The “conventionally attractive” Marx brother, who usually played the straight man. Still better known than Gummo, if I were to guess.
We’re personally fans of Harpo, mainly because of the metaphorical whiplash that comes from watching his scenes. One minute you’re laughing at the comical clown or admiring his musical skill, and the next you realize that he’s actually a dangerous maniac. (Run, children!!! He is not safe!!)
Not a doctor, but I’m interested in the subject. I think the current consensus is “yes and no.”
200 years ago, people may have answered yes. Thirty years ago it was popular to discount the idea entirely because germs are what make you sick. Can’t deny that.
Lately I’ve been hearing some acknowledgement that a stress to your body may make you more susceptible or less able to fight off an infection. The wiki article includes a recent study that pointed to poor sewage treatment near the White House in Harrison’s day. For whatever reason WHH wasn’t able to fight that off but the rest of the residents seemingly were.
People have been making the connection of “he stood outside for hours in the snow and drizzle, then caught the dropsy and died” for centuries. I don’t think they lacked for sense or couldn’t make the obvious connection between exposure and sickness. I do think they lacked for microscopes.
Hoping for another Wm. Henry Harrison?
When Harrison came to Washington, he wanted to show that he was still the steadfast hero of Tippecanoe… He took the oath of office on Thursday, March 4, 1841, a cold and wet day.[104] He braved the chilly weather and chose not to wear an overcoat or a hat, rode on horseback to the grand ceremony, and then delivered the longest inaugural address in American history
In the evening of Saturday, April 3, Harrison developed severe diarrhea and became delirious, and at 8:30 p.m. he uttered his last words…
The prevailing theory at the time was that his illness had been caused by the bad weather at his inauguration three weeks earlier.
Things one learns in high school.
What’s funny is that I also think I’m on the spectrum.
And to continue the conversation - my husband and I have been talking about visiting a South American country this summer where roasted guinea pig is on the menu. I honestly think I could give it a try even though I try to save any mice that my cats corner.
Food choices are both weird and personal. I’ll always respect that.
I sort of like snakes, but am hesitant to handle them because 1) they’re wild creatures and therefore unpredictable and 2) I heard that they will poo on you if they’re alarmed. I don’t need that. It’s more practical than visceral.
Spiders? Hell no. It’s not even an option.
Most people I know fall on either one side or the other. It’s not a bad ice-breaker or conversation starter.
So I’ve got some cats. They’re small, but they can fuck up your day.
That being said, I rely on them solely as an early warning system. If I’m home alone and hear a strange sound that may be cause for alarm, I look for cats. If they’re sleeping peacefully there’s no external threat. If they can’t be found, someone is nearby. It may just be the mail delivery, but they know when a human is in the vicinity.
Spiders of the sea. Crabs too. I wouldn’t want to touch one that wasn’t cooked.
Although I find the comparison discomforting to think about, the sea spiders both go well with butter and are generally regarded as delicious.
That introduces the question: if there were a land spider large enough to nullify the risk/reward/deliciousness equation, would I give it a try? My gut answer is no, but I think the realistic answer is, “I’ll wait and see what my fellow apes do with it first. If they have any good recipes, probably yes.”
Once you can wrap your head around Handshuhe, Fingerhut becomes obvious. “Ah, so this is how this is going to go.”
Have you ever wished that you were personal friends with a 16th century French petty nobleman and diplomat? His essays are more interesting and more accessible than that sounds.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_de_Montaigne
I trusted my drug dealer’s recommendation on that one and was not disappointed, so I’m passing it on.
Also, I will never not recommend Pliny the Younger’s account of his uncle’s death by volcanic eruption (Vesuvius) and his own story of surviving it. PDF versions are widely available.
Thanks for understanding. I think I was having a Norman Bates moment there: “we all go a little mad sometimes.”
Is it possible for everyone to stop saying this?
My apologies if you happen to be a SLAMS/BLASTS/BREAKS HIS SILENCE bot and are just following your programming. It’s just beyond tiresome because we know. We fucking know. It’s a lazy and hyperbolic headline filler. But now we have lazy headline writing followed up with a lazy comment pointing out that the former is lazy.
And it’s starting to break my mind in the same way “This” did on Reddit.
One more apology for me being bitchy tonight. It’s not so much this comment, but every single identical one that came before it.
One interesting thing I’ve noticed about mosquitoes is that this phenomenon seems to depend on location. The local mosquitoes favor my husband. In other states or countries the situation is often reversed. When we visited Cuba the government was doing aggressive mosquito control due to Zika. I still got disproportionately attacked.
No one can win on this one.
Seat the smokers in back and “oh no, I have to sit next to the kitchen and restroom.”
Seat the smokers in front and “oh no, I have to walk through the smoking section to get to or from my seat, or go to the restroom.”
Or at least that’s how Denny’s was setup in our town.
Angry Susan.
Canadian milk also costs a little more in comparison.
Ah - that was why I was so confused. Canada, for example, limits the growth hormone in dairy cattle while the US does not.
The first time we stayed with the in-laws she repacked my luggage for me. We barely knew each other. Wasn’t that nice of her? /s
Hello fellow non-psychopath!
I might wear jeans if I have to leave the house to shop, but that’s usually just for an hour or two at most. When I get home the pants come off and put aside for use on another day. The same holds true for all of my “outside” clothes. It’s just wasteful to wash something that’s been worn for an hour a day.
That being said, there was a whole thing a decade ago with Levi’s. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140714180558-14928043-the-dirty-jeans-manifesto/
When I was a kid, a neighbor was shot in his garage. There were definitely two stories that went around the neighborhood. One said suicide and the other said “cleaning his gun.” One of those was repeated when kids were around. The other when they thought no one was listening.
Years back, I read was a very odd story about the Korean belief that falling asleep in a closed room with a running fan would result in death. This also seems to be a cover story for suicide.
My husband had a weird job many years ago doing this very thing. He worked (via a temp agency) for the federal government. They reviewed hospital billings for their agency’s workers and send mildly threatening letters if they charged $12,000 for a procedure that averaged $5,000.
It had some success, but some states had outright outlawed this sort of thing. Texas.