OPEN BAR: 50 Shades of Chronic Liver Disease

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Welcome to the world of, "There's an error, but we won't tell you what it is."

"...but you can almost certainly fix it painlessly after a quick Google search"

Problem: I cannot connect to Google.

YOU'RE FUCKED FOREVER.

You know, the world missed something when you weren't on FC with ECH, Cain, and I.

That would have been GLORIOUS.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

The above isn't bitching at other people.  It's me realizing that I'm posting just as people leave.

And I'm talking to myself again.

I need to get out of here.

Thing is, your post is still gonna be there when everybody comes back to read. And perhaps respond. It's one of the many benefits of the forum format over Facebook; you don't miss out on posts because you weren't there when they were posted.

Don't mind me, Nigel, it is just occurring to me that I am now very glad my trip got delayed.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

This is uncanny.  I said fuck it and timed the commercials.  They are almost precisely 10 minutes apart (+/- 30 seconds), and there are exactly 1 per commercial break, last commercial, 6 per hour.

The level of saturation is HUGE.  The Koch Brothers must be spending a few hundred thousand in Southern Arizona alone.

That's extremely interesting, because they wouldn't put that much money into convincing people if they didn't really REALLY think it's going to take a lot of convincing. Which is actually the first solid evidence I've seen that perhaps the ACA is working out pretty well for a lot of people.

It's working here.  They're in panic mode.

I did a little digging on the website of the PAC that's funding this shit, at least the public face.

keepthemaccountable.com claims to be non-partisan.

They are an offshoot of the libre foundation.

Which is run by Daniel Garza.  They proudly announce that he was a member of the Bush administration and takes part in conservative action PACs all over the country.

In short, they never even took the time to tidy up their own spoor.  It reeks of incompetence and desperation.  Also, the over-saturation this far from the election is puzzling.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Although I am borderline delirious at the end of the first half of my week, I also have good news, which is that not only am I (knock on wood) getting co-authoring on this study I'm working on, but there is also a pretty decent possibility that the university will send me to New Orleans in November to present. SQUEEE!!! Totally crossing my fingers on that. It won't happen if it's not in the budget.

Also, a decent likelihood that I'll be able to publish as first author on my summer project, which is peer mentoring incoming community college transferees. If I get really lucky, I might be able to parlay it into a grant that would pay me to continue mentoring for the rest of my undergrad.

Also good news; took my first midterm today, think I did OK. I'm looking forward so hard to taking two easy classes this summer, like maybe geology and physics, or geology and human development. Additionally: today I discovered that there are totally people who are doing the genre of research that I want to do, and it's got a name!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

The above isn't bitching at other people.  It's me realizing that I'm posting just as people leave.

And I'm talking to myself again.

I need to get out of here.

Thing is, your post is still gonna be there when everybody comes back to read. And perhaps respond. It's one of the many benefits of the forum format over Facebook; you don't miss out on posts because you weren't there when they were posted.

Don't mind me, Nigel, it is just occurring to me that I am now very glad my trip got delayed.

Daww. I hope it passes with haste.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

This is uncanny.  I said fuck it and timed the commercials.  They are almost precisely 10 minutes apart (+/- 30 seconds), and there are exactly 1 per commercial break, last commercial, 6 per hour.

The level of saturation is HUGE.  The Koch Brothers must be spending a few hundred thousand in Southern Arizona alone.

That's extremely interesting, because they wouldn't put that much money into convincing people if they didn't really REALLY think it's going to take a lot of convincing. Which is actually the first solid evidence I've seen that perhaps the ACA is working out pretty well for a lot of people.

It's working here.  They're in panic mode.

I did a little digging on the website of the PAC that's funding this shit, at least the public face.

keepthemaccountable.com claims to be non-partisan.

They are an offshoot of the libre foundation.

Which is run by Daniel Garza.  They proudly announce that he was a member of the Bush administration and takes part in conservative action PACs all over the country.

In short, they never even took the time to tidy up their own spoor.  It reeks of incompetence and desperation.  Also, the over-saturation this far from the election is puzzling.

My bet is that they're trying to get people to delay signing up, because the more people sign up and have no problems and get to keep their doctors, the more their chances of a repeal go out the window. There will be a certain percentage of procrastinators and protesters who won't sign up in the first year, and its those they want to point to as proof that "it's not working", as well as having those people on their side at voting time, so they want that number to be as large as possible.

[Cain]

Fuck, trying to stretch my essay out for another 800 or so words.  It feels more than a bit short.  Not sure what else I can do, though.  5000 words is the limit, which means ideally aiming for 4800 or so.  The 4 appendixes will make the essay look larger, but I still need a few hundred to hit that limit, and I'm fairly sure I just repeated everything I said twice.

[Cain]

Ah, got it.  Future research directions and improvements to this study.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

The above isn't bitching at other people.  It's me realizing that I'm posting just as people leave.

And I'm talking to myself again.

I need to get out of here.

Thing is, your post is still gonna be there when everybody comes back to read. And perhaps respond. It's one of the many benefits of the forum format over Facebook; you don't miss out on posts because you weren't there when they were posted.

Don't mind me, Nigel, it is just occurring to me that I am now very glad my trip got delayed.

Daww. I hope it passes with haste.

I think it might.  I'm not even sure it's a thing yet.  None of the physical signs, just a whiff of paranoia.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Ah, got it.  Future research directions and improvements to this study.

Oh, nicely played.

[Cain]

The thing is, with more time and, y'know, an army of flying monkeys stooges undergrads, this could be really useful.  Not Correlates of War useful, probably not even START database useful, but more useful than, say, an op-ed by John Bolton in the Washington Post.  Which is as useful as anything needs to be in academia, as far as I can see.

Plus I purposefully limited the scope of my research because I didn't want to spend 2 whole weeks digging around in online journals and making my eyes bleed.  Now I reap the reward of that....doubly.  This is the sophisticated, master-level method of doing research.  A winner's way.  Cain's way.

[Cain]

And I have to do an abstract still.  That's another 250 words, easy.

[Cain]

Bleh, that was an asspull of an essay.  Nothing like running out of research material halfway into your word count.

Well, it's been submitted.  I guess I'll find out how I did in a month.  Which is about when my next paper is due.

Now I can look forward to...a night of work.  Oh joy.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Ah, got it.  Future research directions and improvements to this study.

From what I've seen in my extremely limited experience in academia, "improvements" and "next steps" are a fabulous way to pad out a paper.

[minuspace]

I agree.  Blame me for it.  I'll be there when you really need a reason.  Trust in my availability.