Bunch of old sexist print ads:
https://twitter.com/michaelshermer/status/1378009014722777097
Couple examples: https://imgur.com/a/99rH1wH
Crazy stuff; can't even imagine.
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6 wowsSeattle weather is crazy. We never get lightning.
My friend (who's a very infrequent Shacker) shot this: https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/maz4n4/recorded_lightning_striking_a_plane_over_lake/ -
6 wowsI really don't know how to start this but I may as well just get it out of my system. My younger brother (35 years old) has been in the Las Vegas Trauma Center for almost exactly one month from today. He was living on his own for the last 4 years, 2500 miles away from most of his family on the East Coast.
While the details are sparse on what happened, what we know is that he was found unconscious in his bathroom, he was possibly down for over 48 hours as best as we can estimate. My mother had the intuition to call the police when he wasn't responding to texts/calls for almost 24 hours. They found him in a bad state, barely breathing and unconscious. No drugs were found on him by the police, nor in his system when they did lab testing. He took anti-depressants and struggled with depression pretty badly but there were no signs of suicide and the detective has more or less closed the case saying it was a home accident.
My mother flew out immediately and is still there today, staying in hotels in Vegas, in a pandemic. (She’s vaccinated thankfully) The situation couldn't really be worse. He was in a coma for almost 2 weeks. When all hope was lost, his kidneys completely failed, no signs of waking up, lab work was horrible, he had fevers and all sorts of other issues. The doctors / neurologist really had not much of a hope saying they support whatever decision we would make. I didn't even know how to respond to that. At that point I booked a ticket and flew out to be with him and some of my family to possibly make the impossible decision to stop dialysis and let him pass peacefully. Of course, this would have been a last resort, but I had to go out there as much as I did NOT want to fly, to see him and ask them for myself. Thankfully I had 1 vaccine shot about 15 days out at that point, I did not get sick at all. The flights were PACKED quite shockingly. Both there and home were full, with waiting lists. Not surprised at all, 'Merica!
Right before my flight, the day before, he woke up. He was barely conscious but speaking. The ICU nurses\docs were shocked, they told me they see patients like this (It’s a Trauma center in Vegas, not surprised) and most of them don't make it very far. It was clear he had brain damage from the lack of oxygen from being down for so long. When I went to visit and saw him the first time, he didn't recognize me. Completely heartbreaking, but I had a mask and hat. It’s hard to know who anyone is now-a-days with that stuff on. When I said who I was, his eyes opened so large, I won't forget that look. I almost broke down right in front of him ... I don't think anything can prepare you for something like this. I was there for about 4 days. The first day I saw him he was conscious, speaking and recognized names and my kids and other random memories. He didn't really know what day/year it was but with this much trauma it is understandable. The day before I left, he was in a comatose state. Eyes opened; he was able to look at me but could not speak. It was really tough but they assured me brain injuries had ups and downs.
Fast forward to today, he is doing much better with every day passing. They are going to close his trachea (hole in neck to help breathe) and is able to finally get off the feeding tube and start to try to learn to eat again. It’s a long road ahead to say the least. He must have lost all his muscle mass, I doubt he will be able to walk again, if not for a long long time. I really don’t know what the future holds but the logistics of the whole situation make it really tough. My sister and I thankfully were able to go to his house, pack up his stuff in boxes and find a moving company that would ship all his stuff back.
Our current goal after he is stable is to some how get him back to the East Coast (NJ) where my parents live and other family members can help. We looked up these Angel Flights and the cost was about $26,000 or so. Insurance would not cover him moving outside of where he was, or even Nevada, unless his needs could not be met. We have called many facilities over here, my mom works at a rehab center for brain injured patients, but they would require him to be stable before he was accepted and would have to get our own transportation. So that’s where we are. Certainly, he can stay at a facility out there indefinitely, but being 2500 miles away he would be alone which is probably the worst thing for a severe trauma patient.
If you made it this far, thanks for listening to my rant. When I read the shack over the past week, I got really sad. This place honestly helped keep my mind occupied like it always does. During times like these you learn what is important and how short life is. One day you’re fine, the next, who knows. I want the Shack to be here forever and I hope it will be. I honestly would never share something like this anywhere else. -
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6 wowsI first wanted to say Thank you to everyone for the well wishes and concern I have received. In the 20+ years I have been coming here I have been a part of the most amazing community I believe is on the internet. Thank you again for just being Shacknews! After I sent the pic from the emergency room I had been fighting Covid for about a week when breathing had become a challenge. They admitted me and I spent 10 days in the hospital with my blood oxygen level at a low of 84. After MRI's, chest x-rays, rounds of steroids, oxygen therapy and inhalers they finally let me go home. I had to continue on oxygen therapy for the next 2 weeks (Had equipment delivered to house) along with blood thinners to prevent a Pulmonary embolism. The meds they put me on made it painful just to be awake. Could not sit still for any period of time due to my bones hurting. When I finished my last round of meds and oxygen therapy was due to go back to work I came down with pneumonia and was out another 5 days bed bound to recover. At this point I now feel well enough to go back to work with my breathing and oxygen intake close to pre covid levels. Overall getting this virus sucked!!! The only good I take out of it was through the whole process I lost 29 pounds which brings me to my correct weight for my build, lowered my blood pressure and stopped my snoring/Sleep Apnea. My wife was happy about last one. From what I can tell thankfully my insurance has covered 100% of all expenses so far... fingers crossed. Thanks again for being so awesome Shack!
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6 wowsall-time cruelty
HuffPost employees, after a year of working through a pandemic that isn't over, were invited to a meeting today with the password "spring is here," where they were told 47 of them would be laid off. They would only know if they still had a job if they didn't receive an email by 1
https://twitter.com/LEBassett/status/1369349911620292610
there are FAR better ways to lay people off.
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6 wowsThe Big Lebowski Drone edition https://twitter.com/jowyang/status/1369264820906692609
