Jessica Roy at NYMag reports:
A 10-year-old goldfish was going to die from a brain tumor if it didn’t undergo a complicated operation. Knowing their beloved pet could live for 20 more years if the surgery was successful, George the goldfish’s owners decided to pony up hundreds of dollars to save the little guy….
Pictures at the link. I’ll admit, I was seriously curious as to how a fish could be safely anesthetized!
***********
Apart from secretly feeling a little superior better about one’s own “frivolous” pet-care expenditures, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
beltane
What a coincidence! Just the other day I went to feed my son’s two goldfish and found one goldfish and one goldfish head.
sm*t cl*de
I hope the poor thing’s long-term memory has not been impaired by the tumour or the surgery.
Southern Beale
Wow. We had, like, 14 goldfish die this spring in our koi pond from some mysterious malady. The koi all survived but only one goldfish made it.
The most I did was call the outdoor aquatics place and ask if they could diagnose if I brought in a corpse. They said they needed a live fish because parasites will flee a corpse. So that was that.
I feel awful now.
Baud
Next week on SyFy: Sharktopus vs. Goldfish Brain.
Betty Cracker
Just read this story about a bankster prick who shot and killed his neighbor’s dog for excessive barking…and killed a dog that wasn’t the chronic barker. He bonded out and is now home awaiting trial. Fucking psychopath. He’s damn lucky he’s not MY neighbor, because I’d be sorely tempted to board his windows, nail his door shut and set his house on fire.
The Other Chuck
It cost “hundreds” … so probably less than what it costs to get my cat’s teeth cleaned. Sure, why not?
MomSense
I am showing some of my knitwear designs this weekend at the Common Ground Fair so I’ve been busily preparing which is thankfully keeping me busy. I showed my boys one of the hats and they all asked me if I would make one for them–so success!
My beloved cat is still missing and it is just killing me. Not knowing is the worst part.
Any news on Jacy or Mnemosyne? I’m keeping them in my thoughts and sending healthy wishes their way.
mai naem mobile
A goldfish? For real? How do they even tell the difference between them?
Starfish
MomSense, do you have any patterns on Ravelry?
MomSense
@Starfish:
Not yet. Still putting photos together. Will hopefully release patterns soon — in time for winter knitting.
Hungry Joe
It’s 105.4 in my back yard — second-hottest temp I’ve ever recorded. (San Diego, about five miles inland.)
Was out door-to-door canvassing on Sunday, trying to convince people not to sign the Chamber-of-Commerce-funded petition to override the City Council ordinance raising the minimum wage and instead put it on the ballot in 2016. At the very least it would delay the (modest) increase, which would go into effect next year, till 2016. Signature-gatherers have been caught on camera lying to people — “Yes, this will raise the minimum wage” — but apparently there’s nothing that can be done about it. They get paid by the signature, and rumor has it (and there you go!) that it’s now up to $10 a signature.
I canvassed for less than an hour and half before the heat got to me. It was about 99, 100 degrees, and I’m not as young as … you know. Plus, nasty comments are harder to laugh off when you’re wiped-out hot and miserable.
I’m now in my office with the A/C on. The two smart cats and the dog are with me; Simple Cat is running around outside, in the sun.
Baud
Even the liberal Newsmax
BGinCHI
I guess if you can’t eat it, you might as well fix it.
Dog On Porch
He got taken. I’d of charged him $10 tops.
Hal
I watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier last night for the first time on demand, and it was great. One of the best films I’ve seen all year. If you like action/thrillers, spy movies, super hero films, or all of the above, this film is for you.
Also, Robert Redford should have used sunblock in his younger days. He looked like a walking advertisement for sun damage in the film.
dmsilev
@sm*t cl*de:
How could you tell?
Calouste
@Hungry Joe:
$10 per signature? Seems like you can get a lot more than minimum wage by doing that. So people can create better-than-minimum-wage jobs by suggesting that the minimum wage should be increased.
JPL
The house I purchased six years ago had a pond and it’s not fun coming home with a heron on your roof licking his lips. I lost more koi and goldfish to the greedy bastard. When I gave up on the pond and filled it in with dirt, the heron came back and mourned. Sometimes nature sucks.. just saying
@MomSense: My sons cat returned after months, scruffy and dirty, so don’t give up hope. I’m so sorry though.
jayboat
@Hal:
Agree on Redford… wonder what the hell happened? Every recent photo I’ve seen of him looks like he’s been taking wrinkle pills. I guess some people just age quicker/differently than others?
In a funny note, it seems some Ukranian protesters tossed a politician into a dumpster today. Great idea.
shelley
@MomSense:
Momsense, do you sell them online?
Trollhattan
Two water-related tidbits from California: Jerry signed the groundwater bill, making farmers and Republicans mad, and Reclamation is releasing water into the Klamath River because migrating salmon are becoming diseased, making farmers and Republicans mad.
kindness
How big was that Goldfish? Gotta weigh out which costs more, the Neurosurgery for the fish or the potential Plumber costs associated with clearing out the plugged pipes.
JPL
@Trollhattan: Well Anne’s title was happy news, but Lincoln, T.R. and Nixon would make the repubs mad. In fact, the real Ronny, not to be confused with St. Ronny, would make them mad.
They are sociopaths.
Hungry Joe
@Calouste: Well, you tell people who want the minimum-wage to be increased that that’s what the petition will do; you tell people opposed to the minimum wage just the opposite — anything to get them to sign. So it’s kind of a skilled position.
SatanicPanic
@Hungry Joe: How does a petition of 38K people override a council vote? That’s insane.
ETA- I hate the ballot system and these stupid petitions. arrrrgggh
Julie
Haha…guess what percentage of Americans according to a new CNN poll are worried about getting Ebola? They probably think it is coming across the border, along with the ISIS terrorists.
Trollhattan
@Julie:
Sounds like a new Monster or Gatorade flavor: “IsiBola Mega-Killa Ultima Blu Ice” “Now, with chia extract”
JPL
@Julie: Twenty sever percent?
do I win a prize?
ThresherK
I guess my question is, What is the biggest pet one could buy a replacement of before the kid gets home?
Grew up with dogs, now a cat person, so no experience with that cliche.
Hungry Joe
@SatanicPanic: Actually, they only need 34,000 signatures — that’s <3% of the population. But the whole initiative process is insane; at the very least it should be illegal to pay petition gatherers. Corporations/big business/Chamber of Commerce can pour money into initiatives and override the decisions of elected officials.
If they get enough signatures, and the measure goes on the ballot, hold on tight when the big-money tsunami to defeat the minimum-wage increase hits the shore. "It will destroy the economy!" — right. Just like it did every other time it's been raised over the last 65 years. Should have stayed at $0.25/hr, I guess.
Death Panel Truck
It’s been done. Our veterinarian did it in 1997.
MomSense
@JPL:
I hope he comes back!!!
@shelley:
I’ve sold some things on ETSY and am working now to make a website, link to ETSY and Ravelry and set up paypal. Hopefully everything will be done by the end of this month. Most of my designs are for young adult males and teens but I have some accessories for women, too.
Bill Arnold
@JPL:
There are Great Blue Heron decoys sold. Don’t know if they work; supposedly large herons like great blues don’t like to hunt where other herons are hunting. (I’m assuming a small lined pond.)
I have a folk-art decoy made of welded shovel/rake and other metal pieces, painted blue and a little red, about 3 feet tall.
D58826
Health related from Will Bunch
Much of the American electorate does seem to be dumber than a large bag of rocks and they truly deserve to get what they voted for. It’s just the rest of us have to suffer along.
In the same vein, a House committee is about to issue a report blaming the Obama administration for not reacting more forcefully to the GM ignition switch issue. These are the same Goopers who want to eliminate the regulatory state and have been cutting agency funding wherever they can.
Villago Delenda Est
Noisemax strikes again:
Sounds like German’s just war against the Bolsheviks. Greater Israel must be Palestinianrein!
JPL
@Bill Arnold: It was a great blue. There is a large pond behind me and since my little man made thing was in the path, nothing helped. Those colorful things are ripe for eating. I miss running the falls but not the other stuff.
Villago Delenda Est
@D58826: Stupid woman should be forced to take a long walk off a short pier.
Actually, no need to force her. She’ll do it herself to spite her own health.
There’s no cure for stupid this profound.
Villago Delenda Est
@Julie: 27%?
JPL
@D58826: I read that article earlier and part of me wants to say wtf. The other part wants Grimes to say you will lose your coverage if Mitch gets his way .
SatanicPanic
@Hungry Joe: Hopefully the electorate that put these councilmembers in office will vote for the increase. It will be 2016, so that’s in our favor.
Hal
@D58826:
In other words, President Obama is personally responsible for the animosity and hatred some of these people have shown him from day one. One of the things I’m really looking forward to when HRC is President is the number of people who will say she is a uniting the country without mentioning the overt and covert racism and animosity directed at the previous President from Congress and many of their constituents.
BTW Ms. Evans, if the President didn’t care, you wouldn’t have insurance in the first place. Reminds me of a cousin who voted for Romney the last round because she is having trouble finding a job as a public school teacher. I didn’t even have the energy to tell her Republicans don’t care of public school education.
Howard Beale IV
The top insurer in the MN Exchange decides to opt out for 2015, and the top advertiser for the Vikings pull their support after l’affiare Peterson.
On the plus side, the Twin Cities GDP total exceeded Metro Detroit’s GDP. Sorta like damming with faint praise, but….
Howard Beale IV
@jayboat:
Somewhat similar thing happened on a Pakistani Airlines flight with an ex-ministers.
Howard Beale IV
@JPL: Too bad you couldn’t have put a screen across it just to piss ’em off.
Hungry Joe
@SatanicPanic: Yeah, I think it’ll have a good chance of passing. But even so, the implementation of the minimum-wage increase will have been delayed a year, and workers need — desperately need — that increase right now.
Heartless, soulless C of C bastards and their cronies … Sometimes I want to impose Villago Delenda Est-esque solutions on all of them.
Gene108
@D58826:
Republicans have been great at using people’s innate tendency for “tribalism” to split the electorate. A tribalism that is both about being told how great you are and how terrible other people are, as much as it has to do with regional loyalty.
Every major national Democrat, for the last 40 years, is an out of touch, effeminate or just plane female, liberal god hating heathen hell bent on destroying your way of life.
The people, who vote Republican do not care about much about anything other than keeping those “evil others” for threatening their way of life.
I think it started in earnest with Reagan, who sucked out to the racist shitstains like Falwell, Robertson, et. al., so those “men of faith” could convince their flocks to vote against Carter, the Evangelical southerner, because Carter told them to conserve energy.
Ever since any prominent Democrat has been turned into a caricature of him/her self in the minds of conservatives, whether it is either Clinton, Ted Kennedy, to Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid.
There’s no way to reason with the tribalism. These people want sunshine blown up their ass and to be told it’s raining, when the rich and powerful piss all over them.
Mike J
@jayboat:
So rather than those eeeeevil politicians, how would you handle lawmaking? Do away with representative democracy altogether?
rikyrah
@Hal:
Saw it this weekend. Really enjoyed it.
rikyrah
@D58826:
these are folks that are…
say it with me, boys and girls…
ARE CLINGING TO THE WHITENESS….
Gene108
@Hal:
I think there’s going to be a trade off from racism to sexism, if Hillary is the President.
The question is will the sexism be as overtly hostile as the racism has been towards President Obama?
SFAW
@Howard Beale IV:
Big deal. The combined GDP of yours truly plus Mrs. SFAW probably exceeds that of Metro Detroit.
Mrs. Whatsit
@MomSense: Oooh..I have a teen son and have a hard time finding things to knit for him. When you’re all set up online, let us know. I’m just a lurker, but here every day.
Howard Beale IV
@SFAW:
So your and yer missus’s GDP is $213,466,000,000?
Roger Moore
@SatanicPanic:
If you get enough signatures, you can call for a referendum. It doesn’t override the council vote per se, but it does put it up for a popular vote, and implementation is postponed until after the vote.
Kropadope
@Gene108: You want tribalism? Make a comment here about not supporting a D nominee in the general election.
SFAW
A question for our resident Floridian Front Pager (i.e., Betty):
Did Crist hire Bob Shrum to run his campaign? Or is Crist just naturally a fuck-up? I’m guessing the latter, given his track record over the last 10 years, but I live kinda far away. But given some of the latest polling, Rick Scott will have to get caught sodomizing and then strangling a bunch of (white) 10-year-olds to lose the election.
SFAW
@Howard Beale IV:
Yeah, within 6 or 7 orders of magnitude.
Suzanne
@Hal: If HRC becomes president, she’ll be dividing the country with her boobs, or her vag, or something. We will just get to find out that rich white dudes hate women as much as they hate black people. It will be….progress?
@JPL: Can herons lick their lips?
Kropadope
@Suzanne:
Accuracy is important.
SFAW
@Kropadope:
I hear Amazon is having a sale on clues. You might consider going there and picking one up.
raven
Bohdi’s teeth extraction last week cost about $425. We have health insurance on him and they are going to pay about 80%. I don’t feel bad at all.
Jay C
@Gene108: @SFAW:
You betcha! Oh, it may not be articulated in quite the same manner, but I would hazard a well-educated guess that a putative President Hillary Clinton would face, on a political level, precisely the same fanatical, die-hard oppositionism from Republicans that President Obama did. Not just because of race or sex (though those factors certainly do push buttons among the GOBP) . Mainly because today’s Republicans are still operating off the 1994 Gingrich-era playbook: i.e., they do not, will not, and probably cannot ever, under any circumstances, allow that ANY liberal/Democrat/non-conservative Republican can have ANY legitimacy to govern the USA ever. EVER. No matter what the results of elections (perceptions unconscionably skewed by liberal-media propaganda, doubtlessly).
chopper
@SFAW:
Or, as we in the sciences call it, ‘close enough’.
SFAW
@chopper:
Aye, laddie. I are a injineer, and “within a reasonable approximation” encompasses a wide range of values.
On the other hand, dmsilev’s work is some high-end (i.e., advanced, and requiring high precision) shit, so my brand of engineering wouldn’t come close to cutting it.
Mary G
We jjust had some kind of microburst of rain and wind that had to be seen to be believed. It was sunny and still (flag hanging limply on the wingnut’s house) across the street, and sunny skies on all sides in the distance.
But the back of my house was getting poured on, and the wind gusted so hard it flung Higg’s boogie board about twelve feet down the driveway, blew plants off shelves and generally made a huge mess. Higgs opened the door and a whole bunch of leaves and shit blew in. He said the gust felt like it was 65 mph.
So nice to have rain, but not so much the violent winds.
Howard Beale IV
@SFAW: Speaking of total fuckups (present company excluded), Fast Eddie has extended a $400 million dollar short-term line of credit to Sears Holdings (of which he’s the CEO) for general corporate purposes,
This comes after Fitch Ratings downgraded Sears Holdings’ credit rating to CC status, meaning “default of some kind appears probable.”
SFAW
@Howard Beale IV:
I, for one, will be sad when Sears shuts down for good.
Hungry Joe
JUST IN: Opponents of the minimum-wage hike in San Diego say they have enough signatures to force a vote — and delay implementation.
Petitions will be checked carefully, of course, and we worked hard to find hoodwinked people who had signed the petitions and get them to sign recisions, but the Forces of Greed probably got 34,000 legit signatures. Bastards.
SFAW
@jayboat:
Not a ton of 77-year-olds out there that look better (without a facelift) than he does, I’m a-guessin’.
shelley
@Mary G: Microbursts are scary shit. Can be worse than wind shear. Glad you still got power.
SFAW
@Hungry Joe:
Are they full of passionate intensity?
lamh36
WTF!!! Stay fuckin’ classy Texas!
Business defends controversial President Obama sign
Hungry Joe
@SFAW: Surely some revelation is at hand …
SFAW
If the surgical team was Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, and Dr. Howard, they probably used the well-known “bop on the noggin” technique.
SFAW
@Hungry Joe:
I’d check to see if there is, but I’m not done slouching yet (although I did shave this morning).
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@SFAW: The Drs. Gumby would approve.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
@jayboat: @Hal:
I ran into him (almost literally – we were both heading for the same airplane restroom) about 30 years ago, and was shocked then at how wrinkly and aged he looked up close. I think he’s only reached the point in recent years where no amount of makeup can disguise it on screen.
The Moar You Know
@Hungry Joe: I was at a gas station out in Penasquitos Sunday and some guy came up to me and asked if I wanted to sign a petition to “increase the minimum wage in San Diego”. Now, for a variety of reasons I do not ever sign this petitions. And I did not sign this one.
But it seems that you are definitely correct in surmising that shenanigans were going on with the signature gathering.
JPL
@Howard Beale IV: I did and I even bought a pellet gun to scare him off…
@Suzanne: Maybe not but it did leave his mark on the roof.
It’s a beautiful bird though.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
My brain hurts too.
Bex
@MomSense: Have you put some old clothes outside in case kitty is hiding somewhere near your house and might be attracted to your scent?
khead
@D58826:
That is one sorry fucking story. Welcome to Appalachia.
scav
Those Ukranian protesters who tossed a politician into a dumpster? This judge from Chicago awards them a few extra points for originality, possibly finally weaning slowly away from those dreary and inevitable busses. Also, for echoes of my favorite technique: defenestration (although landing in the dung heap was probably apocryphal).
MomSense
@Bex:
That’s a good idea. We’ll try it. If there’s one thing we always have, it’s laundry.
khead
@MomSense:
Sorry to hear about your kitteh. We have 3 indoor cats and the thought of any of them getting outside is a nightmare.
Gex
@The Moar You Know: I believe there was a court finding in some state not too long ago where they found that the people who gather these signatures can indeed lie about what the petition says. I think they were even given sheets to read that lied about what they were signing.
It’s enough to make me just want to say uncle.
Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)
@MomSense:
I’m here and everything’s fine — no abnormalities. I came home, slept, had lunch, and slept some more. Even the prep wasn’t as bad as I feared, but it got very boring to be camped out in the bathroom for a full 8 hours.
We heard from jacy yesterday and it sounded like the best possible news — the doctor told her that the tumor was completely encapsulated and couldn’t spread anywhere.
Howard Beale IV
@SFAW: True fucking story: I worked at a Sears subsidiary that got spun off before Fast Eddie sucked them up and formed the disaster now known has Sears Holdings. One of the jokes that occurred was when you entered the CEO’s name (at the time) in the search box in the online system it popped up the the DVD “Jackass: The Movie.”
SFAW
@Howard Beale IV:
CEO’s like him depress the shit out of me.
Howard Beale IV
@MomSense:
At least cats and dogs have homing instincts. Ferrets? forget it.
Anne Laurie
@Gene108:
Considering some of the sexism that our own BJ progressives have already spat out, I’m not really looking forward to seeing the depths that will be plumbed by the NewsMax-reading public. At least Hillary Clinton has already heard all that filth already…. but I’m glad I’m not one of the Secret Service agents who’ll be assigned to keeping an eye on the MRA stalkers!
Betty Cracker
@SFAW: I’m not in panic mode yet; there are reasons to doubt the latest poll showing Scott ahead; it may well be an outlier. Scott has dumped loads of ads because he has almost unlimited cash, and from what I understand, Crist plans to mostly hold fire until the election is closer.
Still, yeah, it is appalling that Scott can crack 10% since he’s an evil, arrogant, unlikeable, autocratic, incompetent boob who purchased the office outright and proceded to fuck up on numerous fronts. People can’t seem to stand either candidate.
I still think Crist will win, but I’m not as certain of it as I once was. Turnout will be the key. I will be dragging fellow Dems to the polls bodily, if necessary.
The Moar You Know
@Gex: I just don’t sign petitions. You don’t know what’s going to be done with that info. I’ve had one friend whose identity theft was likely from a petition signing, and another who was enrolled into the Communist Party as a result of signing one. Which would normally be no big deal, but there are a few professions that specifically state you cannot be a member of the Communist Party (teachers are one of those groups and my profession is another) and his happened to be one of those professions. No permanent harm was done to him, but frankly if you want legislation introduced or passed there are better ways than signing a sheet of paper.
Scamp Dog
@mai naem mobile: well, one used to have a big bulgy spot on his head…
Jay C
@Howard Beale IV:
Minus debts and obligations?
And future liabilities, funded and unfunded?
And realistic valuations of civic “assets” *?
Guess that $213 Big might come down to household levels after all…
*But not the DIA: art museums are (well, really should be) priceless…..
Howard Beale IV
@SFAW: I was at Sears when the entire culture changed – it was was ugly mess . And when Fast eddie bught then he had no fucking idea what the hell he was doing-he thought he could pull the same shit he did when he bough KMart’s debt and real estate. He’s gone through several CEO’s and now he’s the CEO, and he has no clue what the fuck he’s doing. He was waiting for Sears to spin off their credit card portfolio which was the real thing the kept Sears alive for so long-at least Sears knew how to leverage that – sure, Eddie is rich, but when it comes to retail, he’s fucking clueless.
Randy P
Only place I ever ran into the concept of goldfish surgery was in this Raymond Chandler story, and I always wondered if that was ever something people really bothered doing for real. I had figured maybe it was a thing in the 30s or something.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Scamp Dog: Gorbachev?
Howard Beale IV
@Jay C: Well, the local fishwrap here trumpted that our GDP was greater the Metro Detroit’s.
Howard Beale IV
Gaaah.
Steeplejack
@Mary G:
How is Higgs doing? Haven’t seen him post here in quite a while.
HeartlandLiberal
I think it worth the $15 a month I am paying for hyper thyroid pills to help our Maine Coon mix cat Buckaroo Banzai get a few more years of quality life. A dearer, sweeter, more affectionate and cat will not be found in the known universe. A small price to pay to prevent premature blindness and organ failure because the thryoid has gone into overdrive.
To be honest, I could have hacked up a monetary furball of over a grand, and had the thryoid zapped with radiation. This is sort of a gamble that he will die before the cost of the pills and occasional blood tests exceeds the cost of radiation therapy.
I of course did not tell Buckey that part of the equation.
SFAW
@Betty Cracker:
I will try to remain calm and all that, but I can’t recall ever seeing anything from Crist that would make me think that the “fire” he’s holding will amount to much. And, at some point, if Scott’s perceived lead becomes really large, then Crist supporters could conceivably say “Why bother?” before Election Day.
I would have thought that Crist would have been hammering Scott from the moment he announced – when you’re opponent’s down, keep kicking him – but maybe New England doesn’t get to see all the attacks Crist has been leveling. (Although, given your comment about holding fire, I’m guessing Crist has been attacking using his army of Cricket Commandos.)
SFAW
@Howard Beale IV:
Still not sure how you really feel about him – don’t hold back!
Betty Cracker
@SFAW: Crist has been attacking Scott, but I don’t think he’s spending as much on ads — yet. Crist was a fairly popular governor here — far more popular than Scott ever was, even on election day 2010. But Crist left that office to pursue a US Senate seat, switched to Independent after Rubio beat him in the GOP primary and lost badly and then switched to Democrat to take on Scott.
People think — not without justice! — that Crist will say or do anything to get elected. Of course, the sin of being self-serving is NOTHING to the sin of being a crooked prick like Scott.
But all that baggage is dragging Crist down badly. I just hope to god not badly enough to give us a second Voldemort administration. Even the Republicans hate Scott, but they are disciplined enough to show up and dutifully vote R. You have to hand it to them (with the pin pulled, of course).
SFAW
@Betty Cracker:
Thanks for the detailed explanation. I hope Voldemort is limited to one term.