SoINeedAName

Friday Fun: Caesar “The No Drama Llama” McCool

 Posted by at 3:24 pm  Politics
Aug 072020
 

Yet again I’m violating that old dictum of “Don’t change horses in midstream”.  But this time I’m changing to a llama!  Specifically, to Caesar “The No Drama Llama” McCool, owned by Larry McCool of Jefferson Oregon.

(I just read about Caesar right after lunch – so I threw this together in a hurry.  But trust me – this story has a lot more panache than what I had ready to go.  But I’ll foist that on you another time.)

What makes Caesar so unique is his unusual demeanor for a llama, which are usually solitary animals and not all that fond of humans.  But Caesar is loving and relishes interacting with people to the point he’s actually become a “llama therapist”.

Caesar is a 6-year-old Argentine grand champion show llama who lives at McCool’s Mystic Llama farm.  Before the COVID-19 Pandemic and the BLM protests, Caesar was busy offering emotional support and hugs (he actually nuzzles back when he gets a hug “It’s all I can do to keep him from snuggling” McCool claims) to retirement centers, foster homes and schools.

But for the past several months McCool has brought him to Black Lives Matter marches at least ten times, including five in Portland (which is 75 miles from Jefferson) to help with emotional support.

McCool says Caesar is actually a “llamactivist” who’s been busy with social and charity events, and has participated in more than 50 marches over the years for various social justice and environmental issues.

It was this impressive résumé that inspired McCool to bring him to the Portland protests as a calming influence for both the protestors and police.  And Caesar’s been a wildly popular success with all parties!

 

At 5′-8″ and 350 pounds, you would think Caesar might be intimidating.  But people line up to pet his soft wool and give him a hug – and his calm demeanor just rubs off on folks.

McCool says that he’s very careful to monitor the situation, and the minute he sees or senses events getting too rambunctious, he and Caesar more to a safe zone.

Caesar may not be able to talk, but he can sense the vibe of his surroundings.  McCool reports that on June 9th when 5,000 people laid down on the Burnside Bridge in Portland for 8 minutes 46 seconds in memory of George Floyd, Caesar was right there and stood stock-still for 9 minutes.  He was able to grasp the gravity of the moment.

And Caesar travels in style.  He has his own trailer with two inches of foam padding to protect and keep him comfortable and safe.  And we’re thankful for that.

After all, McCool shares that he’s seen huge, muscular protestors in makeshift body armor come up and give Caesar a hug for over a minute with tears streaming down their faces.  Then turning to McCool say “Man, did I need that!”

“Maybe they’re going to have a better day because of a llama hug.  Who would have thought a llama could bring this much joy?”

Pretty sure ALL sides can give Larry McCool and Caesar a huge “THANK YOU!” hug for a job well done!

SOURCES:

https://www.insider.com/caesar-the-no-drama-llama-keeping-peace-portland-protests-2020-8

https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/08/07/us/07reuters-global-race-protests-llama.html

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Sunday Smiles: Tweets to Hopefully Tickle Your Funny Bone

 Posted by at 7:59 pm  Politics
Aug 022020
 

No doubt we’ve all hit our “funny bone” at one time or another.  So what is your “funny bone”?  Well, actually it’s not a bone – it’s a nerve.  Specifically the ulnar that runs from your neck to your hand.  And like most nerves it’s protected by bones, muscles & ligaments.

BUT when it passes through the elbow in the cubital canal at the end of the humerus (humerus – “humorous” … get it?) it’s only protected by skin.  So when you bump it you experience that trifecta of numbness, tingling and PAIN.

Always curious why they call it the “funny bone” – because there’s nothing “funny” about it.  I just like puns.

(If you’re wondering why it’s so late, it’s because my relatives unexpectedly stopped over this afternoon for a surprise visit to enjoy a break in the weather from the oppressive heat we’ve been suffering through.  Being the good host that I am, we all enjoyed a few libations.  “And a good time was had by all….”)

On to the hopefully “humorous” part.

I’ve curated a few Tweets the tickled my “funny bone” (humerus – “humorous” … get it?).

The first captures a question I’ve actually long wondered about:

 Next are the McCloskeys – the Bonnie & Clyde couple of the uber-rich in St. Louis.  Not that threateningly waving around a AR-15 rifle and a semiautomatic handgun is particularly amusing – but I found this likely conversation pretty funny:

It’s not all that often that a typo, especially from the prestigious BBC, is both accurate AND entertaining – but it perfectly pegs that UK right-wing Brexiter Nigel Farage perfectly:

And for all the Trumpkin idiots who refuse to wear a mask – but think actual TRUE Patriots wearing a mask will protect them … a lesson they might actually understand:

It’s NEVER a good idea to use ominous video clips from YOUR tenure to try and cast blame on your opponent:

Couldn’t pass up at least one “Pick the Elephant” Cognitive Test Tweet:

Fucker Tucker Carlson has certainly had a rough past few weeks – and deservedly so!  But I echo the poster’s sentiment: “And the downside is …?”

We’ve all read that Melania, realizing her time in the White House is limited, has decided to undertake a Rose Garden renovation.  But you’ve probably not seen a preview of her plans … yet:

Even those who might not be medically oriented, you’ll still have to wonder about this:

And staying on that medical theme – another “Is That Even Anatomically Possible?” head-scratcher.

 

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Something to Tide Us Over …

 Posted by at 3:30 pm  Politics
Aug 012020
 

It’ll have to be “Sunday Smile” – but in the meantime, a tidbit to tide us over.

I had hearing back in 1999 – so I’m able to remember the tune (and words) from Don McLean’s wildly popular “American Pie”.

This version has been updated with the Founding Fathers as concerned choristers:

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Friday Fun: Odds & Ends

 Posted by at 3:28 pm  Politics
Jul 242020
 

I apologize for being a bit late, and this will be one of my shorter ones.  I had some last-minute, unanticipated obligations popup that I had to take care of, so just some odds & ends I quickly put together.

There are some rumors circulating that there’s a movement afoot to change our national Independence Day to November 3, 2020.

I could live with that!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

While thinking about the upcoming Biden-Trump debates, I happened to recall a promise he made during the second debate with Hillary that he’d run our country just like he runs his companies.

And he’s kept his word: Out-of-control debt, no idea how to manage a crisis, millions unemployed – and yet he and his grifting family keep get richer and richer.  Trump truly has run the country like one of his businesses.

THINGS I TRUST MORE THAN DONALD TRUMP

Came across this Tweet which really had me chuckling.  But I would encourage you to scroll down through the comments, because folks kept adding additional more trustworthy things than Trump.

NOTE: You have to scroll down past the Lincoln Project entry.  

FUN WITH PHOTOSHOP

File this under “Be Careful What You Wish For”.

There’s a wizard at Photoshopping, James Fridman, who gets hundreds of pictures sent to him requesting that they be edited – with specific instructions included.

His shtick is that he takes their requests quite literally – with some funny results.

He’s quite prolific, so if you have the time you can visit his above website.  Some are hit-and-miss, but I hope these are a few of his better ones to give you a flavor of his work.

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It’s A Bittersweet Friday

 Posted by at 2:44 pm  Politics
Jul 172020
 

BITTER

The post I was planning on using can fortunately wait, because today I came across a powerful COVID-19 Essay in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) just published today about the devastating impact on frontline people caring for patients that Trump’s incompetence and malignant mismanagement has had.

I’ll admit that given my background, it probably hit me harder than most.  But it will have an impact on anyone who cares about other human beings.

It was written by Dr. Anna DeForest, who is a resident in the Neurology Dept. at Yale-New Haven Hospital.  Dr. DeForest also happens to have an MFA degree in writing – and this compelling essay showcases her talents.

She writes about her experience being called from a normal neurology residency to help battle COVID-19.  With that in mind, and to be safe, I’ll add a potential TRIGGER WARNING.

I’ll provide the opening and closing paragraphs to help you judge:

Before I become your doctor, you have been intubated for weeks. I am a point in time, unattached to the greater narrative. I call your husband each afternoon, tell him you are stable. He asks about the medicine that props up your blood pressure. He calls it the levo, acquainted by now with the slang of intensive care. It’s true, we have pressors to assist your failing heart, a ventilator to breathe for you, venovenous hemofiltration to do the work of your kidneys. “Your wife is very sick,” I say, “but stably sick.” None of this is anything new.

…

What else is there to say? You are dead, like so many others, and the rest of us are left to live in the absence of any certainty. We can’t go on, and we go on: back to work, back to rounds, back to the next case coming crashing in. It is no use to think about the future, our training, or what happens next. We are all attending now to a historic and global suffering, and learning the limit of the grief our hearts can bear.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2016293

It’s a very short (only 12 paragraphs), but powerful piece.  Feel free to save it for later if now is not a good time for you to read it.

SWEET

Staying with a medical theme, we’ve all been keeping an eye out for updates on a potential Coronavirus vaccine and additional medications that might help treat patients.  Lost in this flurry of focusing on COVID, you might have missed the release of a new drug that’s a true miracle worker: Phucomol™

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Friday Fun: Plenty of Perky Non-Political Puppets

 Posted by at 2:49 pm  Politics
Jul 102020
 

We’ve all been plagued for too long by the impropriety, imprudence and impudence of Putin’s Puppet, *Rump – so today I’ll try to reclaim the honor of honest, hardworking puppets.

During the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus (aka, Trump Virus), Chicagoan Matt Owens was laid off from his job at the Brookfield Zoo.  It was there he designed and created natural-looking toys and “enrichment devices” for the animals both at Brookfield as well as for the Disney Animal Kingdom, and the San Diego and Cincinnati Zoos.

Given Owens’ impressive and extensive resume in the arts, having been a performer and stage designer for numerous theatrical venues in the city, as well as designing numerous puppets for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Lyric Opera and movie director Tim Robbins – he was looking for an outlet to employ his skills while stuck at home.

Matt and his wife Carla (a librarian) decided creating puppets to use in staging shows would be a good way to utilize his many talents.

Thus was born the “Lockdown Puppet Theater”.

On any given Saturday afternoon Matt and Carla put on their polished production of Puppetry in their Lakeview neighborhood – free of charge!

And the cast of characters is impressive!  A neighbor and audience regular, Jennifer O’Brien, asks: “Where else can you see and hear a Yodeling Toad singing about sushi?”  Only in Chicago!

The Yodeling Toad is joined on a rotating basis by over 40 other puppets – mostly of a circus character – from a Sword Sallower, Gorilla, Organ Grinder with his Monkey, a Ring Master, Magician, Juggler, Trapeze Artist, Elephant, Acrobats … and so many more.

The second-floor balcony of their apartment serves as the proscenium with colorful flower boxes flanking both sides and a bright green stage curtain.  The shows always include music, singing and oftentimes Matt’s own bagpipe playing.  And it wouldn’t be complete without Giggles the Clown tell some corny Dad Jokes:

 “My father was a clown too. All his friends came to his memorial in one car.”

“What do you call a clown who never sits down? A stand-up comedian.”

“What kind of birds always stick together? Vel-crows.”

“Why do you tell actors to ‘Break a leg’?  Because they’re all in a cast.”

The majority of the audience are people just running errands, walking their dogs or out for a jog who fortunately happen upon a delightful, colorful and unique entertainment – and stay for the half-hour show.

But there are some regulars, including next-door neighbor, 2-year-old Sebron Haley, who comes every Saturday and always has a great view perched on his dad’s shoulders – unless he’s down on the sidewalk dancing to the music.

I was inspired to dig a little deeper to this perfect example of turning lemons into lemonade by a story I saw on CBS.  Unfortunately, the only video of it I can find is one posted on CBS’s Facebook page.

Besides have Comcast/Xfinity work on their cable relay box for several hours today – leaving me high and dry – I then decided I would try to teach myself how to embed Facebook videos.  After trying for over an hour using iFrame and Javascript SKD, I learned all you have to do is just plugin the URL.  Geez … what an idiot!

PUPPET THEATER: At a time when so many are searching for an escape from the coronavirus crisis, a Chicago man’s creations are captivating a city. Adriana Diaz has more on the voice breaking through the silence of social isolation.

Posted by CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell on Thursday, July 9, 2020

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Friday Fun: PSA, Monuments & A Poem

 Posted by at 9:06 am  Politics
Jul 032020
 

I’ll start with a PSA that some might not consider all that “Fun”.  But hopefully it’s at least informative.  It’s a COVID-19 Risk Calculator.

It’s only takes a minute or two to complete, and I have no idea how accurate it is.  Although they do provide a VERY detailed analysis of how they made their calculations.  (It is a math site, after all.)  And their FAQ section seems very straightforward and informative to me.

I scored a disappointing 53 on mine.  But keeping the same parameters except for shaving 15 years off my age, I dropped down to 31.  So apparently age is fairly heavily weighted score.

Covid-19 Risk Calculator:

https://19andme.covid19.mathematica.org/

On a lighter note, Davram Stiefler and Jason Selvig decided that with all the Confederate statues being taken down, two prominent contemporary politicians should each actually have new ones raised in their honor.  So they took it upon themselves to get the job done.

Your initial shock that the two pols are Donald Trump and Steve King will be leavened by some levity on further inspection.

Did I fail to mention that these are Confederate Monuments?  Given their longstanding history of racist bigotry, I guess I just assumed you’d conclude that.  Sorry.

Trump’s Confederate Monument is prominently placed near the Bethesda Terrace and Fountain in Central Park.  And while the statue is not large (apparently gold is not as cheap as they had hoped), its white marble plinth is quite handsome.

And wanting to reflect the magnitude of Trump’s historical importance by the Monument’s size, I think this picture will provide us with some much-needed perspective:

[Please Note: If you look closely at the second photo, you’ll see it actually sits in the basin of a cement birdbath – so at least it’ll be useful.]

It’s always been a toss-up between Louie “Cast No Aspersions on My Asparagus” Gohmert and Steve “Cantaloupe Calves” King on who is the DUMBEST Representative in Congress.  The fact that King lost his primary and will be leaving us soon gave him the boost he needed to edge out Gohmert for the Monument selection.

King’s Confederate Monument sits on its granite plinth in a prominent location: The West Capitol Terrace in front of Iowa’s state capitol in Des Moines.

King’s Monument was the first to be installed back in February.  Maybe it was a dry run to see what the two pranksters could get away with.  Trump’s didn’t go up until March.

Resource:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-confederate-monument-the-good-liars_n_5e624383c5b601904ea93314?guccounter=1

BONUS

Before we get too far removed from Trump’s dainty dance sprint down the West Point ramp, I want to share a fun poem by fellow Kossack Runyonr memorializing Trump’s slip-sliding away:

The Penguin Creep

The slippery ramp was long and steep.

So slowly did the Penguin creep

You could tell his health is failing,

Then he complained there was no railing

And nearly fell flat on his ass.

He needs two hands to raise a glass

Because his head cannot tilt back.

There’s clearly something out of whack.

But on one thing he can rely:

That he still has the power to lie.

At that the Penguin is a champ:

That’s what’s slippery, not the ramp.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/6/14/1953120/-The-Penguin-Creep?utm_campaign=recent

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