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I got a really bad case of the shits last night as well as excruciating abdominal pain.

Once I convinced myself that I would not piss out my asshole until after a hearty meal, I walked to the Emergency Room. Of all the toetullie kewal things I was the _only_ ER patient between 2:00 and 5:00 AM so I got the Red Carpet treatment.

They were concerned about my abdominal pain so they gave me a CT scan.

This is point at which the Roffle Copters start up their engines, their blades turning slow at first then whirling faster and faster:

The scan and some blood tests turned up that I have a garden variety case of the shits that the doc said would "resolve itself" with the aid of such over-the-counter remedies as Imodium. Too bad that I'm busted so flat that I can't buy any yet.

LOLCATS:

That same CT scan turned up a "mass" on my right kidney. The diagnostic radiologist and my ER doc both said it's most likely cancer.

But the ER doc said "It's not going to kill you as it's quite treatable. They'll just surgically remove your kidney then prescribe a course of chemotherapy."

I'm down with that as I've always hoped that the day would come that I might be completely overcome with vomiting while at the same time receiving an IV drip of Fenergin, Arnold Schwarzenegger-like anti-nausea medication.

I'll book an appointment with my Primary Care Physician just after I post this. Their scheduling people always ask _why_ I want to see her. The worse my complaint is the sooner I get seen.

I'll need a referral most likely to a Nephrologist, then that same kidney doc will give me a biopsy. I'll know from my Pathologist's report how likely I am to fulfill you sorry lot's heart's desires by perishing in indescribable agony, as well as what the best course of treatment would be.

Wish Me A Long And Happy Life!

Dying,

Mischa

Normally when I want to make yogurt, I use a thermophilic process:

1. Heat/boil a gallon of milk to kill (reduce) whatever is in it.
2. Let it cool down to about 115-120°F (45-50°C).
3. Stir in a few tablespoons of store-bought yogurt, or "back-slopped" yogurt from the previous batch.
4. Hold it at 115°F/45°C for 8 - 16 hours.
5. Store in fridge.

You can use a yogurt maker, but some Instant Pots come with a yogurt function and if your oven can keep the temperature at 115°F/45°C, then you can just put a covered pot of it in there.

I got a couple of these on clearance with the intention of using one as a starter culture. It supposedly contains these active cultures:

L. lactis subsp. lactis, L. lactis subsp. cremoris, L. lactis subsp. lactis biovar diacetylactis, Leuconostoc subsp. cremoris, S. thermophilus, L. bulgaricus, L. rhamnosus, L. casei, L. acidophilus, Bifidobacterium sp.

My bottle is almost identical (some of the names are reformatted):

L. lactis subsp. lactis, L. lactis subsp. cremoris, L. lactis subsp. lactis biovar diacetylactis, Leuconostoc spp., S. thermophilus, L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, L. rhamnosus, L. paracasei, L. acidophilus, Bifidobacterium spp.

Filmjölk is described as a mesophilic yogurt - with the strains added to cold milk, not boiled, and fermented at room temperature, i.e. 70-78°F (21-26°C). However, some of the strains listed above, such as thermophilus and bulgaricus, are clearly found in thermophilic process yogurts.

So should I just make it the thermophilic way like usual, do it at room temperature, or try to do each version? Is there a middle ground (such as keeping it warm for 4 hours, and then letting it drop to room temperature)?

Blood Moon 2018 prophecy: What is the Blood Moon prophecy and will the world end?

Nibiru is just so passé.

Welp...just got back from a doctor's appointment for some routine bloodwork. Good news is I'm down to 159 lb--this in all clothes less shoes and with a big meal in me. Bad news is, somehow, I've *shrunk* about 2 inches, and can no longer use the phrase "six-foot dyke in steel-toed work boots." I mean, "five-foot-ten dyke in steel-toed work boots" doesn't have quite the same punch to it, you know? But the measure doesn't lie: 178cm, 5'10" on the dot.

And no one can tell me WTF happened there. If my mother's any indication there's almost 20 years still to go to menopause, and I haven't lost any bone or muscle mass. A co-worker about my age says she lost an inch a couple of years ago and the doctor told her it was bad posture, but I don't slouch, so...who knows?

Odd. This bugs me more than it ought to to be honest.

First it was a deterrent. Then it wasn’t.

It was a new Justice Department policy. Then it wasn’t.

The Trump administration was simply following the law. Then it said separations weren’t required by law.

It could not be reversed by executive order. Then it was.

President Trump’s political gambit to force an immigration bill through Congress backfired Wednesday amid a series of wildly contradictory statements — which you can see for yourself in the video above — from a White House that has been without a communications director since Hope Hicks left in March.

The Trump administration changed its story on family separation no fewer than 14 times before ending the policy

Man.....if only someone had pointed that out, repeatedly, over the last few days only to have posters swear up and down that Trump was telling the truth. You all willing to admit you were wrong yet?

Alison Angel of all people. I was quite dumbfounded.

This particular photo is completely appropriate for your workplace - but no others you have been warned!

Just now a ravishingly lovely young nanny responded to my acceptance of her Friendship request by asking about my family then but minutes later letting me know that she loved me than one or two minutes more asked me to marry her.

I sincerely pointed out that I would be honored were she to accept my sincere offer of friendship.

Not long at all after that she informed me she needed me to buy her an iTunes card Right Now so I instantly blocked her.

That's the third time that I've been approached with quite likely the single most-popular romance scam.

I assert it's vitally important you learn to be a judge of character lest you fall victim to scammers.

This Means you: among my very worst experience as a consulting software engineer was getting stiffed for seven solid weeks of sixteen-hour days.

Happily my tormentor bailed and so sold her site when she was one of the very first to get the bad news that the Dot-Com Crash hit one month before.

I still have my source for a truly fascinating graphics application and have consulted experts who assert that I own its copyright because that particular client never paid me for it.

Real Soon Now you'll find it as an iPad App in the App Store. I'll drop you a dime once it's there.

XXXTentacion: Controversy rages after rapper's shooting death

The killing of US rapper XXXTentacion has set social media ablaze: vicious arguments have broken out about how to memorialise such a problematic figure, as fans pore over conspiracy theories about the perpetrator and even question if the rapper was killed at all.

Florida police have confirmed the 20-year-old, born Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, was shot dead on Monday.

Despite this, fans are probing videos purporting to show him after the shooting. Posts online point out potential discrepancies in his facial tattoos and question the lack of visible blood, bullets and shattered glass in the footage. Some suggest his death was faked as part of an elaborate prank for a future video release.

A video from several months ago of XXXTentacion denying his own death (after an apparent suicide prank on his own channel) has also re-circulated widely, leading to further confusion.

[...] He spent much of last two years in and out of jail or on house arrest.

At the time of his death he was awaiting trial for beating and falsely imprisoning his former partner, Geneva Ayala, having already pled no contest to charges of home invasion robbery and aggravated battery with a firearm in a separate case.

I made this unaccepted submission about him a few weeks ago:

Related: Spotify Removes Two Artists From Playlists Due to "Hate Content and Hateful Conduct"

On World Refugee Day, we join the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and our international partners in commemorating the strength, courage, and resilience of millions of refugees worldwide who have been forced to flee their homes due to persecution and conflict.

As global displacement has reached record levels, it is vital that new actors – including governments, international financial institutions, and the private sector – come to the table to assist in the global response to address it. The United States will continue to be a world leader in providing humanitarian assistance and working to forge political solutions to the underlying conflicts that drive displacement.

I mean, sure, we'll send your children to an internment camp for the crime of applying for asylum. But, other than that, the US is totally down to help!

United States Commemorates World Refugee Day [www.state.gov]

Elder Scrolls VI Officially Announced

The revelation of The Elder Scrolls VI at this year's E3 came as a complete surprise for most gamers, since no one was really expecting news about the open-world adventure. The teaser trailer is only 36 seconds long, and it opens up with a foggy flyby of a large mountainous area.

[...] Unfortunately, there is no gameplay, no details on the characters, no information on the story, and nothing about the mechanics, physics, or technology other than that game director Todd Howard revealed that the current generation of home consoles are not not powerful enough to run the game, including the Xbox One and PS4.

I take this to mean that Xbox One X and PS4 Pro are also not powerful enough.

Recently it was leaked that Microsoft was working on various products, including the next Xbox "Scarlett" for around 2020. There were no technical details. However, there have been reports about the AMD CPU and graphics architecture that will be used in PS5 (and maybe Xbox):

PS5 Possibly uses AMD Ryzen CPU as Sony Appears to be Actively Working with the Tech – Rumor

Sony working with AMD on PS5 gear

What we might see is the same 8 core count in these consoles, except using more powerful Ryzen cores, possibly on the 7nm GlobalFoundries/TSMC node. Maybe they will have 2 threads per core instead of 1.

Here's a bit of Navi news:

AMD’s Navi will be a traditional monolithic GPU, not a multi-chip module

Coyote and apple in rural New Mexico