The AH Coffee Shop and Reading Room 04: Come On In

[Rustyoznail]

Afternoon all

Decided to drop in for the first time. Usually American coffee (i.e Starbucks) is awful, but the brew TX has on smells pretty good.

BB, I agree with your approach. I’m smart enough to know I don’t know everything and I’m happy to learn off anyone who has more experience. We recently lost a highly experienced female building project manager because our new Director saw fit to promote her useless male underling over her, then was surprised when she left because she wouldn’t train him... A lot of my colleagues still think the same unfortunately. Idiots. They need to drink a cup of concrete and harden the fuck up.

It’s lunchtime, so Tx, put me down for a flat white and a grilled cheese sandwich please.

Russ

 

[ChloeTzang]

Hey NW, Will here, back in Cannes and and freshly rubbed down with a copy of The Sporting Life and ready to re-enter the fray. Posted earlier but then reasoned I was probably over-sharing so backed away. Anyway, Her Royal Holy Godship and I are finally back home and ready to start work again after 3 months Leave Of Absence, which means I can finally finish the story series I put aside 6 months ago to deal with the health scare and subsequent hiatus

Great that your back and have fun abusing ze insubordinates.

 

[srosa]

I do get a little paranoid (?) about sharing, the insecurity-worm gnaws at me sometimes and says 'no-one cares about your life, go tell some jokes for cryin' out loud', so I do...

TBH, I'm trembling in my boots in anticipation of the shitstorm we're about to walk into come Monday morning; last time Lori and I were out for a significant time (5 weeks due to a dispute over pay and conditions) we came back to a complete shambles, no surgical stock on-order, a severe shortage of pins, clips, sutures, sharps of all descriptions, drugs, dressings, catheters, medi-gasses, basics like laundered linens, cleaning and sterilisation supplies, everything a First-Response surgical unit needs to keep operating, and blank faces and 'not my job to order and do metrics' from every single idiot who worked there. To just put the tin lid on the day, they'd filed no surgical reports, one of their most critical tasks and our only real legal protection, or any shortages/daily use reports for operational stock the entire 5 weeks, and a sink-or-swim quality audit was due two days after we came back on board.

We only passed the audit because I cajoled, persuaded, threatened, and blackmailed everyone higher up the food chain I knew to get us resupplied to get us through the audit, and right after we scraped through by the skin of our teeth, Lori convened a series of disciplinary hearings and sacked pretty much every complacent, self-satisfied idiot who worked for her.

One of the problems with French male surgeons is that they can't take orders from a female; Lori's a hard-assed, ball-busting bitch when her orders are flouted or her deputies are disrespected, and her 2IC is a really nice young lady, a phenomenally talented surgeon, and a fine administrator, but all the men who worked for her while we were away, and who she technically outranked, all had that patronising, 'don't worry your pretty little head, poppet, the men are in charge now' attitude, and it came into force as soon as Lori walked out the door. Lori is a 'don't fuck with me' American woman, a Southerner, and a damned fine surgeon; behaviour like that puts blood in her eyes, and she reacts accordingly.

My reaction is a little more visceral; I tend to drag them into the parking lot, shake them gently by the throat, and remind them I know what they're doing with that blonde nurse in the paediatric wing, it would be a real shame if his wife found out, because under swingeing French divorce laws, he'd be spending the rest of his life eating fried spaghetti while his wife and kids spent his money in Tahiti, so shut his trap, behave his bloody self, and keep his head down and out of Lori's gunsights.

Wow! That was much better than a joke.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I do get a little paranoid (?) about sharing, the insecurity-worm gnaws at me sometimes and says 'no-one cares about your life, go tell some jokes for cryin' out loud', so I do...

TBH, I'm trembling in my boots in anticipation of the shitstorm we're about to walk into come Monday morning; last time Lori and I were out for a significant time (5 weeks due to a dispute over pay and conditions) we came back to a complete shambles, no surgical stock on-order, a severe shortage of pins, clips, sutures, sharps of all descriptions, drugs, dressings, catheters, medi-gasses, basics like laundered linens, cleaning and sterilisation supplies, everything a First-Response surgical unit needs to keep operating, and blank faces and 'not my job to order and do metrics' from every single idiot who worked there. To just put the tin lid on the day, they'd filed no surgical reports, one of their most critical tasks and our only real legal protection, or any shortages/daily use reports for operational stock the entire 5 weeks, and a sink-or-swim quality audit was due two days after we came back on board.

We only passed the audit because I cajoled, persuaded, threatened, and blackmailed everyone higher up the food chain I knew to get us resupplied to get us through the audit, and right after we scraped through by the skin of our teeth, Lori convened a series of disciplinary hearings and sacked pretty much every complacent, self-satisfied idiot who worked for her.

One of the problems with French male surgeons is that they can't take orders from a female; Lori's a hard-assed, ball-busting bitch when her orders are flouted or her deputies are disrespected, and her 2IC is a really nice young lady, a phenomenally talented surgeon, and a fine administrator, but all the men who worked for her while we were away, and who she technically outranked, all had that patronising, 'don't worry your pretty little head, poppet, the men are in charge now' attitude, and it came into force as soon as Lori walked out the door. Lori is a 'don't fuck with me' American woman, a Southerner, and a damned fine surgeon; behaviour like that puts blood in her eyes, and she reacts accordingly.

My reaction is a little more visceral; I tend to drag them into the parking lot, shake them gently by the throat, and remind them I know what they're doing with that blonde nurse in the paediatric wing, it would be a real shame if his wife found out, because under swingeing French divorce laws, he'd be spending the rest of his life eating fried spaghetti while his wife and kids spent his money in Tahiti, so shut his trap, behave his bloody self, and keep his head down and out of Lori's gunsights.

My first rule of flife when dealing with such is to stop and count slowly to 10.

Then my aim will be better...

 

[srosa]

My first rule of flife when dealing with such is to stop and count slowly to 10.

Then my aim will be better...

Ha! I think I'll need to take a page out of your rulebook.

 

[NotWise]

Happy birthday to her! Hope it hasn't rained.

It rained but, here in the desert, rain is a blessing.

My wife got the wings cooked before it set in so we had a crowd on the covered porch while we ate. We had a sun shower after that and a nice double rainbow, then it rained again after the sun went down. It's now very cool and drippy. It was a cool day to start with then, with the rain, the temperature dropped from 84 to 64.

Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same.

 

[srosa]

It rained but, here in the desert, rain is a blessing.

My wife got the wings cooked before it set in so we had a crowd on the covered porch while we ate. We had a sun shower after that and a nice double rainbow, then it rained again after the sun went down. It's now very cool and drippy. It was a cool day to start with then, with the rain, the temperature dropped from 84 to 64.

Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same.

In that case, such a nice blessing to have a double rainbow (and rain)!

I'm in the company of people much more knowledgeable than I, with knowledge much more captivating than mine, but I'll share a tidbit of the trivia I've heard related to rain:
While western dragons are associated with fire, eastern dragons are associated with rain. Consequently, in the West, dragons have historically been symbols of evil, while in the East, dragons have been symbols of good.

Here's a classic Chinese dragon story: https://www.uexpress.com/tell-me-a-story/2001/1/28/the-dragons-pearl-an-ancient-chinese

 

[beachbum1958]

In that case, such a nice blessing to have a double rainbow (and rain)!

I'm in the company of people much more knowledgeable than I, with knowledge much more captivating than mine, but I'll share a tidbit of the trivia I've heard related to rain:
While western dragons are associated with fire, eastern dragons are associated with rain. Consequently, in the West, dragons have historically been symbols of evil, while in the East, dragons have been symbols of good.

Here's a classic Chinese dragon story: https://www.uexpress.com/tell-me-a-story/2001/1/28/the-dragons-pearl-an-ancient-chinese

Three Chinese girls are talking about the men they want to marry. First girl says she wants to marry a very rich man with three dragons on his shirt. The second girl says she wants to marry a wealthy man with two dragons on his shirt. The third girl says she'll marry any bastard with one dragon on the floor. Burrrum-tish!

 

[TxRad]

Morning all. Fresh coffee all around.

I always did like Draggin' jokes. Welcome back BB. If the Paranoid Police ever came around here, I'd be the first one they would haul away. I know I bore people to tears with my boat building crap.

Yes, I am awake way too early. A certain couple of ladies have my schedule all screwed up in more ways than one. But you won't hear me complain in the least.

 

[Handley_Page]

Ah, another sighting of BB; Jolly Good Stuff !
(BtB, I'd be interested to know what happened about the non-immunised kid and the anti-vaccine parent).

We got sunshine this morning. It's all about 24hours late, but some domestic stuff got snagged by rain.

Meanwhile : coffee, please

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

Ah, another sighting of BB; Jolly Good Stuff !
(BtB, I'd be interested to know what happened about the non-immunised kid and the anti-vaccine parent).

We got sunshine this morning. It's all about 24hours late, but some domestic stuff got snagged by rain.

Meanwhile : coffee, please

Hi HP, it's good to be back home, my horses missed me, my doggo furbabies missed me, the pool missed me, but my stash of sparkly white missed me most.

As you know, Will has a hard time believing anti-vax parents can be as all-fired stupid as they are, and the absolute ass-gravy they choose to spout at the drop of a hat defeats him, but the fact kids are endangered puts him in 'Attack' mode; when kids are at risk, BB loss all sense of proportion, and his deputies literally have to hold him back from grabbing 'Karen' and her cohorts (with their 'I want to speak to the manager' hairstyles, their crackpot beliefs and supreme arrogance because 'I'm a mother and I just know injecting vaccines into my child will give them autism/AIDS/make them gay/insert idiocy of choice) and repeatedly banging their heads on the ground to knock some sense into the silly bitches.

It's appalling that Karen et al get their medical advice from their 12 minutes of google browsing/chiropractor/yoga instructor/hairdresser/some idiot woman at the nail salon instead of actually going to see, and listening to, a pediatrician who actually knows what he's talking about (but is in the pay of 'Big Pharma', so his opinion is suspect, go figure).

I think his crowning moment in dealing with these idiots was when a generic Karen showed up in his ER with a great big piece of rusty metal stuck through her little boy's foot and he tried to remove it, she actually stopped him giving the little boy a local before taking it out, saying that he was sneaking a vaccine into her precious, unsullied angel, and that Jesus and Vitamin C would prevent the boy getting tetanus, so he told her to go get Jesus to magically take it out, and by the way, wasn't Jesus killed with a rusty nail? She actually took the boy away, with that rusty marlin hook stuck through his foot (and one wonders, if she wasn't going to allow a doctor to remove it, why did she even bother coming in? The thinking processes of the truly stupid are beyond me, they say God looks after drunks and small children, maybe he's got an eye on the idiots, too...) so the triage nurse called the cops on her.

I heard through the grapevine that CPS took the boy away from her, charged her with child endangerment, and her husband hit her with a restraining order and is currently divorcing her for being an idiot and risking his son's life. His legal team asked the Region for a copy of the clinical notes as part of their 'unfit mother' suit, Will gladly authorized they be released.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

Even having been raised Christian myself, such stupid arguments as "God will prevent it" truly baffle me. I haven't met many anti-vaxers or similar people in person, and I think it's better for my sanity and their health that I don't. People usually claim that "God will prevent the disease/problem/whatever". Often my reply is "Yes, by teaching humans about medicine, vaccines, etc." Praying or having faith is not wrong, but it's never a substitute for proper healthcare.

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

Even having been raised Christian myself, such stupid arguments as "God will prevent it" truly baffle me. I haven't met many anti-vaxers or similar people in person, and I think it's better for my sanity and their health that I don't. People usually claim that "God will prevent the disease/problem/whatever". Often my reply is "Yes, by teaching humans about medicine, vaccines, etc." Praying or having faith is not wrong, but it's never a substitute for proper healthcare.

You would be astounded by how many we get at our little hospital, mostly hubby, because he owns the ER. It's mainly my fellow Americans, and now Aussies; what shocks and scares me is that diseases we thought we'd effectively eradicated (polio, measles, pertussis{whooping cough}) from the western world are resurgent because of this idiotic 'God and vitamins and essential oils are all we need' mindset; one idiot even advocates 'measles parties' to infect as many kids as possible, so they'll 'get it while they're young, so it won't be too dangerous, after all, it's just a rash'; wrong, wrong, wrong; measles can be fatal in the very young, Will has seen dozens of measles fatalities in Africa, not only can measles be fatal in young, vulnerable children, it's also a gateway infection, allowing other, more serious infectious diseases to take root.

However, Karen and her friends don't believe this. 'I got measles as a child, and I survived' is the one heard most often; that's because you were vaccinated as a child, you moron, what you got was the attenuated form of the disease to teach your immune system to manufacture the antibodies that prevent further infection, just 3 or 4 days of discomfort, and it was gone. Measles kills.

Will likes to tell these people 'go to your local cemetery, look at the children's graves, notice how they disappear after about 1956. Want to know why? Because there were country-wide child and newborn vaccination programs in place by then, that's why, and that's why there aren't family plots with 4 or 5 children under the age of 3 buried there. Is that what you want to come back? Do you want to have 8 kids in the hope at least one survives? Because that's the choice your grandmother and great-grandmother faced'.

He also shows them pictures of rows of children in 'iron lungs' in the 1940's and 50's, respirators, because they'd contracted polio; he remembers children in hs primary school in England in the 60's wearing leg calipers, because of polio. Until Jonas Salk developed an effective vaccine, that was their life; there's still one or two of those poor people alive today in America, still confined to their prison because of polio, and now it's coming back, and these idiots don't seem to care. The WHO lists Anti-Vaxxers as one of the top 10 global threats to health, alongside HIV, Ebola, and Dengue Fever. This is how dangerous they're perceived to be.

 

[ishtat]

I was brought up a few miles from the tiny town (Pop 1300) of Berkeley in the West of England Berkeley is famous for 3 things:-

1 A King, Edward II was murdered in Berkeley castle by having a red hot poker shoved in his rectum.

2. The first settlement in Virginia was financed by the Earl of Berkeley and 2 Berkeleys became early colonial governors. That experiment had consequences.

3 The place where Edward Jenner(1749 - 1823) was born and developed the Scientific Basis of vaccination for smallpox with the treatment of a boy, James Phipps. It has been estimated that 150 million people are alive today directly consequent on Jenners smallpox work. There is a very small museum in the town commemerating Jenner's work. Some 20 years ago one of the first anti vaxers staged a bit of protest there. A young local woman dealt with her - rather vigorously. But there were a lot more where that idiot came from.

Jenner is hardly remembered today which is a shame as he has a claim to be the most important doctor who ever lived.

 

[Voboy]

3 The place where Edward Jenner(1749 - 1823) was born and developed the Scientific Basis of vaccination for smallpox with the treatment of a boy, James Phipps. It has been estimated that 150 million people are alive today directly consequent on Jenners smallpox work. There is a very small museum in the town commemerating Jenner's work. Some 20 years ago one of the first anti vaxers staged a bit of protest there. A young local woman dealt with her - rather vigorously. But there were a lot more where that idiot came from.

Jenner is hardly remembered today which is a shame as he has a claim to be the most important doctor who ever lived.

There was a period, when I was a child and VCRs were brand-new technology, during which I watched the animated Secret of NIMH once a day for perhaps ten months. Now that I’ve got kids, I can’t imagine why my parents allowed that; we only had the one TV.

Anyway, the villain’s name is Jenner. So I learned later about Edward, and I’ve never been able to hear or read about Edward without thinking of that movie. I suppose there are worse things than associating the word Jenner with the concept of lab rats, and I’ve often wondered whether that was the intent when the story was written.

Thanks for the memory.

 

[NotWise]

US wins! US wins! 2-0.

World Champions again.

 

[srosa]

Three Chinese girls are talking about the men they want to marry. First girl says she wants to marry a very rich man with three dragons on his shirt. The second girl says she wants to marry a wealthy man with two dragons on his shirt. The third girl says she'll marry any bastard with one dragon on the floor. Burrrum-tish!

I'm embarrassed that I don't get this. One dragging on the floor?

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

I'm embarrassed that I don't get this. One dragging on the floor?

Took me a second, but I'm pretty sure it's a dick size joke. Or else I entirely missed the point too

 

[Handley_Page]

US wins! US wins! 2-0.

World Champions again.

I would have no complaint with 1-0, but I reckon that first Penalty should not have been awarded. Don't get me wrong; the better team won. They'd have won by a lot more had it not been for the scintillating stoppages of the Dutch Goalie.

As to 'Karen' et al, to a [very] small degree, I can understand it.
When the then 'new' vaccine for just about everything childish (MMR ??) was released there was a fair bit of protest and several parents said they'd prefer the older style of separate jabs. We were told that the chance of trouble were about one in a million. My colleague's young son was the millionth, apparently. He was not a happy bunny. I do not recall what the damage to the child was.

It is strange to relate that in the middle ages, there was real opposition to whatever the 'doctors' could do; it was down to God to fix a problem.
Not come very far in six centuries or so, eh ?

But it's now time for coffee.

 

[srosa]

Took me a second, but I'm pretty sure it's a dick size joke. Or else I entirely missed the point too

If in doubt, it's a dick size joke.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

A few months ago I related a dream on this thread that seemed to amuse you. In the dream, dancers excited their "meons" when they performed well, then when their "meons" were excited it made the dancers better. If nothing broke the loop, then they reached a point of perfection and transcended.

My Nude Day story (linked in my sig) is what came of that dream. It's odd sometimes, how ideas drift.

I've only had one or two story ideas come to me in dreams in the past, but they were very original and interesting. I'd almost say the subconscious mind is better at coming up with creative ideas than the conscious one is. Huh, maybe that's why we get good ideas during showers and walks when we let our minds drift...

Anyway, this sounded really interesting so I had to read it, but I was busy so it took me a few days. Have to say, I'm impressed by your story, it was very well written. Totally crushed my hopes of winning the contest, hahaha. Not that I'd thought I had a chance before anyway, but still. Nicely done, I'll definitely be checking out some of your other stories at some point when I have the time.

 

[Rustyoznail]

I've only had one or two story ideas come to me in dreams in the past, but they were very original and interesting. I'd almost say the subconscious mind is better at coming up with creative ideas than the conscious one is. Huh, maybe that's why we get good ideas during showers and walks when we let our minds drift...

Good morning all

Just dropped in for a quick cuppa before I head off to the real world.

For some reason my best bursts of insanity hit at stupid o’clocK and keep me awake. I know if I don’t get at least the concept down it will vanish is a haze of Alzheimer’s.

The last time was a song. A lady here PM’d me with a challenge to write a fun song her acapella group could sing. At 2am I woke up with the thought to swap the words in John Denver’s “Calypso” with “My Dildo”. I hadn’t heard that song for years...

I was scared not stiff that it would vanish so I spent the next hour jotting the idea down. I don’t think I fell asleep at my desk at work...

Russ

 

[srosa]

I've only had one or two story ideas come to me in dreams in the past, but they were very original and interesting. I'd almost say the subconscious mind is better at coming up with creative ideas than the conscious one is. Huh, maybe that's why we get good ideas during showers and walks when we let our minds drift...\

"For some reason my best bursts of insanity hit at stupid o’clocK and keep me awake."

Truly. I wonder if this is related to alpha brain waves: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_wave

I love getting kinky ideas from dreams, but it doesn't happen often enough.

 

[Voboy]

"For some reason my best bursts of insanity hit at stupid o’clocK and keep me awake."

Truly. I wonder if this is related to alpha brain waves: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_wave

I love getting kinky ideas from dreams, but it doesn't happen often enough.

Alpha waves aren’t when you dream, though. Not to quibble, but alpha waves are at the very start of sleep.

 

[_Lynn_]

My daughter and I went to "The Peach Tour" today. They sell fresh Georgia peaches. Drove up to see a line of people waiting. Some of them bought several boxes, each holding 1/2 bushel. Now I'm searching for recipes to try this week.