@cengland0 I used to have a Nanday named Bandit. Conures are a perfect size… bigger than Budgies and Cockatiels, but still half the size of an Amazon. Noisy though! Conures seem to love the sound of their own squawk.
@ruouttaurmind He definitely like to hear the sound of his own voice. If he didn’t squawk so loudly and didn’t try to bite the face off all my guests, he would be the perfect pet for everyone to own. He’s very social otherwise.
@cengland0 Friend of mine had an outdoor cat who once took on a juvenile hawk and won. Hawk pecked his shoulder pretty badly but the cat won. Cat laid out the bird on their back porch. Bird and cat were about the same size. Don’t know which animal started it (rural area). My cats are all indoors to keep them safe.
@Kidsandliz That’s certainly a Wow story. I was sort of joking about my bird taking on a cat but he does attack people. He gets overly protective and will attack anyone that comes near me – except Mrs cengland0. She cannot pet him like I can though.
@f00l I’m not sure. There are a couple things that get similar results. For example, if I burn a DVD in “his room,” he will bite me when I try to extract the DVD from the drive. Mrs cengland0 gets attacked when she brings her purse into the room. He’s a strange character.
@cengland0 Your bird would definitely kick my cats butt. My Grandparents had an African Grey parrot named Jacco. He could say all sorts of things (and cussed like a sailor) he picked up the screams my sister and I used to do when we were young and running around. If a car pulled up he would make the sound of a car horn and call my Grandmas name. My Grandpa could do all sorts of things with him and when he died my Grandma could only rub his head w/a flattened out toilet paper tube until he would grab it and demolish it. When Grandma started dying we were trying to figure out who would take him (since he should have had 50+ more years to live) but he died a day before she did. We figured that he knew that the two people he loved were no longer going to be in his life and he was heartbroken. He was a good friend to them.
@Kidsandliz We both know that we rescued ours from the outdoors and believe keeping them indoors is only proper. It still baffles me that people will let their cats outdoor (especially in the frigid winters) and let them come back in possibly bringing in ticks (still pains me thinking about what you went through with your tick issue), fleas and whatever else they have attached to their fur. I can understand people who have barn cats, to control the infestation of rodents and what have you, but not in suburban type areas. Don’t know about your kitty cats but mine still gets his hunting instinct fulfilled by either holding his toy in his mouth as he whines until he drops it in front of someone’s door. Or he takes it and drops it in his water bowl and meows at you until you follow him to the bowl so he can show you how proud he is for what he did.
@WTFsunshine Yeah I have one who drops toys in water dishes and then comes back later to get it. Mine are currently kept busy killing American cockroaches (they have learned not to eat them - each has puked up an eaten roach and no they do not chew well - gross). In the HUD apt I lived in it took me about 16 months to get rid of the roaches (in that case german roaches) and flour moths. I am beyond pissed I am back to roaches again. Of course this is a neighborhood that superficially looks nice until you see peeling paint on houses, a tarp over the back of the one next door with the back yard looking like rural Appalachia with piles of junk, barking dog, car up on cement blocks… of course I have a slumlord so I guess I should not be surprised. Someday maybe, just maybe, I can live again somewhere without these issues. Meanwhile what can I say but FREE CAT TOYS!
@Kidsandliz Your outlook on life is positively uplifting! I feel ashamed right now for mostly having a pessimistic view about mine. We have two apartment complexes in the county that are like that. They look nice on the outside until you move in and realize how much of a mistake you made. Between drug dealers, domestic violence, and young kids wondering around with very little clothing on and no parents to speak of. I’ve actually taken calls where people had said “I’m not one of those people” but they get signed into a one year contract and can’t get out.
Definitely not the type of toys you want for your cats but at least they will go in for the kill. My little guy makes a funny sound and runs away to get a human to come kill the offending trespasser. I’m good as long as it isn’t a spider- if it is then I’m the one making the funny sound. 🕷
@WTFsunshine Trust me I spend plenty of time bitching and being discouraged. Mine don’t go into for the kill as much as they play with them until they accidentally kill them. When I lived elsewhere I woke up in the middle of the night with a cat running around my bed, jumping down and then jumping back up just to run around again. I finally turned on a light to see what was going on only to see her with a roach carefully in her mouth that she’d drop on my bed to play with until it fell off. Then she fetched it and did it again. I am sure I pissed her off when I snatched it, opened the window and threw it out. Disgusting.
@Kidsandliz Although she was playing with it on your bed can you claim that maybe she was alerting you to the fact that it was getting too close to you? Unless she brought it into your bedroom to show you what a good girl she was by dropping her “kill” on your bed. Your probably right about free cat toys then if she was having a hay day with the offending insect. Very nice of you to throw it out the window but it was probably better than killing it and getting the gooey guts all over. That would probably lure even more of them into your bedroom with the smell of squished guts. I think I just threw up in my mouth.
@WTFsunshine Nope this was a toy. It falls off the bed, she jumps after it, picks it up carefully in her mouth, deposits it back on my bed, plays with it, it falls off, rinse and repeat.
@WTFsunshine It’s 77, the birds are singing, the sun is shining and every door and window in my house is open. I keep my house open about 50% of the time, so me, the dogs, and when I had one, the cat, come and go outside in the daytime as we wish. The property is fenced so the dogs can’t leave and I very rarely saw my cat leave my property. When she did it was to cross the street to visit the neighbors cat, not too much to worry about with the street as it deadends in a block and is very narrow so gets only traffic from the people who live on it. Everyone in the family, dogs, cats and human, come inside at night and I lock up the house securely. My last cat had been picked up by my long-haul trucker stepdad as a stray begging for scraps in the snow in a midwest parking lot and brought back to east Texas. She was an outdoor only farmcat for several years before I brought her home with me to west Texas to be an indoor-outdoor cat of leisure. She passed 2 years ago.
@moondrake She was beautiful! I’m so sorry to hear that she passed away. Animals of all kinds bring such joy to their families and I’m glad she did that for you.
@ruouttaurmind He is a non-stop play/sit-on-you velcro bird - so far he’s spending equal time between me and my wife (no favorites yet; seems to be a family bird) and will jump to any friend who comes over and try and spend at least 15-30 minutes with them…
@Velocitychicken That is excellent. Cockatoos have a rep for being pretty finicky about people. I had a Moluccan cockatoo when I was in the UK that wouldn’t let anyone but me come near him. This was a particular challenge for my SO because I would return to the US for weeks at a time and she took care of him. When a Moluccan decides he isn’t happy he can take off a freakin’ finger!
@Velocitychicken I’d love to visit someone with a bird like that. I like spending time with other people’s birds and reptiles, but stick with mammals at home.
that is an unfair question; I have many favorites in multiple categories.
It might be better to ask what is the last thing that you own that you would part with; the one thing you would take if you could take any (and only) one thing you own and never ever see any of your other stuff, ever.
It’s a tie between my minifigure collection and my Montblanc. I love my hobby, but I really love my pen. It’s easier to clean the pen too. You ever dusted a thousand little lego people? It’s a pain.
@rprebel i collect urban vinyl stuff so…i feel your pain. (then my partner started getting those lego sets for the video game awhile back? and those, while some of them are really fun, have their own spot in our media/gaming closet so i don’t have to dust/clean them because it would be near impossible and i don’t want them to get looking grimy.)
I have so many baubles, trinkets and bits of junk that make me smile, I would be hard pressed to select a favorite. Lots of stuff I don’t even wear, use, play with… it just brings me joy to know I possess this or that.
If family members count as “things I own” it is most definitely Super Belle the Wonder Dog. She brings sunshine and joy into my life.
My motorcycle! Second would be probably be the projector set-up in the den. It cost less than a 60" tv, but we get a 180" screen. It doesn’t quite replace going to the movies, but it gets awfully close.
@ruouttaurmind fair enough. I do refer to my dog as my fuzzy child. But legally, a dog is a possession, so I stand by my answer. She is the only possession I’d risk my life for.
@f00l Miss Belle does enjoy a good play with the ball, but my little monster is totally obsessed. She can’t go anywhere without a tennis ball in her mouth. I can tell when she’s not feeling well because it’s the only time she won’t have her ball with her. Even at mealtime she has to take the ball with her, place it next to her bowl, and mouth it a couple of times between bites of kibble.
More than once she has awaken me in the middle of the night to help her hunt down her ball. I will not get a moment of rest until we rescue the ball from behind the fridge, under the sofa, or wherever it’s hiding. She’s absolutely frantic until we locate it and retrieve it and she won’t let me get a wink of sleep until it’s recovered.
I can’t say I mind so much. It is one of those precious moments when she looks at me like I can solve all the problems of the world. I never tell her it’s really just about the opposable thumbs.
My dad played tennis several times a week from the time he was a kid until very late in his 80’s.
The tennis partners he played with always used new balls every time they got together. So we had a large supply of spare tennis balls.
The terrier was not like yours, taking the ball around everywhere - he was interested in the ball only if the ball were in motion, or if any other being showed interest in it, or if he hadn’t harassed it in a while.
In those instances, he had to have it.
He loved loved loved to fetch. And I kept a basket of spare tennis balls for him.
So sometimes during fetch, I would throw out not one ball, but 10 or 20. He had to have them all, but only one would fit in his mouth.
Then he would make a pile of them, and try to protect them all, while still chasing the new ball I was about to throw.
The other dog, who normally didn’t care about tennis balls, would mess with him and try to to make off with some of the tennis balls.
They never fought over then, but they would growl and try to trick each other, and be sneaky.
After a while, I would pick up the extra tennis balls and put them away till next time.
But I always left 2-3 out, so that the pups could trick each other if they were in the mood. The terrier always had to know what at least one tennis ball was. He would check on it from time to time.
@moondrake My dogs, and my turtle would be the first things I’d go into a fire for, then I’d go back for items in my display cabinet because a lot, if not all are irreplaceable to me: a Christmas ornament passed down from my grandmother, the ticket from the last game a Turner Field, a doll, that was my grandmother’s, then my mom’s and then mine, you get the idea. Most of my electronics are backed up so I wouldn’t lose too many recent pics and stuff like that but I’d sure miss the memories in that cabinet.
@cengland0 I apologize on behalf of my autocorrect (and myself for not catching it) for you’re in my comment above. I edited a section and glossed over it. Either way the you’re wouldn’t have been appropriate. I already called the grammar police on myself and I’m just waiting for their arrival.
@WTFsunshine Seriously? I corrected someone’s your/you’re once and I cannot even remember who it was. I’m not the official grammar police – but I can be if meh is in need of one. It’s an annoyance to me when I see them used improperly. Their, they’re, and there are also misused in significant quantities to annoy me.
@WTFsunshine The black is Tempest, a Great Dane. She was 17mos old in that photo, still puppy soft. She’s got a bit more GD size and blockiness now at 23mos, but she’s still petite and very feminine, she’ll never be as blocky as most Danes. The brindle is Zephyr, a purpose bred sight hunting dog. 40% Irish Wolfhound, 20% each Borzoi Hound, Scottish Deerhound and Greyhound. I got them both as rescues at the end of March.
@moondrake I love the names you picked for them and the fact that you got them as rescues. @Kidsandliz and I both have cats that we rescued from the streets. She and I both agree that rescued animals make the sweetest pets. Just to reiterate: your dogs are adorable!
When I normal used conventional keyboards, I cared a lot about that.
Usage errors, misspellings.
There, they’re, their. All that.
Then I started using mobile devices a lot. And then a swipe keyboard.
My insane and only partially comprehensible prose (as mediated by swipe and autocorrect) will have to do, I suppose. I understand it if bothers people. I understand it will not do in formal situations. I understand it might appear that I don’t care.
I am a terrible editor (especially when attempting to self-edit). My brain tends to “read” by assumed auto-correct to what my brain thinks was intended or is intelligible, as opposed to what was actually written.
I do tend read and edit quite differently in situations where the writing has formal weight.
If I had to correct everything I put into personal emails or chat or casual forums, I’d never get them written and sent.
I do hope to improve my swipe quality.
So far, not much progress.
I think the world is sliding toward caring far less about all this.
To me, this is both a loss and a potential gain. Overall weight of direction of the cultural outcome is, to me, undecided.
To go back to the question, perfectly corrected grammar, spelling, and usage are certainly not the first cultural capacities I would rescue in a fire.
Such integrity and intellectual and personal honor as I have managed to achieve (not so very much; but I claim to try, at least) might be first, but those are intrinsic to me.
Externally to me,
Personally I would save people, pets, and family or heirloom items.
And then key legal paperwork.
In usefulness terms, a smartphone or laptop, especially if I thought there would be connectivity in the future.
–
It I were in charge of salvaging knowledge off a collapsing civilization or planet, of course, I would want it all.
If I had limited capacity to rescue knowledge, my Alexandrian library mighty contain,
all the science-math-medical-engineering-health-linguistics info possible
a very nice selection of IT info (the need to create a new computing interfrastructure means not every last piece of info will be critical).
All that could be saved of literature, music, and video, other arts.
Ditto philosophy and history
A large collection of business and economics.
A large collection of sociology, psychology, anthology.
Perhaps that would enough to give a start at recreating much else that would be needed.
Or, if our civilization and culture were lost beyond hope, then these topics and info might give a start to any would would be curious someday about us, perhaps.
I’m sure I managed to leave out some really critical stuff.
@f00l My biggest concern about the lack of care about proper spelling (because I fully admit I suck at structuring a proper sentence) is that with kids these days, and all the ways that they communicate, lose a good portion of how to spell without butchering it into what is now texting, tweeting and Facebook messages. Most, that I’m aware of, do not want to deal with composing/replying to an email because it takes to long. I don’t do social media so I might be off on how all the different types allow communication but if I send an email to either of my children they tend to reply in a text. But at least they are replying so there’s that.
I would not like you to lose any of your possessions. Your love of literature, computer skills and other passions create a f00l we’ve all come to know and love.
@f00l My friends can always tell when I’m using voice to text, which I often do when away from home as I don’t carry around reading glasses. The improbable interpretations of my speech make me wonder what I actually sound like to the outside world. The one that I’ve learned to watch for after a brief accidental set of hurt feelings is when I say “cool deal”, one of my common phrases, the phone unkindly writes “you freak”.
My typing and texting and swiping skills butcher stuff all the time.
My thinking skills? Prob. Whatever.
; )
I used to be a damned good typist on a typewriter or a conventional keyboard. Wonder what happened to that?
Huh. I suck at it now. Just as I do at copy-editing.
Perhaps I should be a bit more honest and accept that it’s likely lack of effort that dooms me.
The big personal intrinsic possessions are, I figure, the brain and ability to think, language (such an an individual possesses) and the ability to communicate, the ability to choose and act, the ability to weigh and value and consider. The ability to adapt and fine-tune and create/destroy.
The ability to at least attempt the understanding that Robert Burns correctly asserted to be impossible.
It’s thoroughly impossible in full, of course.
But attempting to gain on the partials of self-understand is always worth the candle, so long as one understands that one does not understand and never will.
We all carry these capabilities with us, I hope.
Curious, about that inevitable slight ongoing brain decline beginning in the twenties or thirties or early forties, that one reads about.
Huh.
Not that it’s not real. It is. We all know that.
But … I would suggest that the measuring instruments, models, and protocols are a bit blunt. And perhaps either highly incomplete or somewhat off course.
You gain as you lose, aging: if you work at it; at least until the decline takes over most things.
Would any of us really trade the brains and intellectual capacities we have in maturity for our younger, “better” brains?
I would not. Tho a combo would be interesting and fun.
@f00l On wanting to keep what I know now but having my younger brain would be nice. The brain I have now is declining faster than I would like, thanks to my illness, and I know that it’s only going to get worse.
I came to this site by accident but fell in love with the community.
The fact that I can be able to be who I am- fully flawed and with the lack of filtering my thoughts at times. Even though I have lost the ability to verbally communicate with the real world. Being able to converse with most of the people here has lifted my spirits for the last year and a half.
I previously tried to keep my brain sharp by doing various things but I missed human interaction and intelligence. I had to leave a job I loved, then lost my speech (with that went my “friends”), then my legs and with it all my freedom. I finally got past the fact that I will never understand why and succumbed to accepting that I will never understand why. I’m the kind of person who needs to be able to see it and feel it to be able to believe in it. But, I begrudgingly know now, there are some things I can’t feel and see and just have to accept.
The people here, and this site, gave me back a few of the things I thought I had lost and I can’t thank all of you enough for it.
@moondrake I also need reading glasses after losing my sight, which was the first indication of my illness, but luckily I got that back. Now with losing the function to speak normally I would be curious to see what my tablet would type. I’m thinking it would probably be in shambles and would offend quite a lot more people (that I apparently have done in the past without meaning to).
Test it. (the speech to text). Create a bunch of spoken notes to yourself and see how they come out.
I know there after organizations that work with with people with physical limitations to assist with having full digital access.
20 year ago I setup internet for a kid who had broken his neck bull riding. He was quadriplegic. Speech that only his family could understand.
I just got the internet going. There were other organizations that provided him with access tools, equipment, training. I heard the access tools got far better over time.
I had no idea even then what organizations he worked with, but they exist. You may have no need of this kind if assistance. But if anyone does need it, they should be forceful about seeking it out.
I know you have accumulated severe disabilities. I figure that must have been both physically and emotionally devastating.
And often, no one preps someone for the latter, the emotional part, for trying to come to terms with the lack of social/work life and affirmation, the loss of relationships, the more limited vintage with people not immediate to you who are so part if you’re world, the limited capacities, the dependencies, the discomfort-up-to-pain, the endless hassles and humiliations of not being about to take care of things normally.
I hope the treatments improve things for you. I hope they find new and good treatments.
I know that one thing one can find in oneself, under duress, is courage. Another is clarity. Another is determination. Another is wisdom.
I hope that if I ever suffer thru great physical decline (happens to most if us, in the end), I will find those and other strengths in myself.
@f00l As only you can do you make me cry but you also make me smile. This post did both for me and I can’t thank you enough. All the people that communicated with me in this thread have lifted up my spirits. Once a year when my insurance rolls over I go through physical therapy, speech therapy and cognitive behavior retraining. Then I’m done for another year once my time runs out. Some of the therapy has changed and others have stayed the same but once a year I keep going back. Then I look online for other types of therapies that might work. Learning sign language helps a lot when I’m unable to get out words and the fact that my family took the time to learn it is beyond words. I’m waiting to see if I get approved for a new medication that is proving to be extremely effective for halting the progression of my disease. We are keeping our fingers crossed because I’m declining faster than I should be.
So, once again, I thank you for your words and everyone’s support.
@WTFsunshine
I don’t know any ASL, but understand that it can be a fast, expressive, extensive and evocative language. Glad to hear it is working well for you.
I urge you to get into contact with various charitable organization who might have programs going, of know if some. (you never know until you call.)
I urge you to research on the web, and to call as well as email. (If you have issues with spoken phone communication, use a family member or use the relay services that are available to the hearong and and speech-impaired).
The reason use that email results are one avenue and voice calm results are another. And in my experiences, helping a few friends, the results don’t necessarily match up. On the phone you can pursue ideas and ask questions us a different way than they email. So try both. With every agency or organizations. And try every agency and organization. You never know. Stuff is out there.
Next, try the nursing and medical schools and graduate programs nearby and see if they have anything going that you can get into.
I don’t know how far you are from Houston or whether you could be involved in something in Houston. But there’s that enormous medical/research complex there They might have something or many experimental things going on, if you could get there.
Your country may also offer services. Any other post K-12 schools or universities might offer services.
You might be able to get free or reduced tuition somewhere, if that is useful. You might be able to do online courses. Never hurts to try, as long as your energy holds out.
Contact disability, and speech-impaired and hearing-impaired organizations.
If you need communications equupment, try contacting the manufactureripment/or getting your physicians and therapists to write letters. You might be able to get free or reduced-cost or experimental equipment.
Religious-related charities and service organizations are often very good about this sort of thing. many of them don’t give a hoot about what religion you practice, or whether you have any religious inclinations at all. So it’s always worth asking.
Just don’t give up doing your best to get yourself and your family decent lives and capacities in spite of everything.
@moondrake I’m sorry to hear about your family’s hereditary history. We have a Aunt who is going through that now and a family friend who waited for a while before going to the doctor because she was afraid that that was the diagnosis. Turned out that she had Parkinson’s and I was surprised since I thought the two presented differently. Unfortunately I am not well versed in the difference between the two. When I went through my clinical trial at the Ohio State University both were lumped in with the neurological department I went to.
@f00l Thank you for thinking about all the different ways to possibly locate help. I do have a TDD system set up for me and for the places that don’t have the capability to accept it my husband or son make phone calls for me. We were lucky to be accepted by the School for the Deaf where they were willing (and extremely patient) to let us go there and teach us the proper way to sign. A lot of the students didn’t like us being there because we can still hear and I can understand why. They found a few teachers and students that were willing to teach my family and my parents. We paid for two months of classes and afterwards we made a large donation to the school so they could reach their goal to finish a dormitory and add a swimming pool. They definitely deserved it. We are all tied into state and federal retirement services so I’m happy that my medical and disability benefits do not touch others Social Security or Medicade. Through the hospital that I was admitted to, and the MS doctor I started seeing through there, I was able to get a new wheelchair with bells and whistles and found two cheaper ones online for all the different levels of our house. When we built it we didn’t know that I would become disabled - stairs are a bitch but I can probably win money doing arm wrestling contests! I tried to go through Canine Companions after I lost my legs but my husband didn’t want to take on the burden of caring for it during my relapse times and I can’t blame him since we will lose our second son to college soon. When he retires we will try again but in the meantime I will look into all the other options you so kindly listed for me. Thank you for doing that as it means a lot to me that you took the time to do it.
@WTFsunshine Gosh it sounds like you are going through some tough times. The losses that affect your ability to interact with your friends (that is fantastic that your family decided to learn ASL too), to fluently verbally express yourself, must be especially difficult.
@Kidsandliz Me as well as you too who are now going through tough times and illnesses. But the fact that I can’t walk, the speech issue, losing the job I loved, my friends who didn’t understand the magnitude of the illness, the loss of freedom and the guilt for putting a big burden on my family through me into a fight with depression. It’s hard when being a pessimistic person to not have a good outlook on life and to feel like it’s only going to get worse. However, after taking the classes, to be able to communicate with at least my family has helped a lot. As well as finding this community and being able to connect with some wonderful people from all walks of life and places has been positively up lifting. That has put a chick in my pessimistic armor!
@WTFsunshine Have you investigated whether your community has any nonprofit organizations that provide services for persons with disabilities? That might permit you to get services beyond the scope of your insurance allowance. In my community the department for which I worked funded several such organizations. You could contact your local DADS (Department of Aging and Disabilities) office and ask.
I don’t own them but my favorite things are my husband and two sons. I do own my youngest until he pays me back on a loan (which I never tend to collect but he doesn’t need to know that). If you want to get technical on possessions: it would have to be my otter and frog collections.
@WTFsunshine I agree, my wife is the most important thing in my life. However if it has to be stuff, then it’s a tis between my video game collection or my tools. My car and my house CAUSE stress more often than they relieve it.
As products that I don’t own, in the pragmatic, hackerish sense of the word ownership, I quite like my iPad and iPhone. I especially like reading on the iPad.
I’d happily chunk both of them in a fire to save my Linux computer, though, even with its lack of software that does a tolerable job rendering text in PDFs. There’s something about sitting down with a machine that is all yours, and doesn’t feature a constant grinding friction between your best interests and those of whichever corporation legally owns and controls the software. There’s always this feeling of wide-open possibilities and freedom–always unrealized, of course. That’s what day jobs are for.
My clothes suck, my car is cheap and starting to get old, my apartment isn’t great…
I’ve got an OXO Good Grips can opener. It’s a pretty good. So… probably the can opener, for second place.
As products that I don’t own, in the pragmatic, hackerish sense of the word ownership
This reminds me of the blinding flash of light which struck me the day I realized I don’t really own my house. The reality: Big Brother (the county assessor) permits me to live there in exchange for regular, never ending, ridiculously inflated property tax payments. If ever I don’t hold up my end of the bargain, he sends out the constables, they put me out and sell on the land to some other non-owner.
It would have to be my two antique cars. They have been in the family for over 50 years so they are family history.
Plus, it’s cool owning cars that will soon be 100 years old.
My favorite band’s first album: Pilfers - Rude by Association.
Story behind it… First time I had ever heard of the band was the day they opened up for Reel Big Fish back in 1998. I saw the band perform, and after they walked off the stage, I said, “They just became my favorite band.” They were that damn good.
Fast forward a year or two. I bump into this one girl I used to work with at my first job. We get talking about music, I mention the Pilfers, and she said she has a demo tape of the band. She realized how big of a fan I was, and gives me the tape.
How did she get the tape in the first place? Turns out, she was hanging out with Reel Big Fish on their tour bus at that show I went to. One of the members was hitting on her, making aggressive sexual advances. She was 16 at the time, got pissed off, and swiped the tape.
After speaking with the lead singer of the Pilfers, I find out that there are a few hundred of these tapes floating around, but only five are the demo variant, which is the one I have.
Below is a photo of the tape I found online, but it’s one of the more common ones.
TL;DR A cassette from a ska band no one ever heard of.
My favorite salad bowl. Ok I know it sounds silly but it is the perfect size, pretty art deco, was my great aunts, is probably close to 100 years old , and well still in almost daily rotation for salads.
My latest toy is second: A DVD recorder with VHS player found at a yard sale for $5. Now I’m converting all the family home videos including 8mm videos dating back to 1963 that were converted to VHS in the 90s.
My computer is still first: that’s where I edit the videos and check Meh.
@callow Been there, done that. When my parents died, they had an extensive home video collection and I spent months converting them into DVD movies.
The hardest part was watching them first to decide when and where the video was taken so I can combine it with the other appropriate videos. That kept them somewhat organized. It was not automated so I had to watch a lot of videos and sit there making sure it doesn’t go to another scene without me taking action. I didn’t just want one DVD per VHS and have any extra junk after the video.
@cengland0 Exactly! First hurdle was the DVD’s can’t be read by PC without help. Then cutting and labeling each occasion. I also have VHS-C and DV videos to do. Sharing with family and Youtube will be my backups. It’s fun but will take forever!
@callow I have a couple reel-to-reel audio tapes that I need to convert to MP3’s. My dad recorded some funny stories in the 70’s and I’d like to recover them if I could. Unfortunately I don’t have a reel-to-reel player and I don’t want to buy one just for this project.
@ruouttaurmind I’ve had the .45 for 7 years, only time I had an issue was at the range and about 200 rounds in, failed to completely eject…rough cleaning - continued to run like a top. The .380 is only about a year old, never had an issue. But I will add that both are CDPs, so maybe that is a factor? The Springfield was my first, could never part with it. I should have added my CCU as well…Guess I am fond of .45s
@eq52515 Nice! I have a large collection of firearms (pistols, rifles, shotguns and a little BB gun that was my Daddy’s Great Grandfathers but is still in great condition) as well as a large knife collection. Some items in my collections date back to WWI. It’s always a good idea if you are home during a house fire, or notified by phone, to let the fire department on scene know you have firearms and ammunition in the residence since fire will send exploding ammo in all directions.
That goes for animals as well- my husband and others in his department, and firefighters from other departments that I know of, have performed CPR on animals. Not always successful but they still try.
I bought an old 50’s era explosion proof cabinet at a surplus sale a few years ago. Originally designed for paints and chemicals, I keep my ammo locked inside for just this purpose. It won’t keep the stuff from going off in a fire, but it should keep the shrapnel contained. I paid about $80 maybe 10 years ago, so a good investment.
@WTFsunshine There was a news article some years ago about a firefighter who’d been fired for entering a burning home to rescue a young pot bellied pig. It was in a laundry room with an outside door, so he only had to knock in the door and reach in to grab it, but it violated regs so he was fired. When he was first interviewed he said he just couldn’t bear to listen to it screaming in terror. The pig lived and the family was hugely grateful. The community fought for him and he was eventually reinstated. I understand why those regs exist, but I’d have fought for him, too.
@ruouttaurmind We have a cabinet a little different but along the same kind of yours. I’m thrilled that you care about your collection and of the responders. Our 911 center that dispatches fire, police and medics allows for people (or responders) to enter comments about the premises in relation to medical care, special needs, weapons, pets and more. It is listed for dispatchers to advise “that the premise has notations” so personal information is not revealed over the air.
@moondrake Some of the regs are important and some are for the department heads to CTOA. I’m glad to hear that the community stood behind the firefighter especially if he knew by breaking down the door would not have introduced more air to fuel the fire. Not all departments are able to get a union behind them - and even if they had one - “sometimes it takes a village” to right the wrong.
@katylava You can buy Lark Caye, an island in Belize, for under $200k. There are about a dozen available for less than that, one with a little house with utilities, but they are all in cold latitudes.
Richard Branson just needs to provide me with a very nice house, with all bills, food, service, lodging, liquor, and transportation, and other comforts paid by the Virgin Corp empire, for life, on Necker.
my car is the most important thing i own, but my favorite? probably my toy collection. although there are other things that i really enjoy too. having actually lost the contents of one apartment to a fire (and the apartment itself) a few years ago, i think about what i would grab perhaps more than the average bear. thankfully most of the things i collect and hang onto that have sentimental value are small, so i’d just grab one of my big blue ikea bags and go around sweeping items into it as i got out the door.
toy collection, gramma’s recipe box, a piece of quartz, three mugs, a saucer, a pair of sunglasses. secondary to that stuff i’d grab my lush collection, necklaces/clothes*, and then if i could open the big kitchen window i’d start throwing my plant collection down. for practical purposes, i also would take my purse.
*i hardly care deeply about my clothes, so/but having to shop again for them is torture, not to mention doing so while wearing what other people can lend you, which is very uncomfortable. also, most of what i buy and end up liking never gets made again (i imagine most people have clothes like this - not fancy at all, just not infinitely produced) so it’s not like i could just go online and replace each thing easily. if you can’t sleep in your own bed, it’s nice to at least be in your own clothes.
i used to have some of my dad’s board games from when he was a kid. if you look closely, you can see the cover to the game of life in this photo. i knew i should have gotten that fire insurance.
@callow yup! we were really lucky, all things considered. not only did no one get hurt in a nine alarm fire that took out our building (containing three apartments) and an even larger building next door, as well as damaging other surrounding homes, buuuuuut we also are a part of a very large and generous community so we had no end to offers on places to stay, people to help us dig through what was left, offers to feed and clothe us. a friend even had a gofundme set up before the night was out, and she raised enough money for us to get into a new apartment eventually and furnish it. the city also held a fundraiser that we were able to decline proceeds from so those that didn’t have the help we had could get a bit more. we had two friends - one a long time friend and the other, someone i had only ‘met’ through social media - cash in all their frequent flyer points to get us a hotel room for a few nights on two occasions so we could get a break from couchsurfing during the months we were homeless. i’ve said more than a few times that if it had to happen, i’m kind of glad it happened to us, in a way.
@ACraigL@rtjhnstn Both of those are quality meat burners. I’ll throw my Pit Boss in the grill mix but I’m keeping my Weber around for when charcoal is the only thing that will do. My dad has an Akorn, and it does everything a BGE will do (except weigh a ton and last forever) plus keeps $800 in your wallet.
A first edition UK copy of In The Beginning Was The End by Oscar Kiss Maerth, as signed by four members of DEVO.
It’s a bizarre, fucked up pseudoscience text, but it was also influential on DEVO’s music and aesthetic. I’ll never forget the reaction of each band member when they saw it, especially the late Bob Casale: “Oh, wow, you have the book!”
stuff is just stuff.
all of it could be replaced by other stuff.
some of it nearly identical.
“Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls:
Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing;
’twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.”
@ekw Sorry, but family heirlooms, gifts given by friends departed and mementos of a life well lived aren’t easily replaced. Living creatures outweigh inanimate objects in value, but there are plenty of “things” in my life that are wholly irreplaceable.
@moondrake no need to apologize.
we all choose the worldview that suits us best.
I am glad your things give you enjoyment, but sad that their absence would hurt you.
@moondrake and I should apologize for not being more specific.
I meant "MY stuff is just stuff."
I have accumulated lots of things, but none of them are worth more than someone would pay for them.
perhaps not an entirely surprising philosophy for someone who shops here.
@moondrake yeah, i gotta say, i absolutely hated hearing “at least it’s just stuff!” after our fire. i understood it was well meaning, and certainly we were very lucky, and even more certainly i would trade all my ‘stuff’ for a friend who recently died in a fire if it would bring her back.
but…it’s not just stuff. and it can’t all be replaced. i think if i came through someone’s home with a flamethrower and an axe they’d find pretty quickly that it’s a bit more than just ‘stuff.’ and moreso when you find yourself homeless and with no belongings, not even a toothbrush or a pair of shoes. the average person doesn’t magically become the dalai lama in these situations, and that’s okay.
of course, there are people for whom it is just stuff, and that’s totally cool too. i just didn’t like having that put on me. for me it wasn’t just stuff, it was my stuff. and i felt like i was being expected to be grateful for having all my belongings turned to dust. just throw up my hands like “it’s just stuff!” and smile. sorry, ain’t gonna happen. basically, say this about your own stuff all you want, but please don’t say it to others. (note: not a response to ekw’s OP, just going on a tangent :))
I’m constantly operating under the assumption that my apartment will burn down, yet unlike @jerk_nugget, I have no real priority plan. (And, @jerk_nugget, I hope that doesn’t come off as insensitive… I was very moved by your post).
I often save up to buy things that I really like and respect, so I have a lot of objects that are not the cheapest in their class, and that impress me to no end. Like my integrated amplifier is this wonderfully designed capacitor-powered modular system assembled in MA by one of the nicest guys in the audio business. I sunk a lot into it, and it impresses me to the point where I will occasionally open it up just to look at it, I check in on their forums, I would honestly be pretty heartbroken to lose it… but is it my favorite thing?
Photography has been a part of my life since I was positively wee — my sister let me help her out in the darkroom. Among other things, I think it’s saved my life on more than one occasion. I unfortunately have not established a film workflow in my tiny apartment, but my Fujis are the only digital cameras I’ve ever jelled with. It would crush me to lose them… but are they my favorite things?
Folks who have been paying attention on here might understand when I say I maintain three separate wardrobes worth of clothing. Again, probably life-saving. But at the end of the day, just clothes. Would be devastating to start from scratch… but I doubt it’s my favorite thing.
I really don’t know. I have a feeling I would grab my computer if my world was burning around me, just because of the data. Which, I have a half-assed but probably acceptable backup strategy in place… still. It feels immediate. I guess if I was grabbing my computer, I’d probably grab some prized possessions nearby… a Faber slide rule, an HP calculator, my Lowe receiver. All replaceable (if your German is good enough you can still buy NOS slide rules from Faber!) but all things within arm’s reach right now that I think would comfort me. That seems like a good enough criterion for a favorite thing — that which will comfort you when your world burns down before your eyes.
@brhfl absolutely not insensitive at all. i think for me it comes down to the things that, even if i were the richest person on earth, i still could not replace. (most of which had little to no monetary value.) that’s the stuff that had me digging through the rubble in that room.
i very much liked your post as well - it’s a good point, to take that which will comfort you, as the road ahead will be a bit bumpy.
@inanna Most of mine are replaceable, but my M625 Sterling/Aubergine means a lot to me, was a treat to myself when I landed my first real job. I see they’re getting to be a bit hard to come by. I also have two maroon Visconti Viscontinas, one of which was another personal reward… these are also seemingly rather rare on the used market.
It’s a toss-up between my Prius and my Truck. All I need is a cow dog to be complete. But I’m thinkin that if I unload the truck and the trailer and by an old airstream motor home and stick in a duramax and allison trans in it I can reach old hippiee nirvana. Drive that sucker up into teh mountains. Setup a perimeter, eat snake.
My favorite thing I own is my 7-foot-tall inflatable wolf, named Fenris. No, I’m not joking. Yes, he makes a great bed/gaming chair/pool float. Always fun to see peoples’ reactions when I take him out for the day!
@PooltoyWolf Oh no, the computer gods have deemed me not worthy of correctly rotated images! Oh well, you can’t win them all. Enjoy the sideways wolf toy, or tilt your head.
All my favorite things I owned are gone when the box that had them all in it was stolen when I moved recently. At least I still have my cats even though some of them are 16 and 1/2. Hmm don’t think I “own” my cats though.
My surround sound system
My candy corn
@xuntao5 want some more?
@xuntao5 You post one time ever, and you get 29 stars on it.
/giphy Bang for your buck.
My tranquility.
@UncleVinny
/image “tranquility base”
@f00l looked into it. Tooooo pricey, and the commute’s a biiiiiyaatch.
My pretty birdie.
@cengland0 Pretty! Sun Conure?
@ruouttaurmind close. Jenday conure.
@cengland0
I used to have a Nanday named Bandit. Conures are a perfect size… bigger than Budgies and Cockatiels, but still half the size of an Amazon. Noisy though! Conures seem to love the sound of their own squawk.
(Pilfered image; not the actual Bandit)
@ruouttaurmind He definitely like to hear the sound of his own voice. If he didn’t squawk so loudly and didn’t try to bite the face off all my guests, he would be the perfect pet for everyone to own. He’s very social otherwise.
@cengland0
@Velocitychicken Lovely bird. Thanks for sharing.
@Velocitychicken Corella?
@ruouttaurmind “Little Corella” AKA “Bloody-Faced Cockatoo” He’s right around 300g
@Velocitychicken I’ve heard they are generally very playful?
@cengland0
Now that is a Glorious Bird.
Got any vids or recordings?
@f00l Of course I have videos. I love my birdie.
Here’s one taking a bath in the sink.
@f00l He hates my cell phone so this one is him attacking it while I’m trying to video him.
@cengland0 Pure love! @ruouttaurmind Our rescued cat is named Bandit- unfortunately I don’t think that the two would be friends.
@WTFsunshine
@cengland0 He is definitely not ready for his closeup!
@ruouttaurmind Yep…that is about how I picture it going. We don’t believe in having an outdoor cat so now he’s a sissy.
@WTFsunshine Yes, you’re probably right. I think my bird would eat your cat for breakfast.
@cengland0 Friend of mine had an outdoor cat who once took on a juvenile hawk and won. Hawk pecked his shoulder pretty badly but the cat won. Cat laid out the bird on their back porch. Bird and cat were about the same size. Don’t know which animal started it (rural area). My cats are all indoors to keep them safe.
@Kidsandliz That’s certainly a Wow story. I was sort of joking about my bird taking on a cat but he does attack people. He gets overly protective and will attack anyone that comes near me – except Mrs cengland0. She cannot pet him like I can though.
@cengland0
Why does he hate your cell phone? Any idea?
@f00l I’m not sure. There are a couple things that get similar results. For example, if I burn a DVD in “his room,” he will bite me when I try to extract the DVD from the drive. Mrs cengland0 gets attacked when she brings her purse into the room. He’s a strange character.
@cengland0 Your bird would definitely kick my cats butt. My Grandparents had an African Grey parrot named Jacco. He could say all sorts of things (and cussed like a sailor) he picked up the screams my sister and I used to do when we were young and running around. If a car pulled up he would make the sound of a car horn and call my Grandmas name. My Grandpa could do all sorts of things with him and when he died my Grandma could only rub his head w/a flattened out toilet paper tube until he would grab it and demolish it. When Grandma started dying we were trying to figure out who would take him (since he should have had 50+ more years to live) but he died a day before she did. We figured that he knew that the two people he loved were no longer going to be in his life and he was heartbroken. He was a good friend to them.
@WTFsunshine That is such a sad story.
@Kidsandliz We both know that we rescued ours from the outdoors and believe keeping them indoors is only proper. It still baffles me that people will let their cats outdoor (especially in the frigid winters) and let them come back in possibly bringing in ticks (still pains me thinking about what you went through with your tick issue), fleas and whatever else they have attached to their fur. I can understand people who have barn cats, to control the infestation of rodents and what have you, but not in suburban type areas. Don’t know about your kitty cats but mine still gets his hunting instinct fulfilled by either holding his toy in his mouth as he whines until he drops it in front of someone’s door. Or he takes it and drops it in his water bowl and meows at you until you follow him to the bowl so he can show you how proud he is for what he did.
@WTFsunshine Yeah I have one who drops toys in water dishes and then comes back later to get it. Mine are currently kept busy killing American cockroaches (they have learned not to eat them - each has puked up an eaten roach and no they do not chew well - gross). In the HUD apt I lived in it took me about 16 months to get rid of the roaches (in that case german roaches) and flour moths. I am beyond pissed I am back to roaches again. Of course this is a neighborhood that superficially looks nice until you see peeling paint on houses, a tarp over the back of the one next door with the back yard looking like rural Appalachia with piles of junk, barking dog, car up on cement blocks… of course I have a slumlord so I guess I should not be surprised. Someday maybe, just maybe, I can live again somewhere without these issues. Meanwhile what can I say but FREE CAT TOYS!
@Kidsandliz Your outlook on life is positively uplifting! I feel ashamed right now for mostly having a pessimistic view about mine. We have two apartment complexes in the county that are like that. They look nice on the outside until you move in and realize how much of a mistake you made. Between drug dealers, domestic violence, and young kids wondering around with very little clothing on and no parents to speak of. I’ve actually taken calls where people had said “I’m not one of those people” but they get signed into a one year contract and can’t get out.
Definitely not the type of toys you want for your cats but at least they will go in for the kill. My little guy makes a funny sound and runs away to get a human to come kill the offending trespasser. I’m good as long as it isn’t a spider- if it is then I’m the one making the funny sound. 🕷
@WTFsunshine Trust me I spend plenty of time bitching and being discouraged. Mine don’t go into for the kill as much as they play with them until they accidentally kill them. When I lived elsewhere I woke up in the middle of the night with a cat running around my bed, jumping down and then jumping back up just to run around again. I finally turned on a light to see what was going on only to see her with a roach carefully in her mouth that she’d drop on my bed to play with until it fell off. Then she fetched it and did it again. I am sure I pissed her off when I snatched it, opened the window and threw it out. Disgusting.
@Kidsandliz Although she was playing with it on your bed can you claim that maybe she was alerting you to the fact that it was getting too close to you? Unless she brought it into your bedroom to show you what a good girl she was by dropping her “kill” on your bed. Your probably right about free cat toys then if she was having a hay day with the offending insect. Very nice of you to throw it out the window but it was probably better than killing it and getting the gooey guts all over. That would probably lure even more of them into your bedroom with the smell of squished guts. I think I just threw up in my mouth.
@WTFsunshine Nope this was a toy. It falls off the bed, she jumps after it, picks it up carefully in her mouth, deposits it back on my bed, plays with it, it falls off, rinse and repeat.
@WTFsunshine It’s 77, the birds are singing, the sun is shining and every door and window in my house is open. I keep my house open about 50% of the time, so me, the dogs, and when I had one, the cat, come and go outside in the daytime as we wish. The property is fenced so the dogs can’t leave and I very rarely saw my cat leave my property. When she did it was to cross the street to visit the neighbors cat, not too much to worry about with the street as it deadends in a block and is very narrow so gets only traffic from the people who live on it. Everyone in the family, dogs, cats and human, come inside at night and I lock up the house securely. My last cat had been picked up by my long-haul trucker stepdad as a stray begging for scraps in the snow in a midwest parking lot and brought back to east Texas. She was an outdoor only farmcat for several years before I brought her home with me to west Texas to be an indoor-outdoor cat of leisure. She passed 2 years ago.
@moondrake She was beautiful! I’m so sorry to hear that she passed away. Animals of all kinds bring such joy to their families and I’m glad she did that for you.
@ruouttaurmind He is a non-stop play/sit-on-you velcro bird - so far he’s spending equal time between me and my wife (no favorites yet; seems to be a family bird) and will jump to any friend who comes over and try and spend at least 15-30 minutes with them…
@Velocitychicken That is excellent. Cockatoos have a rep for being pretty finicky about people. I had a Moluccan cockatoo when I was in the UK that wouldn’t let anyone but me come near him. This was a particular challenge for my SO because I would return to the US for weeks at a time and she took care of him. When a Moluccan decides he isn’t happy he can take off a freakin’ finger!
@Velocitychicken I’d love to visit someone with a bird like that. I like spending time with other people’s birds and reptiles, but stick with mammals at home.
that is an unfair question; I have many favorites in multiple categories.
It might be better to ask what is the last thing that you own that you would part with; the one thing you would take if you could take any (and only) one thing you own and never ever see any of your other stuff, ever.
@duodec Mmmmm… I’m afraid I’d wind up going down with the ship before I could choose just one thing.
@ruouttaurmind If we had a dog, the dog. If we had two dogs, down with the ship rather than choose one. The pack is the pack; we stay together.
Based on usage, it is a toss-up between my PC and my Ipad.
It’s a tie between my minifigure collection and my Montblanc. I love my hobby, but I really love my pen. It’s easier to clean the pen too. You ever dusted a thousand little lego people? It’s a pain.
@rprebel dust them no, ive stept on them with bare feet more times then care to! Its like stepping on broken glass!
@rprebel i collect urban vinyl stuff so…i feel your pain. (then my partner started getting those lego sets for the video game awhile back? and those, while some of them are really fun, have their own spot in our media/gaming closet so i don’t have to dust/clean them because it would be near impossible and i don’t want them to get looking grimy.)
Are the choices just lyrics from “we want your soul”?
Can it be a body part?
I have so many baubles, trinkets and bits of junk that make me smile, I would be hard pressed to select a favorite. Lots of stuff I don’t even wear, use, play with… it just brings me joy to know I possess this or that.
If family members count as “things I own” it is most definitely Super Belle the Wonder Dog. She brings sunshine and joy into my life.
My motorcycle! Second would be probably be the projector set-up in the den. It cost less than a 60" tv, but we get a 180" screen. It doesn’t quite replace going to the movies, but it gets awfully close.
My dog. Honestly surprised it wasn’t a default option.
@simplersimon I’m not really sure most of us consider pets a possession as much a family member?
@ruouttaurmind I imagine whoever would impose such a choice would be of the mindset that a pet was a possession.
@ruouttaurmind fair enough. I do refer to my dog as my fuzzy child. But legally, a dog is a possession, so I stand by my answer. She is the only possession I’d risk my life for.
@simplersimon My dogs think they own me, I’m hoping I’m their favorite possession!
@mehbee Ha! Fair one!
I love Super Belle, but I fear I’d be second fiddle to her tennis ball.
@ruouttaurmind
A rat terrier I had once owned all the tennis balls in the known universe.
I could hold my arm out straight horizontally from the shoulder, with a tennis ball in my hand.
He (10 in tall or so) would jump up and grab it and not let go. (I’m normal adult female height). He would just hang there.
Even if I propped up my arm, I got tired and let go long before he did.
@f00l Miss Belle does enjoy a good play with the ball, but my little monster is totally obsessed. She can’t go anywhere without a tennis ball in her mouth. I can tell when she’s not feeling well because it’s the only time she won’t have her ball with her. Even at mealtime she has to take the ball with her, place it next to her bowl, and mouth it a couple of times between bites of kibble.
More than once she has awaken me in the middle of the night to help her hunt down her ball. I will not get a moment of rest until we rescue the ball from behind the fridge, under the sofa, or wherever it’s hiding. She’s absolutely frantic until we locate it and retrieve it and she won’t let me get a wink of sleep until it’s recovered.
I can’t say I mind so much. It is one of those precious moments when she looks at me like I can solve all the problems of the world. I never tell her it’s really just about the opposable thumbs.
@ruouttaurmind
My dad played tennis several times a week from the time he was a kid until very late in his 80’s.
The tennis partners he played with always used new balls every time they got together. So we had a large supply of spare tennis balls.
The terrier was not like yours, taking the ball around everywhere - he was interested in the ball only if the ball were in motion, or if any other being showed interest in it, or if he hadn’t harassed it in a while.
In those instances, he had to have it.
He loved loved loved to fetch. And I kept a basket of spare tennis balls for him.
So sometimes during fetch, I would throw out not one ball, but 10 or 20. He had to have them all, but only one would fit in his mouth.
Then he would make a pile of them, and try to protect them all, while still chasing the new ball I was about to throw.
The other dog, who normally didn’t care about tennis balls, would mess with him and try to to make off with some of the tennis balls.
They never fought over then, but they would growl and try to trick each other, and be sneaky.
After a while, I would pick up the extra tennis balls and put them away till next time.
But I always left 2-3 out, so that the pups could trick each other if they were in the mood. The terrier always had to know what at least one tennis ball was. He would check on it from time to time.
My clarinet. Music soothes the savage beast and comforts the lost soul.
My Soul. Crap, nevermind.
Interesting. I came here to say something similar, but not in jest. I own my conscience, my self-respect. I’ve always loved the quote:
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
(Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, words spoken by Polonius)
@mfladd
You expect your Soul to transmute into Bear Crap soon, don’t you?
Good choice! Congrats!
/giphy "bear it"
@mfladd
Reference:
https://meh.com/forum/topics/mehlexa-------i-have-a-question#59ca5ac7ffd8b309986abe29
Happy 2017!
Whether I own them or they own me, they are the one thing I’d go into a fire to retrieve.
@moondrake Winners in the “synchronized sleeping” category!
@moondrake My feelings exactly.
@moondrake They are adorable! They look like greyhounds or whippets or am I way off? Either way you’re and @cengland0 have beautiful animals.
@moondrake My dogs, and my turtle would be the first things I’d go into a fire for, then I’d go back for items in my display cabinet because a lot, if not all are irreplaceable to me: a Christmas ornament passed down from my grandmother, the ticket from the last game a Turner Field, a doll, that was my grandmother’s, then my mom’s and then mine, you get the idea. Most of my electronics are backed up so I wouldn’t lose too many recent pics and stuff like that but I’d sure miss the memories in that cabinet.
@cengland0 I apologize on behalf of my autocorrect (and myself for not catching it) for you’re in my comment above. I edited a section and glossed over it. Either way the you’re wouldn’t have been appropriate. I already called the grammar police on myself and I’m just waiting for their arrival.
@WTFsunshine Seriously? I corrected someone’s your/you’re once and I cannot even remember who it was. I’m not the official grammar police – but I can be if meh is in need of one. It’s an annoyance to me when I see them used improperly. Their, they’re, and there are also misused in significant quantities to annoy me.
@WTFsunshine The black is Tempest, a Great Dane. She was 17mos old in that photo, still puppy soft. She’s got a bit more GD size and blockiness now at 23mos, but she’s still petite and very feminine, she’ll never be as blocky as most Danes. The brindle is Zephyr, a purpose bred sight hunting dog. 40% Irish Wolfhound, 20% each Borzoi Hound, Scottish Deerhound and Greyhound. I got them both as rescues at the end of March.
@moondrake I love the names you picked for them and the fact that you got them as rescues. @Kidsandliz and I both have cats that we rescued from the streets. She and I both agree that rescued animals make the sweetest pets. Just to reiterate: your dogs are adorable!
@cengland0 I believe you posted the “*you’re” photo during the Halloween prep kit sale. I concur on:
Drives me crazy!
@WTFsunshine
@cengland0
When I normal used conventional keyboards, I cared a lot about that.
Usage errors, misspellings.
There, they’re, their. All that.
Then I started using mobile devices a lot. And then a swipe keyboard.
My insane and only partially comprehensible prose (as mediated by swipe and autocorrect) will have to do, I suppose. I understand it if bothers people. I understand it will not do in formal situations. I understand it might appear that I don’t care.
I am a terrible editor (especially when attempting to self-edit). My brain tends to “read” by assumed auto-correct to what my brain thinks was intended or is intelligible, as opposed to what was actually written.
I do tend read and edit quite differently in situations where the writing has formal weight.
If I had to correct everything I put into personal emails or chat or casual forums, I’d never get them written and sent.
I do hope to improve my swipe quality.
So far, not much progress.
I think the world is sliding toward caring far less about all this.
To me, this is both a loss and a potential gain. Overall weight of direction of the cultural outcome is, to me, undecided.
PS
To go back to the question, perfectly corrected grammar, spelling, and usage are certainly not the first cultural capacities I would rescue in a fire.
Such integrity and intellectual and personal honor as I have managed to achieve (not so very much; but I claim to try, at least) might be first, but those are intrinsic to me.
Externally to me,
Personally I would save people, pets, and family or heirloom items.
And then key legal paperwork.
In usefulness terms, a smartphone or laptop, especially if I thought there would be connectivity in the future.
–
It I were in charge of salvaging knowledge off a collapsing civilization or planet, of course, I would want it all.
If I had limited capacity to rescue knowledge, my Alexandrian library mighty contain,
all the science-math-medical-engineering-health-linguistics info possible
a very nice selection of IT info (the need to create a new computing interfrastructure means not every last piece of info will be critical).
All that could be saved of literature, music, and video, other arts.
Ditto philosophy and history
A large collection of business and economics.
A large collection of sociology, psychology, anthology.
Perhaps that would enough to give a start at recreating much else that would be needed.
Or, if our civilization and culture were lost beyond hope, then these topics and info might give a start to any would would be curious someday about us, perhaps.
I’m sure I managed to leave out some really critical stuff.
@f00l My biggest concern about the lack of care about proper spelling (because I fully admit I suck at structuring a proper sentence) is that with kids these days, and all the ways that they communicate, lose a good portion of how to spell without butchering it into what is now texting, tweeting and Facebook messages. Most, that I’m aware of, do not want to deal with composing/replying to an email because it takes to long. I don’t do social media so I might be off on how all the different types allow communication but if I send an email to either of my children they tend to reply in a text. But at least they are replying so there’s that.
I would not like you to lose any of your possessions. Your love of literature, computer skills and other passions create a f00l we’ve all come to know and love.
@f00l My friends can always tell when I’m using voice to text, which I often do when away from home as I don’t carry around reading glasses. The improbable interpretations of my speech make me wonder what I actually sound like to the outside world. The one that I’ve learned to watch for after a brief accidental set of hurt feelings is when I say “cool deal”, one of my common phrases, the phone unkindly writes “you freak”.
@WTFsunshine
@moondrake
My typing and texting and swiping skills butcher stuff all the time.
My thinking skills? Prob. Whatever.
; )
I used to be a damned good typist on a typewriter or a conventional keyboard. Wonder what happened to that?
Huh. I suck at it now. Just as I do at copy-editing.
Perhaps I should be a bit more honest and accept that it’s likely lack of effort that dooms me.
The big personal intrinsic possessions are, I figure, the brain and ability to think, language (such an an individual possesses) and the ability to communicate, the ability to choose and act, the ability to weigh and value and consider. The ability to adapt and fine-tune and create/destroy.
The ability to at least attempt the understanding that Robert Burns correctly asserted to be impossible.
It’s thoroughly impossible in full, of course.
But attempting to gain on the partials of self-understand is always worth the candle, so long as one understands that one does not understand and never will.
We all carry these capabilities with us, I hope.
Curious, about that inevitable slight ongoing brain decline beginning in the twenties or thirties or early forties, that one reads about.
Huh.
Not that it’s not real. It is. We all know that.
But … I would suggest that the measuring instruments, models, and protocols are a bit blunt. And perhaps either highly incomplete or somewhat off course.
You gain as you lose, aging: if you work at it; at least until the decline takes over most things.
Would any of us really trade the brains and intellectual capacities we have in maturity for our younger, “better” brains?
I would not. Tho a combo would be interesting and fun.
@f00l On wanting to keep what I know now but having my younger brain would be nice. The brain I have now is declining faster than I would like, thanks to my illness, and I know that it’s only going to get worse.
I came to this site by accident but fell in love with the community.
The fact that I can be able to be who I am- fully flawed and with the lack of filtering my thoughts at times. Even though I have lost the ability to verbally communicate with the real world. Being able to converse with most of the people here has lifted my spirits for the last year and a half.
I previously tried to keep my brain sharp by doing various things but I missed human interaction and intelligence. I had to leave a job I loved, then lost my speech (with that went my “friends”), then my legs and with it all my freedom. I finally got past the fact that I will never understand why and succumbed to accepting that I will never understand why. I’m the kind of person who needs to be able to see it and feel it to be able to believe in it. But, I begrudgingly know now, there are some things I can’t feel and see and just have to accept.
The people here, and this site, gave me back a few of the things I thought I had lost and I can’t thank all of you enough for it.
@moondrake I also need reading glasses after losing my sight, which was the first indication of my illness, but luckily I got that back. Now with losing the function to speak normally I would be curious to see what my tablet would type. I’m thinking it would probably be in shambles and would offend quite a lot more people (that I apparently have done in the past without meaning to).
@WTFsunshine
Test it. (the speech to text). Create a bunch of spoken notes to yourself and see how they come out.
I know there after organizations that work with with people with physical limitations to assist with having full digital access.
20 year ago I setup internet for a kid who had broken his neck bull riding. He was quadriplegic. Speech that only his family could understand.
I just got the internet going. There were other organizations that provided him with access tools, equipment, training. I heard the access tools got far better over time.
I had no idea even then what organizations he worked with, but they exist. You may have no need of this kind if assistance. But if anyone does need it, they should be forceful about seeking it out.
I know you have accumulated severe disabilities. I figure that must have been both physically and emotionally devastating.
And often, no one preps someone for the latter, the emotional part, for trying to come to terms with the lack of social/work life and affirmation, the loss of relationships, the more limited vintage with people not immediate to you who are so part if you’re world, the limited capacities, the dependencies, the discomfort-up-to-pain, the endless hassles and humiliations of not being about to take care of things normally.
I hope the treatments improve things for you. I hope they find new and good treatments.
I know that one thing one can find in oneself, under duress, is courage. Another is clarity. Another is determination. Another is wisdom.
I hope that if I ever suffer thru great physical decline (happens to most if us, in the end), I will find those and other strengths in myself.
It seems to me that you have.
/image lemonade
@f00l As only you can do you make me cry but you also make me smile. This post did both for me and I can’t thank you enough. All the people that communicated with me in this thread have lifted up my spirits. Once a year when my insurance rolls over I go through physical therapy, speech therapy and cognitive behavior retraining. Then I’m done for another year once my time runs out. Some of the therapy has changed and others have stayed the same but once a year I keep going back. Then I look online for other types of therapies that might work. Learning sign language helps a lot when I’m unable to get out words and the fact that my family took the time to learn it is beyond words. I’m waiting to see if I get approved for a new medication that is proving to be extremely effective for halting the progression of my disease. We are keeping our fingers crossed because I’m declining faster than I should be.
So, once again, I thank you for your words and everyone’s support.
@WTFsunshine
I don’t know any ASL, but understand that it can be a fast, expressive, extensive and evocative language. Glad to hear it is working well for you.
I urge you to get into contact with various charitable organization who might have programs going, of know if some. (you never know until you call.)
I urge you to research on the web, and to call as well as email. (If you have issues with spoken phone communication, use a family member or use the relay services that are available to the hearong and and speech-impaired).
The reason use that email results are one avenue and voice calm results are another. And in my experiences, helping a few friends, the results don’t necessarily match up. On the phone you can pursue ideas and ask questions us a different way than they email. So try both. With every agency or organizations. And try every agency and organization. You never know. Stuff is out there.
Next, try the nursing and medical schools and graduate programs nearby and see if they have anything going that you can get into.
I don’t know how far you are from Houston or whether you could be involved in something in Houston. But there’s that enormous medical/research complex there They might have something or many experimental things going on, if you could get there.
Your country may also offer services. Any other post K-12 schools or universities might offer services.
You might be able to get free or reduced tuition somewhere, if that is useful. You might be able to do online courses. Never hurts to try, as long as your energy holds out.
Contact disability, and speech-impaired and hearing-impaired organizations.
If you need communications equupment, try contacting the manufactureripment/or getting your physicians and therapists to write letters. You might be able to get free or reduced-cost or experimental equipment.
Religious-related charities and service organizations are often very good about this sort of thing. many of them don’t give a hoot about what religion you practice, or whether you have any religious inclinations at all. So it’s always worth asking.
Just don’t give up doing your best to get yourself and your family decent lives and capacities in spite of everything.
@f00l My answer is yes. But Alzheimer’s is dominant in my family, so any backtracking is gaining ground brain health wise.
@moondrake I’m sorry to hear about your family’s hereditary history. We have a Aunt who is going through that now and a family friend who waited for a while before going to the doctor because she was afraid that that was the diagnosis. Turned out that she had Parkinson’s and I was surprised since I thought the two presented differently. Unfortunately I am not well versed in the difference between the two. When I went through my clinical trial at the Ohio State University both were lumped in with the neurological department I went to.
@f00l Thank you for thinking about all the different ways to possibly locate help. I do have a TDD system set up for me and for the places that don’t have the capability to accept it my husband or son make phone calls for me. We were lucky to be accepted by the School for the Deaf where they were willing (and extremely patient) to let us go there and teach us the proper way to sign. A lot of the students didn’t like us being there because we can still hear and I can understand why. They found a few teachers and students that were willing to teach my family and my parents. We paid for two months of classes and afterwards we made a large donation to the school so they could reach their goal to finish a dormitory and add a swimming pool. They definitely deserved it. We are all tied into state and federal retirement services so I’m happy that my medical and disability benefits do not touch others Social Security or Medicade. Through the hospital that I was admitted to, and the MS doctor I started seeing through there, I was able to get a new wheelchair with bells and whistles and found two cheaper ones online for all the different levels of our house. When we built it we didn’t know that I would become disabled - stairs are a bitch but I can probably win money doing arm wrestling contests! I tried to go through Canine Companions after I lost my legs but my husband didn’t want to take on the burden of caring for it during my relapse times and I can’t blame him since we will lose our second son to college soon. When he retires we will try again but in the meantime I will look into all the other options you so kindly listed for me. Thank you for doing that as it means a lot to me that you took the time to do it.
@WTFsunshine Gosh it sounds like you are going through some tough times. The losses that affect your ability to interact with your friends (that is fantastic that your family decided to learn ASL too), to fluently verbally express yourself, must be especially difficult.
@Kidsandliz Me as well as you too who are now going through tough times and illnesses. But the fact that I can’t walk, the speech issue, losing the job I loved, my friends who didn’t understand the magnitude of the illness, the loss of freedom and the guilt for putting a big burden on my family through me into a fight with depression. It’s hard when being a pessimistic person to not have a good outlook on life and to feel like it’s only going to get worse. However, after taking the classes, to be able to communicate with at least my family has helped a lot. As well as finding this community and being able to connect with some wonderful people from all walks of life and places has been positively up lifting. That has put a chick in my pessimistic armor!
@WTFsunshine Have you investigated whether your community has any nonprofit organizations that provide services for persons with disabilities? That might permit you to get services beyond the scope of your insurance allowance. In my community the department for which I worked funded several such organizations. You could contact your local DADS (Department of Aging and Disabilities) office and ask.
I also came here to say my dogs. I have three and they are pure love.
I don’t own them but my favorite things are my husband and two sons. I do own my youngest until he pays me back on a loan (which I never tend to collect but he doesn’t need to know that). If you want to get technical on possessions: it would have to be my otter and frog collections.
Double darn. I went back to edit twice and I cut off intend and made it tend. Sorry.
@WTFsunshine Yeah you better apologize.
@InnocuousFarmer I did and I apologize again.
@WTFsunshine I agree, my wife is the most important thing in my life. However if it has to be stuff, then it’s a tis between my video game collection or my tools. My car and my house CAUSE stress more often than they relieve it.
My car can put a smile on my face when I’m having a bad day.
I found my can opener on top of a trash can during move-out of my sophomore dorm. I freakin’ love that can opener.
That was 2009 and it’s still going strong.
As products that I don’t own, in the pragmatic, hackerish sense of the word ownership, I quite like my iPad and iPhone. I especially like reading on the iPad.
I’d happily chunk both of them in a fire to save my Linux computer, though, even with its lack of software that does a tolerable job rendering text in PDFs. There’s something about sitting down with a machine that is all yours, and doesn’t feature a constant grinding friction between your best interests and those of whichever corporation legally owns and controls the software. There’s always this feeling of wide-open possibilities and freedom–always unrealized, of course. That’s what day jobs are for.
My clothes suck, my car is cheap and starting to get old, my apartment isn’t great…
I’ve got an OXO Good Grips can opener. It’s a pretty good. So… probably the can opener, for second place.
Don’t look at me. You asked.
@InnocuousFarmer
This reminds me of the blinding flash of light which struck me the day I realized I don’t really own my house. The reality: Big Brother (the county assessor) permits me to live there in exchange for regular, never ending, ridiculously inflated property tax payments. If ever I don’t hold up my end of the bargain, he sends out the constables, they put me out and sell on the land to some other non-owner.
@ruouttaurmind Turns out, concepts like ownership and property are a lot more fluid than we were led to believe.
Whatever it was that @Pavlov said was his favorite, before he deleted his comment.
@Thumperchick My comment may have been easily misconstrued and the joke wasn’t that funny . . . I decided to just let it slip into oblivion.
If I agree with any of the items on that list, then I am letting them own me.
After my family and my pets, nothing else really matters. They already own me.
@2many2no I agree. “I am sick and tired of stuff” I started to write something long but nixed it for another time.
It would have to be my two antique cars. They have been in the family for over 50 years so they are family history.
Plus, it’s cool owning cars that will soon be 100 years old.
@drifted_eagle One item. Better get the welder out.
My table saw.
Molly, my dog.
My favorite band’s first album: Pilfers - Rude by Association.
Story behind it… First time I had ever heard of the band was the day they opened up for Reel Big Fish back in 1998. I saw the band perform, and after they walked off the stage, I said, “They just became my favorite band.” They were that damn good.
Fast forward a year or two. I bump into this one girl I used to work with at my first job. We get talking about music, I mention the Pilfers, and she said she has a demo tape of the band. She realized how big of a fan I was, and gives me the tape.
How did she get the tape in the first place? Turns out, she was hanging out with Reel Big Fish on their tour bus at that show I went to. One of the members was hitting on her, making aggressive sexual advances. She was 16 at the time, got pissed off, and swiped the tape.
After speaking with the lead singer of the Pilfers, I find out that there are a few hundred of these tapes floating around, but only five are the demo variant, which is the one I have.
Below is a photo of the tape I found online, but it’s one of the more common ones.
TL;DR A cassette from a ska band no one ever heard of.
@hems79 so how did she get the tape? I guess you could say, she…pilfered it.
@alphapeaches
/giphy Pilfering Pilfers
PEEPEE!!!
My two kiddos!
My favorite salad bowl. Ok I know it sounds silly but it is the perfect size, pretty art deco, was my great aunts, is probably close to 100 years old , and well still in almost daily rotation for salads.
@CaptAmehrican being a vegetarian, my salads are so large that I eat out of a mixing bowl.
@cengland0 oh this was most certainly a serving bowl as designed.
It’s a toss-up between my car and my suitcase. Depends if I’m close enough to my car to use it.
My Charlestown Chiefs Hockey Jersey
#7 Reggie Dunlop
@somf69 Love this but I think I would have had to go with a #3 Killer.
My latest toy is second: A DVD recorder with VHS player found at a yard sale for $5. Now I’m converting all the family home videos including 8mm videos dating back to 1963 that were converted to VHS in the 90s.
My computer is still first: that’s where I edit the videos and check Meh.
@callow Been there, done that. When my parents died, they had an extensive home video collection and I spent months converting them into DVD movies.
The hardest part was watching them first to decide when and where the video was taken so I can combine it with the other appropriate videos. That kept them somewhat organized. It was not automated so I had to watch a lot of videos and sit there making sure it doesn’t go to another scene without me taking action. I didn’t just want one DVD per VHS and have any extra junk after the video.
@cengland0 Exactly! First hurdle was the DVD’s can’t be read by PC without help. Then cutting and labeling each occasion. I also have VHS-C and DV videos to do. Sharing with family and Youtube will be my backups. It’s fun but will take forever!
@callow I have a couple reel-to-reel audio tapes that I need to convert to MP3’s. My dad recorded some funny stories in the 70’s and I’d like to recover them if I could. Unfortunately I don’t have a reel-to-reel player and I don’t want to buy one just for this project.
@cengland0 Might be worth paying someone to copy them if it’s only a few.
@eq52515 I had a Kimber but never could get it to run right. Sold it on and replaced it with a Para and a AO.
@ruouttaurmind I’ve had the .45 for 7 years, only time I had an issue was at the range and about 200 rounds in, failed to completely eject…rough cleaning - continued to run like a top. The .380 is only about a year old, never had an issue. But I will add that both are CDPs, so maybe that is a factor? The Springfield was my first, could never part with it. I should have added my CCU as well…Guess I am fond of .45s
@eq52515 Nice! I have a large collection of firearms (pistols, rifles, shotguns and a little BB gun that was my Daddy’s Great Grandfathers but is still in great condition) as well as a large knife collection. Some items in my collections date back to WWI. It’s always a good idea if you are home during a house fire, or notified by phone, to let the fire department on scene know you have firearms and ammunition in the residence since fire will send exploding ammo in all directions.
That goes for animals as well- my husband and others in his department, and firefighters from other departments that I know of, have performed CPR on animals. Not always successful but they still try.
@WTFsunshine
I bought an old 50’s era explosion proof cabinet at a surplus sale a few years ago. Originally designed for paints and chemicals, I keep my ammo locked inside for just this purpose. It won’t keep the stuff from going off in a fire, but it should keep the shrapnel contained. I paid about $80 maybe 10 years ago, so a good investment.
@WTFsunshine There was a news article some years ago about a firefighter who’d been fired for entering a burning home to rescue a young pot bellied pig. It was in a laundry room with an outside door, so he only had to knock in the door and reach in to grab it, but it violated regs so he was fired. When he was first interviewed he said he just couldn’t bear to listen to it screaming in terror. The pig lived and the family was hugely grateful. The community fought for him and he was eventually reinstated. I understand why those regs exist, but I’d have fought for him, too.
@ruouttaurmind We have a cabinet a little different but along the same kind of yours. I’m thrilled that you care about your collection and of the responders. Our 911 center that dispatches fire, police and medics allows for people (or responders) to enter comments about the premises in relation to medical care, special needs, weapons, pets and more. It is listed for dispatchers to advise “that the premise has notations” so personal information is not revealed over the air.
@moondrake Some of the regs are important and some are for the department heads to CTOA. I’m glad to hear that the community stood behind the firefighter especially if he knew by breaking down the door would not have introduced more air to fuel the fire. Not all departments are able to get a union behind them - and even if they had one - “sometimes it takes a village” to right the wrong.
I’d have to choose out of my dozens of Bluetooth speakers.
My sweet little dog, Mia.
My Taylor Swift CD collection
@wmbarr As an enthusiast, do you know what we made her do?
@djslack
Did we made her hate the haters?
Oops.
I chose “my private island” because time is an illusion and I’ll have one someday.
@katylava You can buy Lark Caye, an island in Belize, for under $200k. There are about a dozen available for less than that, one with a little house with utilities, but they are all in cold latitudes.
Or you could just rent. This looks so awesome.
http://gladdenprivateisland.com
https://www.privateislandsonline.com/search?availability=rent
Makes me want to get back to the Caribbean.
@moondrake Gosh, is that an island or a bog? Pics make it look mostly saturated!
@ruouttaurmind Yeah, you can’t get a nice one in a warm climate for under a million.
@ruouttaurmind @moondrake apparently is has 3.042 acres of solid land on it.
@katylava I saw that. The highest point is only a few feet above calm sea level. I’d be pretty nervous when a storm kicked up.
@moondrake
Richard Branson just needs to provide me with a very nice house, with all bills, food, service, lodging, liquor, and transportation, and other comforts paid by the Virgin Corp empire, for life, on Necker.
My piano.
@brakeforbeer May we have details?
my car is the most important thing i own, but my favorite? probably my toy collection. although there are other things that i really enjoy too. having actually lost the contents of one apartment to a fire (and the apartment itself) a few years ago, i think about what i would grab perhaps more than the average bear. thankfully most of the things i collect and hang onto that have sentimental value are small, so i’d just grab one of my big blue ikea bags and go around sweeping items into it as i got out the door.
toy collection, gramma’s recipe box, a piece of quartz, three mugs, a saucer, a pair of sunglasses. secondary to that stuff i’d grab my lush collection, necklaces/clothes*, and then if i could open the big kitchen window i’d start throwing my plant collection down. for practical purposes, i also would take my purse.
*i hardly care deeply about my clothes, so/but having to shop again for them is torture, not to mention doing so while wearing what other people can lend you, which is very uncomfortable. also, most of what i buy and end up liking never gets made again (i imagine most people have clothes like this - not fancy at all, just not infinitely produced) so it’s not like i could just go online and replace each thing easily. if you can’t sleep in your own bed, it’s nice to at least be in your own clothes.
i used to have some of my dad’s board games from when he was a kid. if you look closely, you can see the cover to the game of life in this photo. i knew i should have gotten that fire insurance.
it’s curious what survives a fire.
@jerk_nugget Life goes on!
So glad you weren’t injured, fires flare so quickly! Scary and sad photo.
@callow yup! we were really lucky, all things considered. not only did no one get hurt in a nine alarm fire that took out our building (containing three apartments) and an even larger building next door, as well as damaging other surrounding homes, buuuuuut we also are a part of a very large and generous community so we had no end to offers on places to stay, people to help us dig through what was left, offers to feed and clothe us. a friend even had a gofundme set up before the night was out, and she raised enough money for us to get into a new apartment eventually and furnish it. the city also held a fundraiser that we were able to decline proceeds from so those that didn’t have the help we had could get a bit more. we had two friends - one a long time friend and the other, someone i had only ‘met’ through social media - cash in all their frequent flyer points to get us a hotel room for a few nights on two occasions so we could get a break from couchsurfing during the months we were homeless. i’ve said more than a few times that if it had to happen, i’m kind of glad it happened to us, in a way.
I’d say my cat, but I’m pretty sure he owns us.
Can anyone really “own” something? It’s all borrowed and one day you will give it all back.
my ding-a-ling. It’s mine but I’ll let anyone play with it
@capguncowboy
/giphy Anyone?
@capguncowboy
my Yamaha SLB-200 electric upright bass. I still don’t practice nearly as often as I’d like but it is a godsend for living in small spaces.
n00bz
@matthew Flag on the play. I believe that’s the favorite thing you pwn.
One of the random worthless mementos I refuse to part with.
In the morning, it’s my coffee maker.
Really do enjoy my Weber grill. Otherwise I guess my computer because it let’s me play games, and make stuff for money sometimes.
It used to be my car, but that’s 14 years old now. If I follow through with the Tesla Model 3, it might become my new favorite thing.
@ACraigL Same idea, but it’s my Akorn Jr. kamado grill
@ACraigL @rtjhnstn Both of those are quality meat burners. I’ll throw my Pit Boss in the grill mix but I’m keeping my Weber around for when charcoal is the only thing that will do. My dad has an Akorn, and it does everything a BGE will do (except weigh a ton and last forever) plus keeps $800 in your wallet.
My 1 sq ft of Hawaii 2!
3d printer! so much fun.
A first edition UK copy of In The Beginning Was The End by Oscar Kiss Maerth, as signed by four members of DEVO.
It’s a bizarre, fucked up pseudoscience text, but it was also influential on DEVO’s music and aesthetic. I’ll never forget the reaction of each band member when they saw it, especially the late Bob Casale: “Oh, wow, you have the book!”
stuff is just stuff.
all of it could be replaced by other stuff.
some of it nearly identical.
“Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls:
Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing;
’twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.”
@ekw Sorry, but family heirlooms, gifts given by friends departed and mementos of a life well lived aren’t easily replaced. Living creatures outweigh inanimate objects in value, but there are plenty of “things” in my life that are wholly irreplaceable.
@moondrake no need to apologize.
we all choose the worldview that suits us best.
I am glad your things give you enjoyment, but sad that their absence would hurt you.
@moondrake and I should apologize for not being more specific.
I meant "MY stuff is just stuff."
I have accumulated lots of things, but none of them are worth more than someone would pay for them.
perhaps not an entirely surprising philosophy for someone who shops here.
@moondrake yeah, i gotta say, i absolutely hated hearing “at least it’s just stuff!” after our fire. i understood it was well meaning, and certainly we were very lucky, and even more certainly i would trade all my ‘stuff’ for a friend who recently died in a fire if it would bring her back.
but…it’s not just stuff. and it can’t all be replaced. i think if i came through someone’s home with a flamethrower and an axe they’d find pretty quickly that it’s a bit more than just ‘stuff.’ and moreso when you find yourself homeless and with no belongings, not even a toothbrush or a pair of shoes. the average person doesn’t magically become the dalai lama in these situations, and that’s okay.
of course, there are people for whom it is just stuff, and that’s totally cool too. i just didn’t like having that put on me. for me it wasn’t just stuff, it was my stuff. and i felt like i was being expected to be grateful for having all my belongings turned to dust. just throw up my hands like “it’s just stuff!” and smile. sorry, ain’t gonna happen. basically, say this about your own stuff all you want, but please don’t say it to others. (note: not a response to ekw’s OP, just going on a tangent :))
I’m constantly operating under the assumption that my apartment will burn down, yet unlike @jerk_nugget, I have no real priority plan. (And, @jerk_nugget, I hope that doesn’t come off as insensitive… I was very moved by your post).
I often save up to buy things that I really like and respect, so I have a lot of objects that are not the cheapest in their class, and that impress me to no end. Like my integrated amplifier is this wonderfully designed capacitor-powered modular system assembled in MA by one of the nicest guys in the audio business. I sunk a lot into it, and it impresses me to the point where I will occasionally open it up just to look at it, I check in on their forums, I would honestly be pretty heartbroken to lose it… but is it my favorite thing?
Photography has been a part of my life since I was positively wee — my sister let me help her out in the darkroom. Among other things, I think it’s saved my life on more than one occasion. I unfortunately have not established a film workflow in my tiny apartment, but my Fujis are the only digital cameras I’ve ever jelled with. It would crush me to lose them… but are they my favorite things?
Folks who have been paying attention on here might understand when I say I maintain three separate wardrobes worth of clothing. Again, probably life-saving. But at the end of the day, just clothes. Would be devastating to start from scratch… but I doubt it’s my favorite thing.
I really don’t know. I have a feeling I would grab my computer if my world was burning around me, just because of the data. Which, I have a half-assed but probably acceptable backup strategy in place… still. It feels immediate. I guess if I was grabbing my computer, I’d probably grab some prized possessions nearby… a Faber slide rule, an HP calculator, my Lowe receiver. All replaceable (if your German is good enough you can still buy NOS slide rules from Faber!) but all things within arm’s reach right now that I think would comfort me. That seems like a good enough criterion for a favorite thing — that which will comfort you when your world burns down before your eyes.
@brhfl absolutely not insensitive at all. i think for me it comes down to the things that, even if i were the richest person on earth, i still could not replace. (most of which had little to no monetary value.) that’s the stuff that had me digging through the rubble in that room.
i very much liked your post as well - it’s a good point, to take that which will comfort you, as the road ahead will be a bit bumpy.
My fountain pens.
@inanna Most of mine are replaceable, but my M625 Sterling/Aubergine means a lot to me, was a treat to myself when I landed my first real job. I see they’re getting to be a bit hard to come by. I also have two maroon Visconti Viscontinas, one of which was another personal reward… these are also seemingly rather rare on the used market.
May I ask what your prizes are?
@inanna
@brhfl
I love fine pens.
But my handwriting, which used to be decent, is now garbage.
I’m not sure that well designed and crafted fountain pens would have me.
It’s a toss-up between my Prius and my Truck. All I need is a cow dog to be complete. But I’m thinkin that if I unload the truck and the trailer and by an old airstream motor home and stick in a duramax and allison trans in it I can reach old hippiee nirvana. Drive that sucker up into teh mountains. Setup a perimeter, eat snake.
My favorite thing I own is my 7-foot-tall inflatable wolf, named Fenris. No, I’m not joking. Yes, he makes a great bed/gaming chair/pool float. Always fun to see peoples’ reactions when I take him out for the day!
@PooltoyWolf Oh no, the computer gods have deemed me not worthy of correctly rotated images! Oh well, you can’t win them all. Enjoy the sideways wolf toy, or tilt your head.
Click here for upright version
All my favorite things I owned are gone when the box that had them all in it was stolen when I moved recently. At least I still have my cats even though some of them are 16 and 1/2. Hmm don’t think I “own” my cats though.