Shacknews LoL

Researchers put little hats on cats to measure their brainwaves

https://www.popsci.com/technology/cat-hat-science/

my husband would've loved this :(

To clear my name, I went through normal check out and was talking to the clerks when they asked about the new dog toy I was buying.


Toy in action this afternoon https://i.imgur.com/hgjP4UC.jpeg


They forgot to scan the lower towels on the cart on their side, and I didn’t catch it either. Receipt checker then caught it

RIP Game Informer

https://www.gematsu.com/2024/08/game-informer-shuts-down-after-33-years

Comic Book Menz

https://i.imgur.com/BRdJR2W.jpeg

The best time to retrieve your comics from your parent's basement crawl space before a 40 year old pipe leaks on it is yesterday

Spent the evening at the children's emergency hospital. My daughter fainted and did some weird posturing with her fists clenched and arms rigid. Only out for a few seconds. They've done all kinds of tests and poked and prodded her about and concluded it was just a 'common faint'. So seems to be nothing serious! It's almost midnight and I just got home with her. Phew. Absolutely terrifying for a few hours though.

She's got a bit of bump on her head from headbutting the radiator on the way down but is otherwise perfectly back to normal and happy to get a day off school tomorrow.

This weekend was my daughter’s second big dance showcase. This is where this one local dance studio brings all their classes and dancers and teams together to put on a bunch of dances / one big show.

My daughter is about to turn 6 so her performance was very basic but whatever - she had fun. And we haven’t been doing this long enough to know anything but the positive side of this world. I have a general perception that dance teams and dance moms and dance competition can get intense but this group seems really chill and supportive. There are some really athletic talented dancers and some - much like my kid - not so much. But they make it work. And this weekend I saw what could have been a complete disaster handled in a way that made me think not all humans suck butt.

As part of this showcase they had some of their seniors do their senior finale solo pieces and these things were impressive. Obviously these kids have worked for years and know wtf they are doing. It is a big deal for them. One girl came out to “Ain’t no sunshine…” and was killing it but during her spin her top started to ride up. She fixed it mid routine and kept going and then - total wardrobe malfunction. She exited the stage gracefully and they announced they would jump ahead but she would come back.

A few songs later she’s back in a new outfit and all of her teammates and coaches are side stage cheering her on. You can tell she’s on the emotional edge and the crowd knows it too. So they really start cheering her on and by the time her routine is over everyone is clapping and cheering for her and she was even smiling. She want from embarrassment the likes of which I would only wish on my worst enemies to happy and proud. Again - it made me feel good about people and feel good about giving these people money for my daughter to dance. These people don’t suck - which is good.

Oh it gets better!!!

My oldest just now :

https://i.imgur.com/iuAt7H6.jpg

This is Todd. He eats bugs by our pool every night.

https://i.imgur.com/dFal7o7.jpg

I'm going to complain / vent a bit.

This past year has been the worst year of my life by far, which isn't that bad, I guess it just shows how lucky I have been to have had a really great life so far.

But it has still been tough for me since everything is relative. Since November :

-Kids have had lice 3 times, 3!!! Never had it before, school keeps having outbreaks. Each time that's a week of cleaning and tons of money for laundry and the lice treatment
-My wife and I have tried to go on 3 trips, all cancelled. November cancelled due to lice, January (Costa Rica) cancelled due to covid, April (Mexico) cancelled due to my new health issues since I'm not allowed to drive or fly, finances are already tight so losing some $ on those sucks.
-Whole family had covid twice, ruining holidays and our trip
-My anti vax side of the family cut us and everyone else off which means we don't get to see my mom anymore
-I most likely started having TIAs 5 weeks ago, so constant tests and figuring that out, but it looks like blood thinners for life
-Past 3 weeks, one kid had strep, turned into scarlet fever, 2 kids had stomach virus (separate occasions), one had influenza, and now today my wife wakes up with the stomach virus
-For many reasons, in my 20 years of working so far, it has never been this discouraging for me

It has just been a never ending shit storm and every time my wife and I try to get away for a break, something goes wrong.

Me not being able to drive means my wife has to do everything, bless her :( Hopefully that changes soon.

Anyways I don't have anywhere to vent but here, so this is a bit therapeutic for me.

This place is a daily positive for me so thank you everyone.

❤️