The "What's on your mind?" Thread -2017

[Margret]

Have you ever heard of Connie Willis? She's a science fiction author who lives in Greeley Colorado, and she's won more Nebulas and Hugos than any other author ever, in every category, from short stories to novellas, to full length novels! It's gotten to the place where some authors have said she should remove her name from consideration so that someone else can win, which makes no sense to me; what good is an award with an asterisk to say that you wouldn't have won it if the best story hadn't been taken out of the competition? But, yes, Connie is that good.

Many years ago she was on a panel of female authors at a science fiction convention, and the other authors on the panel started getting on her case because she didn't write enough about Women's Issues (as if she didn't do more for women's issues just by winning all those awards in her own name than every "Women's Issue" story ever written).

Well, Connie always says you should never write when you're angry, and somehow she always breaks this rule, and she generally wins another award as a result. This time when she got angry she said to herself, "So they want women's issues, do they? Fine, I'll give them women's issues! I'll write a story about the women's issue!" and wrote a hilarious story about menstruation. It's named "Even the Queen," and it was originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, with a warning at the top that some people might find it offensive. (I found the warning offensive, but then, we all know I'm a bit strange.) It won the 1993 Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards for best short story, and you can find it in two collections that I know of: Even the Queen & Other Short Stories, by Connie Willis, and Impossible Things, by Connie Willis. Highly recommended.

Margret

 

[Alicia88]

I've heard of too many people having horrible side effects from the depo and having trouble getting pregnant afterward and whatnot and decided not to risk it since the pill always worked fine. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Haha
I'll have to look for that story after my nap.

 

[Max's Human]

I got talked into dogsitting SNOOPY, HIS people are moving and until they can prove they are good renters, NO PETS! I cannot let him go to the pound (need my head examined!) there are kids that are so broken hearted and at CHRISTMAS, it makes me tear up. BTW he has never seen a kitty. Lady Clarol send me a case of blonde coloring in case overnight I go gray. I may regrwt this but we all need a second chance.

 

[kashmir64]

I've heard of too many people having horrible side effects from the depo and having trouble getting pregnant afterward and whatnot and decided not to risk it since the pill always worked fine. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Haha
I'll have to look for that story after my nap.

The only side effect I had was gaining some weight. As far as getting pregnant, I suppose that is a problem. I had no intention, want or desire to ever be pregnant again. I hated being pregnant and I'm really not fond of kids, so it was a good choice for me. Besides, I'm way too old to be raising a child.

 

[arouetta]

Flipping through TV channels, National Geographic has some show on about killer whales, specifically them hunting prey. Apparently what they are going to be hunting on the show are dolphins. That kinda gives me the heebie jeebies, killer whales eating dolphins. Isn't that cannibalism?

 

[Margret]

Is it cannibalism for humans to eat other great apes? No, I don't think so. Is it a good idea? Not in my opinion.

I don't think killer whales think in those terms.

Margret

 

[arouetta]

Personally I do think it's cannibalism for us to eat other great apes.

 

[Alicia88]

Well, killer whales aren't really whales at all. They're classified as sharks. The name is a bit misleading. Dolphins, I think, fall in the whale category but I could be wrong. I wouldn't see it as cannibalism. And, I don't think I could ever eat a monkey. Just like I could never eat a cat or dog. My ex husband came back from his deployment to Okinawa claiming he'd tried cat while he was there. He may have been lying but I was mad at him for a long time.

 

[Blakeney Green]

Actually orcas and dolphins are in the same family.

Killer whale - Wikipedia (see the first paragraph)

I don't necessarily think I'd call it cannibalism, though. Cannibalism is a human concept that can't always be applied directly to animals in the same way.

 

[Alicia88]

Huh. Learn something new every day. But I agree - I wouldn't call it cannibalism. They're still too different. Humans are all basically the same. There aren't different species of humans or anything. Killer whales and dolphins are different enough that they can't interbreed. So, I don't think it could be cannibalism.

 

[Willowy]

My ex husband came back from his deployment to Okinawa claiming he'd tried cat while he was there. He may have been lying but I was mad at him for a long time.

I'm going to call BS on him. Okinawa is very Westernized and Japanese people don't eat cat anyway. They'd be fairly disgusted with the idea. The Philippines or Thailand, maybe. Not Okinawa. They do eat whale in Japan though :/.

Well, killer whales aren't really whales at all. They're classified as sharks

They couldn't possibly be classified as sharks. Sharks are fish; orcas are mammals. I think orcas are classified as large dolphins, not true whales, actually. Anyway, yeah, it's probably not cannibalism but still. Dolphins can be jerks, though, lol. Ah, nature, red in tooth and claw. . .

 

[Alicia88]

My ex lied about a lot of things that it seems absolutely ridiculous and pointless to lie about. Guess he learned a lot from his mother.

 

[arouetta]

Yeah, killer whales are dolphins. Just like whale sharks are sharks. I guess "whale" is simply a nice way of saying "freaking super sized specimen of this particular type of animal".

 

[Blakeney Green]

I'm considering bringing home another kitten so Toad will have a playmate closer to her age...

 

[Willowy]

I'm considering bringing home another kitten so Toad will have a playmate closer to her age...

Dooo iiittt!

LOL, we're all enablers here .

 

[Alicia88]

Always say yes to more kitties. And don't believe yourself when you say you're only taking care of them til you find them a home. Just ask Marcy. She's not going anywhere.

 

[Blakeney Green]

Always say yes to more kitties. And don't believe yourself when you say you're only taking care of them til you find them a home. Just ask Marcy. She's not going anywhere.

Oh, I know, haha! I was a foster failure with Cullen. Toad is permanent. I assume hypothetical Kitten 2.0 would be too unless the situation wildly didn't work out.

 

[Margret]

I'm considering bringing home another kitten so Toad will have a playmate closer to her age...

Dooo iiittt!

LOL, we're all enablers here

On some things. We don't enable people who want to declaw their cats, for instance.

Margret

 

[Alicia88]

Ugh, that's just sick and wrong. I had someone ask me the other day if mine were declawed and how I was gonna keep them from scratching the baby. After I told her what declawing was, she said, oh that's awful!
I like to believe that most people are just ignorant and don't know what it entails. If they were educated about it, I think they'd be less likely to do it. Of course, there are still some truly horrible people who just don't care about anything but their own convenience but I really hope they're in the minority.

 

[tallyollyopia]

I think that your cousin must be thinking of mastitis, an inflammation of the mammary glands that can occur in any mammal. Actual "milk fever" occurs in cows when the sudden onslaught of milk production strips the body of calcium, and if untreated can result in death. It can occur in dogs and cats, as well. Dunno about horses, and have never heard of it in humans. HOWEVER...some new moms experience chills and low-grade fever when their milk first comes in, and that has been referred to as "milk fever" by some people.

Now, there was something interesting that I wanted to be sure and tell you guys, and now I've forgotten it!

It's possible that the doctor miscalled it--in her area doctors sometimes (with a much greater percentage than the rest of the States) double as livestock vet-techs. I don't know that her doctor was one of them (I only know they exist because once, when I had strept as a kid, AWM took me to a doctor that was one of them), but I don't if he wasn't.

That's why I stick with a tiny pill every day. No side effects and no oops babies. Lol
I feel bad for people who have issues with the pill. One type made me a psycho, moody nutjob but I switched and was fine and just stick with that. Until we decided to have a baby, anyway. I either had a false positive test or an early miscarriage the first month after going off it and then was pregnant with this little guy the next month.

I was (briefly) one the pill back when I started college (not to prevent pregnancy, but because I was having three periods a month and doctor was trying to correct the issue since there was nothing in my lab work to explain why it was happening--I miss that doctor). First month was awesome; second month I got random full body cramps, third month I got not only the random, full body cramps but also "spacey" moments when I'd literally forget what, or how to do, what I was doing. Needless to say, I stopped--but they did fix the original problem, so points to the pill!

Have you ever heard of Connie Willis? She's a science fiction author who lives in Greeley Colorado, and she's won more Nebulas and Hugos than any other author ever, in every category, from short stories to novellas, to full length novels! It's gotten to the place where some authors have said she should remove her name from consideration so that someone else can win, which makes no sense to me; what good is an award with an asterisk to say that you wouldn't have won it if the best story hadn't been taken out of the competition? But, yes, Connie is that good.

Many years ago she was on a panel of female authors at a science fiction convention, and the other authors on the panel started getting on her case because she didn't write enough about Women's Issues (as if she didn't do more for women's issues just by winning all those awards in her own name than every "Women's Issue" story ever written).

Well, Connie always says you should never write when you're angry, and somehow she always breaks this rule, and she generally wins another award as a result. This time when she got angry she said to herself, "So they want women's issues, do they? Fine, I'll give them women's issues! I'll write a story about the women's issue!" and wrote a hilarious story about menstruation. It's named "Even the Queen," and it was originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, with a warning at the top that some people might find it offensive. (I found the warning offensive, but then, we all know I'm a bit strange.) It won the 1993 Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards for best short story, and you can find it in two collections that I know of: Even the Queen & Other Short Stories, by Connie Willis, and Impossible Things, by Connie Willis. Highly recommended.

Margret

I'd never heard of it.

On some things. We don't enable people who want to declaw their cats, for instance.

Margret

Ugh, that's just sick and wrong. I had someone ask me the other day if mine were declawed and how I was gonna keep them from scratching the baby. After I told her what declawing was, she said, oh that's awful!
I like to believe that most people are just ignorant and don't know what it entails. If they were educated about it, I think they'd be less likely to do it. Of course, there are still some truly horrible people who just don't care about anything but their own convenience but I really hope they're in the minority.

I once had an aunt (one of my uncles--and I have eleven of them on DD's side of the family) who casually mentioned declawing my uncle's cat. I defended the cat having claws in an articulate, intelligent conversation that ended with, "We all know where you live." The cat was never declawed (I have the scars to prove it), and my uncle divorced her shortly after (and he took the dog and cat with him--no way was he leaving a helpless animal with that woman).