I don't have much to give in terms of monetary donations for Haitian relief, so I gave blood today. I was watching the pint bag of the guy next to me fill up, and I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if the donation nurses walked away and didn't pinch the tubes or whatever. So, I asked one of them, and she said that the equipment used for donation is fitted with a weight and lever, so once the bag weighs a pint, the lever drops and the blood flow slows down. (This didn't make total sense in terms of physics and the limited hematology I remember from high school biology.) The nurse continued by saying that one of her worst and most vivid nightmares was of a blood drive in the middle of John-R Road [a busy thoroughfare in metro Detroit, for all the non-Detroiters]...in the nightmare, she walked away from a donor and forgot to monitor his progress. His bag filled like a massive helium balloon, and the patient died. It seemed like she was about to say something about the balloon bursting, but I managed to sidestep that part of her nightmare recollection. This nurse also told me that she herself cannot give blood because it makes her too panicky. It begs the question, 'Then why tell your donors about this awful nightmare!?' Sometimes I resent my vivid imagination, and today was one such occasion. Seriously, the mind reels at the horror-movie implications of a simple and noble blood drive. Ick.
I did some further investigating into the Necco Sweetheart issue. I still can't find the regular ones. This flavored bullshit has to stop.
In more important news, Haiti is in dire, dire straits, Ted Kennedy's seat might be filled by a Tea Party conservative, and NBC is run by a bunch of assholes. All in all, this is not a banner week. But, it's high time for rallying the troops-- Team Haiti, Team Coakley, and Team Conan. A friend posted something truly disturbing-- apparently, Pat Robertson is blaming the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti on a deal that the Haitians made with the devil for independence from the prince. I have neither the time nor the inclination to unpack this illogical and ill-informed bullshit point by point, but I will say this: wouldn't a more Christian approach be just rally support for the Haitians instead of blaming them for a natural disaster? Can't we just take a break from the grandstanding? Can't we just shut up and start helping?
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