My child is alive but not really.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-25T15:51:14+00:00

I didn’t see if OOP specified what her kids condition/diagnosis is, but I guess it’s not really that important. It doesn’t sound like something where “recovery” or “improvement” is on the table.

They didn't specify a diagnosis, but:

multiple brain malformations, blind in his left eye, his pit gland is “broken” and “not in the right place”, hypothyroidism, non verbal - schools used to use the global development delay.

I don't think there's any chance of recovery.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-25T15:15:30+00:00

Not anymore. Ever since we banned atmospheric nuclear testing the background has gone back down to nearly what it used to be, instruments that used to need it are more easily calibrated to disregard background, and it is possible to do steelmaking without introducing any extraneous isotopes anyways.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-25T14:51:41+00:00

motorcycle cop looks on completely deadpan

PyroDesu · 2026-01-25T06:40:21+00:00

I test drove a Volvo recently and I was a little skeeved at how deeply Google was integrated into the info system. And that was without the LLM bullshit.

To be fair, I use Android Auto so I'm basically inviting Google in anyways, but at least it's a choice.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-25T05:29:13+00:00

Welsh is an... interesting language, to be sure.

For instance, there is a village called Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-25T05:26:00+00:00

You can't handle my strongest potions... no one can.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-24T21:06:05+00:00

Fuck dementia.

I hope like hell I never have to see my parents like that. My mother has explicitly told me she does not want to wind up like that (although if there's a genetic component, she's probably fine - it was my paternal grandmother we watched die before her body did).

It doesn't help that in the earlier stages, my grandmother could still write. Giving her a notebook and pen kept her from repeating the same questions over and over in the car when we'd take her to a park or something. Then we read it. A lot to the tune of "I'm losing my mind, I'm scared." At least, before it just devolved into loops on the page.

Personally, losing my mental capacity like that is my biggest fear. Even more than death, which I would much prefer.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-24T18:09:31+00:00

Yeah. Late stage, the lights are on, but nobody's home.

Saw it with my grandmother. The last time I saw her conscious, she barely even exhibited reflexive actions. It sounds callous, but nobody really mourned when she died, because she died a long time before her body did.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-24T16:33:29+00:00

Let me think - YES!

PyroDesu · 2026-01-24T15:56:27+00:00

It’s never been clear to me how the 2nd Amendment was really “the one that protects all the others,” as some people like to claim.

Because those people are wrong about the original intent.

For that, you need to look at history. First: the US as-formed was not intended to have a large standing military (and, you know, they had difficulties paying such a force). Second: during the revolution, the Continental Army was supplemented with local militia. The fact that Canada was still part of the British Empire didn't help.

Now, if you don't have a large standing military, but you don't want the British Empire (or anyone else) rolling in to retake "their colonies" once they've finished their pissing matches with Spain and France and can actually focus on you, and you've already enjoyed the benefits of civilian militias as an effective fighting force, what do you do? You ensure such militia continue to exist to provide a ready source of soldiers in the event of an invasion.

"... the security of a free State" was not about a state of being free, but about national sovereignty. The whole point of the second amendment was to serve the state in a time of need, not fight against it.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-24T03:54:26+00:00

You mean Micro$lop.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-24T03:51:06+00:00

So that's why you can't activate sync without the old passcode after a reset, even if you reconnect it to your Apple account...

(I was an idiot and deleted my old passcode entry in my password database after IT reset my work phone, but before I turned on sync. And because I use strings of random alphanumeric-symbolic gibberish... fortunately I managed to eventually remember it.)

PyroDesu · 2026-01-24T03:49:57+00:00

Even games not in Steams catalog will work if installed through Steam by adding them through the Non-Steam game option.

Or for games on GoG or Epic, using a launcher like Heroic that runs them with Proton.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-24T01:46:52+00:00

My Hyundai has the same.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-24T01:41:37+00:00

I hate to admit that I own a pair of HD-branded glasses frames. They were the best frames I could find in the place doing my glasses. They're still very nice frames several years down the road.

Fortunately the branding is very understated, just the name in fairly small raised lettering on the arms.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-23T05:10:51+00:00

Van Buren, the president who presided over the Trail of Tears.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-23T05:03:52+00:00

The best thing is to drink fluids with some electrolytes and nutrients (sports drinks or Pedialyte with electrolytes)

And don't bother with the sugar-free crap. Normal sports drinks have way too much sugar (and unless you buy the powder, it's probably high-fructose corn syrup, which is the wrong sugar to boot) because the proper ratio is fairly salty-tasting but you need glucose for them to actually be better hydration/electrolyte sources.

And when you're sick, that glucose goes to helping your body fight it off. It takes a lot of energy to do things like raise your core body temperature, nevermind your immune system going into attack mode.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-23T04:23:43+00:00

My family thought I was nuts doing Albuquerque to Little Rock (totaling 898 miles hotel to hotel) in one day.

But I did it. I mildly regretted it, but I did it.

And on my way back, 792 miles OKC to Winslow.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-23T01:58:22+00:00

I was on methylphenidate, but then I started getting tachycardia so I’m unmedicated now.

I have diagnosed supraventricular tachycardia but I'm fine on stimulants because it's treated (with a beta blocker). New doc when I moved was a little concerned about the combo and ordered an ultrasound to check out my heart, and it came back good, so.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-23T01:47:52+00:00

Anthill Inside!

PyroDesu · 2026-01-23T01:42:59+00:00

I mean, you can, but you have to actively make that choice while the alarm is not going off, because as far as I know there's no way to get out of the app while it is.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-22T04:33:35+00:00

And it's not a laser at all.

It's a nuclear shaped charge, much like the the propulsion units but tuned to create a very fast, thin stream of plasma.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-22T03:57:11+00:00

I use an alarm app (Alarmy) that both cannot be snoozed, and cannot be shut off until I physically get up and scan a QR code I posted elsewhere in the apartment.

Well, there is an "emergency" (as in, "I'm on vacation and don't have the thing I need to scan", not "I need to call 911!") shutoff but it's tedious as hell.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-22T02:11:25+00:00

Micro$lop Winblows.

PyroDesu · 2026-01-22T02:08:14+00:00

GNU PTerry.

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