I'm more broken than you

[Drunk Monk]

No prematurity on D00M since ED stopped posting...

[Greg]

Foot pain has made me skip the morning walk. This morning I could probably power my way through the pain but last night it was on fire. I'm not sure if the pain is Diabetes related or just pain due to overwork.

Aging sucks.

[Drunk Monk]

Ouch.

My toe still isn’t quite right and I’m wondering if it’s diabetes related. Do they do anything if it is? Western medicine I mean. I believe iaido is good for my feet because it’s a barefoot practice. There’s also a lot of kneeling and rising from kneeling which I believe is good for my knees. These are my beleifs. Don’t ruin them.

[Greg]

What's the nerves are dead, they are dead. No going back. That's why it is important to stave off such damage.

I'm hoping the foot is a touch of the Plantar. If I go to the doctor, I'm sure they'll will advise me to stay off my feet. But walking is a huge part of my weight loss regimen. Weight loss does a great job of minimizing my diabetes. It's a vicious circle.

Don't get Diabetes, kids.

[Drunk Monk]

There are no kids here. But yeah, diabetes sux

[thatguy]

Perhaps it just needs cheese...


https://boingboing.net/2023/06/21/the-lo...nt-be.html

The long-frozen Yeti at Disney World's Expedition Everest ride can be fixed, but it won't be

Ruben Bolling
6:00 am Wed  Jun 21, 2023 
On Disney World's rollercoaster ride at Animal Kingdom, Expedition Everest, you'll have a frightening encounter with a Yeti. But don't worry — it hasn't moved in about 17 years.
When the ride opened in April, 2006, the animatronic Yeti figure would swing its arm down, swiping at your vehicle as it passed. But only a few months into the ride's operation, it broke, and Disney shut down the figure's movement. From DWD News Today:

Unfortunately, the Yeti has been in "B-mode" for almost its entire existence. Just a few months after Expedition Everest opened, the animatronic's framing split. If it were to continue operating in its moving "A-mode," it could damage the structure further. A strobe light is instead shone on the figure to give it the illusion of movement, and its since been dubbed "Disco Yeti."

The head Imagineer for Animal Kingdom at the time, the genius Joe Rohde, promised in 2013 that he would fix it, saying,

"You have to understand, it's a giant complicated machine sitting on top of, like, a 46-foot tall tower in the middle of a finished building. So, it's really hard to fix, but we are working on it. And we continue to work on it. We have tried several 'things', none of them quite get to the key, turning of the 40-foot tower inside of a finished building, but we are working on it… I will fix the Yeti someday, I swear."

But Rohde left Disney in 2021. When asked today on Twitter what it would take to fix the Yeti, he answered in RohdeSpeak: "There are solutions. There are not opportunities."

[twitter]https://twitter.com/Joe_Rohde/status/https://twitter.com/Joe_Rohde/status/1671192578761412608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1671192578761412608%7Ctwgr%5E7cf2fc345bcc5e71475156135d7b292264285f7c%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fboingboing.net%2F2023%2F06%2F21%2Fthe-long-frozen-yeti-at-disney-worlds-animal-kingdom-can-be-fixed-but-it-wont-be.html[\twitter]

Some Disney experts say that the Yeti malfunction precludes the ride from being considered one of the all-time greats. How could it be if it climactic effect has been broken for almost all of its 17-year existence?
Yet, as disappointed as I am in that flaw, I still count Expedition Everest among the best rides ever. Its queue, evoking an Asian expedition office with posters, reference books, and displays, sets the scene perfectly. And it's a thrilling ride with an actual, fun storyline.
I rode Expedition Everest in 2006, while the Yeti figure was in full fearsome movement, and I fell in love with the ride. But I rode it as recently as March, and was impressed that as cheap as the fix is, between the Yeti's loud roar, the bright strobe effect, and the vehicle's own movement, it does simulate the Yeti's startling movement fairly well.
You're going fast when you pass it, so your view of the Yeti is pretty impressionistic, whether it's in A or B mode.
In fact, if I had any complaint, it would not be the immobile Yeti, but rather the fact that when the vehicle came to a stop at a certain point in the ride, I've had time to see in the simulated snow a rusty speaker, and some garbage, including hair ties, that previous riders discarded.
Here is a ridethrough video of Expedition Everest as it runs today. The Yeti strobe effect is too quick to be caught on video well.


And here is a video of several rides in 2006 when the Yet was in full force. You can see that even in the best of conditions, (despite the YouTube video's title screen), you don't exactly get a full, careful look at the creature and what it's doing.

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

The Yeti malfunction is a great euphemism for …

[thatguy]

Unfortunately, the Yeti has been in "B-mode" for almost its entire existence. 

Oh, to see the Yeti in A-mode...

--tg

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I was an "A" for 10 years.

[Drunk Monk]

A whole A or an A whole?

I’ve reduced my nortriptylene from two pills to one. My coughing was getting ridiculous - wicked spontaneous coughing fits that would last several minutes. I lowered my dosage a few days ago and already the coughing has subsided significantly. Beyond being a neural Med, Nortrip is mainly used as an antidepressant so there are all these warnings about coming off it. I’m supposed to notify my doc but I haven’t. Coming off an antidepressant can send you down the depression rabbit hole which is why you’re supposed to contact your doc. I’ve been watchful of my mood swings, but haven’t experienced any psych effects yet, although it’s hard to see that from the inside. My shoulder is a tad achy which is the only side effect I’ve noticed so far…

[cranefly]

It’s troubling that my neurologist did an MRI scan of the brain and 3 on portions of the spinal cord, found nothing, and henceforth focused on treating the symptoms.  Thus when I reported additional symptoms of physical dreaming (this site was invaluable in tracking that down) dating back to 2013, she said, “Oh, that’s a sleep problem; you should see a sleep specialist.”  As for my increasing problems with walking, “I prescribed a physical therapist; I don’t see why you don’t pursue that.”  Fine, okay.  I saw a sleep specialist and am now using a Cpap, though my apnea was measured at a mild 6.1 events per hour.  Just a Mickey Mouse diversion, as far as I’m concerned.  And I’ve been working with a PT for a couple of months.  But my balance continues to get worse, and recently I fell 4 times in three weeks.
So I decided to take the advice of several friends and scheduled a second opinion.

That appointment happened last Friday. He did all sorts of coordination tests on me.  I thought I did pretty well on a number of eye-hand coordination things.  But there were some big surprises, simple things I thought I could do but had lots of difficulty with.  And my walking has gotten atrocious!

At the end, he asked if I had ever heard of MSA.

Yep.  Multiple System Atrophy.  I told him I mentioned MSA to my last neurologist, with concerns it was that, and asked whether the brain MRI had shown any evidence of it.  She said no, but said she would look again and get a colleague's opinion too.  She got back to me with a message that nope, no evidence.

This neurologist sort of defended her and said it often doesn't show on a regular MRI.  He's going to prescribe an NRI (nuclear resonance imaging) with dye to confirm it.  The lingering question I have is, why didn't my first neurologist tell me a regular MRI wasn't an adequate test for this?  And why didn't she prescribe an NRI with dye?

So, probably MSA.  No cure.  The nervous system slowly destroys itself.  Survival is about 7 years.  The autonomic nervous system is the end of the road. But counting from when?  I don't know.  I've had sleep symptoms (physical dreaming) since 2013.  I've had balance problems starting in 2019.

Anyway, right now I go for daily walks with Lori.  10,000 steps.  With occasional surprises.  (I've been wiped out by a hedge.)  I'm on the verge of needing hiking poles.  By August I may need a walker.  But MSA is not proven yet, and I'm perhaps premature in calling it that.

But I’m pretty sure.

My posts have been sparse of late, since I’m reduced to hunt and peck, with lots of mistakes.  It’s just a lot of work.  Actually, this very post is being retyped, because a gateway error tossed the first post.  How damned cruel.  I’m focusing on self-publishing maybe 3 books on Draft2Digital.  Hopefully, I can report success on here eventually.

--cranefly

P.S. I knew when I married someone 11 ½ years younger than me I had a responsibility to stay in shape beyond my years.  Now it seems I have failed. Though I tried my best.  I hope you will extend your patience, understanding, and support to LCF in the coming months.

[Drunk Monk]

While your spousal age gap is more than the rest of us, we all try to stay in shape beyond our years, right? This aging stuff sucks. 

LCF reached out about getting a replacement straw, and we talked about getting together for a meal or something soon. I had one of our brothers deliver the straw for efficiency's sake (and I assume he succeeded) but that get together is still outstanding. Perhaps sometime in August?

[The Queen]

I’ve been using hiking poles for years. They’ve kept me safe on numerous occasions. Aides are just that: aides. Do you have access to Dragon or the otter.ai app? Those and other tools are pretty good for converting speech to text if your fingers won’t cooperate at the speed your brain wants them to move.

Aging definitely sucks. But we do what we can do and of course, we’re all here for each other.

[Drunk Monk]

I was chewing through Otter 'first three are free' offers to transcribe interviews. I was almost at the point of creating new emails because I've used up all my work and catfishing emails - there's fake email generators that I was considering but that seems dicey.  Otter is a good service, but MS Word now has a transcription function. It sucks but it lays a foundation that I can build upon and I'm too cheap to invest in otter right now, even though I could write it off. I keep hoping Word will get better. I've heard good things about Dragon but I haven't explored it.

But more on topic, I've been using a hiking staff while backpacking. I've even written about that for KFM. Sometimes I'll write about anything, ya know? It's an addiction with me.

I've been training cane techniques for over four decades now. I've got lots of canes. My cane Kung Fu is solid. I'm not at the point where I'll use one yet - that's too affectatious, even for me. But I wrote about it for KFM too.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I hope the MSA diagnosis is wrong and it is just that you are allergic to gravity.