93 year old Grandmother, who I used to spend summers with as a child, thought I was a Dr coming to send her to 'the home' the last time I saw her. She was terrified and I can still see it some 35 years later :(
My other Grandmother insisted that the Senior's Facility she was living in was a hotel she owned.
I still make Alzheimer's jokes because if I don't then it becomes something superior to us and that just won't do.
ReplyDeleteWell @Stilt, I may not have been on the edge of my seat, but I did wonder about your condition. Birx, Fauci, Gropey Joe, and every single commie Chinaman need to pay for what they've done!
@mamafrog & @John the Econ & @Oldarmourer - it's rather ironic for all of you to be reassuring me about the purpose and appropriateness of dark humor, what with that being the central precept of years and years of Johnny Optimism. I strongly agree, of course. I think it's the word "Alzheimer's" that I feel was inappropriate. I could have said senility or Senior Moment or Biden bathmat, etc, and make the same joke. There's just something extra clinical and sad about the A-word. As opposed to the diseases with funny names like scurvy, dropsy, rickets, and polio. I can't remember the names of the other three sickly dwarves.
ReplyDeleteOh damn @Stilton, that made me laugh!! Ah uhm, confession time, I call mom Crazy Old Lady. It just seems to fit and I'm not sure she cares. My sister and I have already decided we aren't going down that road and might have to do something if the symptoms show up in us. I'm 70 so it's likely to hit me first. One of mom's brothers (two crazy people running around together) has it and I'm pretty sure the other is going that way, what a circus!
ReplyDeleteI personally object to the term Senile Dementia, that just seems demeaning, visions of diapers and drool and no cute baby. I'll take plain dementia or Alzheimer's or even crazy, thank you very much. Though I agree with your assessment of the A word. Trust me, the people on here and you are a great relief at times.
Now quit fooling around and get better, damn the doctors and full speed ahead, to misquote!
There's a study out stating that 'long covid' is really 'long vax' since it's highly uncommon in people who haven't taken the 'vaccine', something nobody favoured by the media bothers to correlate...introducing foreign RNA into the human body without even testing the procedure was such agood idea I can't wait to see what they've got planned for the next 'election year virus' to get those mail-in votes that are already printed counted, to be 'found' after they see how many they need...
ReplyDeleteLate to the party as usual.
ReplyDeleteI can vouch that "long covid" is real. I was battling a cough and feeling very lethargic for months on end. Rounds of antibiotics and 'roids would knock it out, but a month later, it's ba-ack. Dr. finally took an x-ray and there was a spot in my lung. Off the the lung doctor we go! CT scan showed a "mass" that he suspected was an infection. A month of super antibiotics, another CT scan = the mass shrunk. Wait a few months, another CT scan = mass same size. Then we do a biopsy. $42k later, I don't have cancer thank God! But, the bottom line is, Covid or the vaccine most likely gave me this crap in my lung that won't go away. I'd like to punch Fauci in the balls... repeatedly.
As fo 'Alzheimer's being offensive somehow, many diseases and syndromes are named after the first person to die from them or discover them. Let Prof. Alzheimer have his moment of glory, he earned it. I've had enough of the 'cancel culture' taking things away from people who earned them. Aunt Jemima was punted to the curb because she was the portrayal of a successful black woman.
ReplyDelete"...Descendants of Aunt Jemima models Lillian Richard and Anna Short Harrington objected to the change. Vera Harris, a family historian for Richard's family, said "I wish we would take a breath and not just get rid of everything. Because good or bad, it is our history..."
@ Colby Muenster
ReplyDeleteBe glad it wasn't tuberculosis. That's seen a massive surge, along with a lot of other diseases you haven't heard about in years since millions of unvaccinated 'immigrants' have flooded various Western countries, funny how we had to 'get vaxxed or lock up' but they can be shipped all over the place without even the 'reguilar' vaccinations and their kids can go to school without them.
@Oldarmourer - not to mention the ones here who didn't want vaccines for their kids that every child should have and are now dealing with the effects of that. I'm not talking about adults who didn't want to have or not have them and are allowed to make that choice, I'm talking about kids who are dealing with mumps etc now. Doesn't matter about Fauci's crap, just don't want to see kids go through stuff I had to as a kid, polio (not me but people I know) and other things.
ReplyDelete@Readers (above)- I can barely imagine the damage done to necessary vaccines by the mRNA nightmare jabs. I'm still not anti-vax when it comes to real vaccines. The only problem is I no longer have any trust about what the medical establishment says is real. Yesterday at my pharmacy they asked if I'd had the new RSV vaccine and I said I'd think about it. Yeah, I think I'll NOT do it. Maybe it's great and maybe I'll regret not getting it. But I've run out of patience with the medical establishment.
ReplyDeleteI personally believe that whatever condition I currently have is vax-related. The mRNA jab turns us into spike protein production machines and our immune system then attacks us in an un-winnable biological war.
Regarding "Alzheimer's" I only consider it offensive in the context I used it. And not even offensive so much as possibly hurtful, and I'm not about that. As far as canceling icons like Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben, it's just stupid. I had positive associations for both of those products and now I couldn't tell you what their current names are.
Despite not getting significant medical help, my health seems to be improving for the nonce so fingers crossed that this continues to be a thing!
@ Mamafrog
ReplyDeleteI still vividly remember over 60 years ago all of us kids lining up at the schoolhouse door to be handed a sugar cube with some bright pink liquid squirted onto it as our polio vaccine. Today, kids in many countries have their arms lopped off by their imams and mullahs for accepting a vaccination and girls don't get to go to school anyway, and they wonder why archaic diseases once thought to be virtually eliminated are making a comeback.
@Oldarmourer - That's how we got it too, I think it was the Polio vaccine?
ReplyDeleteWas getting a periodic review at my pulmonologist and the doc/pa/np (don't recall which she is) asked if I'd had the new RSV vaccine and I said "Revised Standard Version?" Her eyes looked like a rolodex was whirring around behind each of them before she caught on. I was proud of myself.
ReplyDelete@Dan: Hee! Good 'un.
ReplyDelete@mamafrog
ReplyDeleteYup, I remember it well. It was a two-room schoolhouse and you came in the door then went up some stairs to the classrooms, one on each side of the hallway. The people handing out the 'sugarcubes' had a table set up inside the doorway. I think there were two people, and you had to wait until they took your name and the teacher confirmed it then they squirted the pink vaccine on the cube and you had to eat it before you were allowed inside, then you went to your seat and waited for everyone else to come in. Fast and efficient, all students done in minutes. Today they'd need fifteen people, an IT team to set up the computers, a mobile van with gov't logos plastered all over it and take two days to do thirty kids.
@ Oldarmourer - Man, I just can't remember much about it, except standing in line, lol. I guess I must have been in Kindergarten or first grade. Wonder if my brother remembers it since he is year younger than me. I remember getting chicken pox in kindergarten, and mom finding out I had it during an egg hunt, in school, no less! Gave it to my brother, of course since we were taught to share. I think Polio and Smallpox were the only vaccinations we got back then. I know I had mumps but can't remember if I ever had measles, though I'm sure I did.
ReplyDeleteOh, I had measles...damn near died from it. Spent weeks in a dark room, my parents bought me a small TV (B&W of course) but I was only allowed to watch one show at a time before 'resting my eyes'. I remember watching Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and a specific scene from a particular episode of 'Fireballl XL5' that when it came on the Space channel many years later (well before Youtube) was the first one they showed, even if it wasn't the first one in the series :) I was probably in 4th Grade then around 1965 +/- ?
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteWhich vaccine is the one that left the scar on the left shoulder? Which one is the tuberculosis one? The polio vaccine worked, but nobody redefined the word "vaccine" to make it work. Unlike nowadays, had someone pulled that kind of evil trick in the early '60s, there would have been nowhere for them to hide in the civilized world. Now? If they've paid off enough of the correct people, they can kill a couple million and they'll never get the justice they deserve.
@ JustaJeepGuy - Smallpox left the scar and hurt for at least a week (couldn't tie my shoes, lol). Tuberculosis was a scratch on the arm to see if you have it and then a shot, no big deal. The polio vaccine mostly worked, I know someone who had a mild case that affected her as an adult.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete@mamafrog, I don't remember any pain from the smallpox shot, but it was a long time ago. Somewhere in my house I have my record of vaccines/inoculations from the Navy. There were a LOT of those. About half of them from boot camp, half from going on a Med cruise, plus more from going to Brazil. I never caught anything from any of those shots; I guess they worked. Now I'd be suspicious of anything like that.
@JustaJeepGuy - I managed to get through my Girl Scout Basic ( hubs words not mine, lol, I only had to go two weeks because I had a degree). I was only in for about 6 months, got married after boot camp and got pregnant a little quicker than I expected. No shots for me. He went through regular and got tons of the shots, though.
ReplyDeleteI ended up with two smallpox scars, they gave me another one in Basic.
ReplyDeleteWhich I've always found odd that it 'took' since I'd been vaccinated years before, guess it's not permanent ?
I still have my shot book from the Military and still update it each time I get another one, like a tetanus shot.
Two pages filled with innoculations for once common things no kids today have even heard of, but they will...
@Oldarmourer - I actually got a booster to try and help another condition. It didn't hurt and didn't seem to take so who knows.
ReplyDeleteThis measles kerfluffle is only the opening shot (pun fully intended).
ReplyDeleteI'm just waiting for the first typhoid, diptheria or whooping cough epidemic to hit, or even a resurrgence of polio and TB, all of us oldtimers got vaccinated against those but the political panic artists will be pushing for us to take yet another dna-changing vaccine that just happens to be 'discovered' right after the deaths start...and there will be real deaths this time, those diseases don't fuck around like the flu does every year under different names, There won't be any need to fake the numbers and we'll all be locked down again while unvaccinated illegals flood the borders to spread it around more.
Going by the news reports, Dengue Fever seems to be in the on deck circle...the 'bonebreak' disease that doesn't really break your bones, the muscle and joint pain is so bad it just feels like they did...going by that, I think I had it last month. It's coming up from Central America, anyone care to guess the vector ?
ReplyDelete