Your other function

[Femme Folle]

HP: Tonka is the very definition of an Emotional Support Dog. As someone who suffers from major depression, you are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Don't forget that. You might be thinking that because your disability is "invisible", that you aren't entitled to the same accommodation as people with more obvious disabilities, but you would be wrong in thinking that.

[Jah Womble]

Well, it doesn't matter to most people, it's just a matter of classifying things, innit.

'Dinosaur' is a term for a subset of extinct reptilians (of, indeed, the proto-avian line, in at least some cases) that shared certain biological characteristics, were terrestrial and had a common ancestor. Pterosaurs, plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs were reptiles that existed alongside the dinosaurs, whilst other things like Dimetrodon predated them, but these weren't dinosaurs any more than they were crocodilians or turtles.

It's not really any different, in practical terms, to observing say that asteroids are a subset of largish bodies in space that are rocky or maybe metallic but not planets, while comets are also largish bodies in space that are rocky/dusty/icy and not planets, yet they aren't asteroids either. In either case (prehistoric life or astronomical bodies) these things are/were probably more similar to each other than to most other things out there, but they are parallel, not the same.


My off-site specialist role is chatting semi-knowledgeably to small children (usually boys, still) about dinosaurs when their parents admit they themselves can't tell a stegosaurus from a triceratops.

Yep, I should also add that to my virtual CV.

You're quite right that the Dimetrodon existed in the Permian period (ie, pre-Mesozoic era). It becomes confusing when some people speak of, for example, the Edaphosaurus - a herbivorous contemporary of Dimetrodon (also dorsal-sailed) - because the 'saurus'-suffix very much suggests 'dinosaur' to the lay-person.

Perhaps this is for the 'Time' thread, but it should be observed that a T Rex or Triceratops existed closer in time to ourselves now than they did to a Dimetrodon or Edaphosaurus.

(NB I'm sticking with capitals for the Latin/Greek names for now, although lower case seems to be in more prevalent useage nowadays.)

[Gerontophile]

Online, it's about to be "potato options", with fighty alternatives.

[Hot Pepsi]

HP: Tonka is the very definition of an Emotional Support Dog. As someone who suffers from major depression, you are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Don't forget that. You might be thinking that because your disability is "invisible", that you aren't entitled to the same accommodation as people with more obvious disabilities, but you would be wrong in thinking that.

My understanding is that it’s more trouble than it’s worth to try to claim disability for a situation like this. I could be wrong.

Tonka is an emotional support animal for me as I am to him, but I wouldn’t bring him on an airplane. He’d hate that and be very anxious. Besides, the only “support” I long for on an airplane is more room for my legs and butt and to get the journey over with.

There’s been a lot of talk about how people claiming emotional support peacocks, snakes, etc. are just selfish. I suspect, in some cases, these people are illegally smuggling wildlife or just don’t want to pay to transport the animal another way. I don’t think a peacock would be very happy on an airplane, for example.

But I also suspect that a lot of people need them to distract themselves from the anxiety of flying, because flying sucks, even for those of us without a specific anxiety about it, and it seems to be getting worse and worse. I’d love to bring a whole herd of bison through the offices of American Airlines just to push back against capitalism, not to mention the feelings of alienation and constraint caused by air travel.

But I don’t have the resources to do that. Most people don’t. So they bring their pets. No shame.

[Hot Pepsi]

Yep, I should also add that to my virtual CV.

You're quite right that the Dimetrodon existed in the Permian period (ie, pre-Mesozoic era). It becomes confusing when some people speak of, for example, the Edaphosaurus - a herbivorous contemporary of Dimetrodon (also dorsal-sailed) - because the 'saurus'-suffix very much suggests 'dinosaur' to the lay-person.

Perhaps this is for the 'Time' thread, but it should be observed that a T Rex or Triceratops existed closer in time to ourselves now than they did to a Dimetrodon or Edaphosaurus.

(NB I'm sticking with capitals for the Latin/Greek names for now, although lower case seems to be in more prevalent useage nowadays.)

I thought dinosaur meant “terrible lizard” or some such, which is a pretty vague description, so why don’t dimetridons count?

Dimetridon was my favorite because somebody gave me a purple plastic one (not to scale) as a kid.

I also wrote an awesome illustrated “report” on Anklysaurus in second grade.

There was a girl in my junior high with a Dinosaur Jr shirt. I had never heard of them or heard them but I thought it made her impossibly cool. And she was attractive, so I didn’t talk to her much. I don’t thing I actually heard them until college. If I had heard them earlier, I would have thought she was even cooler and wouldn’t have been able to talk to her at all.

She lives in Denver now with her kids. Still pretty cool, I suppose.

[Hot Pepsi]

Yeah... you should probably cut down on the 'problem looking for a victim' thing.

I’m not sure I follow.

[Hot Pepsi]

My off-site specialist role is chatting semi-knowledgeably to small children (usually boys, still) about dinosaurs when their parents admit they themselves can't tell a stegosaurus from a triceratops.

I have a similar role but a different portfolio:
Star Wars, superheroes, dogs, and sports. I can also fill in on Harry Potter if the primary specialist isn’t there.

[Jah Womble]

I thought dinosaur meant “terrible lizard” or some such, which is a pretty vague description, so why don’t dimetridons count?

Dimetridon was my favorite because somebody gave me a purple plastic one (not to scale) as a kid.

I also wrote an awesome illustrated “report” on Anklysaurus in second grade.

There was a girl in my junior high with a Dinosaur Jr shirt. I had never heard of them or heard them but I thought it made her impossibly cool. And she was attractive, so I didn’t talk to her much. I don’t thing I actually heard them until college. If I had heard them earlier, I would have thought she was even cooler and wouldn’t have been able to talk to her at all.

She lives in Denver now with her kids. Still pretty cool, I suppose.

The Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus were pelycosaurs, as opposed to dinosaurs - a suborder evolving between prehistoric amphibians and the latter. They existed in the Permian period (late-Palaeozoic era) and prior to the Mesozoic era (commonly known as 'the age of dinosaurs').

(Your report on the Ankylosaurus sounds tremendous - however, I do hope that you remembered to spell its name correctly!)

Edit: I was recently going out with a Dinosaur Jr fan and we were all set to see them here in London in December - sadly, J Mascis came down with strep throat and cancelled. (And that relationship has since unfortunately become extinct.)

[Gerontophile]

I’m not sure I follow.

Don't type things like "I am thinking of taking up alcoholism".

[Ray de Galles]

family history for Ray and the other brother (including our own childhood half the time)

Utter bollocks.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

This is me even though I'm a modest 5' 9" - Wrexham is a town of shortarses.

This has happened to me several times recently, people in supermarkets have asked me to get stuff down from shelves for them, and I'm almost as modestly heighted. Maybe people are just shrinking.

[Hot Pepsi]

Don't type things like "I am thinking of taking up alcoholism".

It’s just an idea that occurred to me because it seems like alcoholics have a solid international support community. But, of course, I don’t really plan to do that because that’s not how it works.

I understand that runs in families, and ours doesn’t seem to have much of it, save for my late great uncle and I think his may have been related to PTSD from WWII that was never properly identified or treated. I have a lot of booze in my house that I keep for visitors/parties. I never drink it on my own. It just doesn’t occur to me.

I don’t have any *real* problems.

[Hot Pepsi]

The Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus were pelycosaurs, as opposed to dinosaurs - a suborder evolving between prehistoric amphibians and the latter. They existed in the Permian period (late-Palaeozoic era) and prior to the Mesozoic era (commonly known as 'the age of dinosaurs').

(Your report on the Ankylosaurus sounds tremendous - however, I do hope that you remembered to spell its name correctly!)

Edit: I was recently going out with a Dinosaur Jr fan and we were all set to see them here in London in December - sadly, J Mascis came down with strep throat and cancelled. (And that relationship has since unfortunately become extinct.)

Thanks. This is exactly what I wanted to know. I didn’t take much biology - I took earth science, which doesn’t care much about animal taxonomy - so I was left with the impression I got in second grade that “dinosaur” referred to all of those reptilian creatures of old, perhaps even including ones that are still with us like alligators.

Dinosaur Jr seems like a band that is in a lot of people’s top tens, but is nobody’s number 1. Maybe that’s wrong.

Yeah, I spelled Ankylosaurus right back then. I copied it from a book every time.

[pebblethefish]

I would love to see a picture of a dinosaur that was a bit ankly though

[Jah Womble]

Deinonychus is your man there. He had swivelling claw-spurs on his ankles and was one mean fella. (The supposed 'raptors' in Jurassic Park actually far more closely resemble the Deinonychus.)

Pepsi - no problem, glad to assist in a small way. Incidentally, your comment about 'becoming an alcoholic because the support is there' reminded me slightly of the Bill Hicks line about smokers: "it's you people dying from nothing who are screwed. I got lots of cool stuff waiting for me: oxygen tent, iron lung, electronic voice box; it's like going to Sharper Image when I die."

[Femme Folle]

My understanding is that it’s more trouble than it’s worth to try to claim disability for a situation like this. I could be wrong.

Tonka is an emotional support animal for me as I am to him, but I wouldn’t bring him on an airplane. He’d hate that and be very anxious. Besides, the only “support” I long for on an airplane is more room for my legs and butt and to get the journey over with.

There’s been a lot of talk about how people claiming emotional support peacocks, snakes, etc. are just selfish. I suspect, in some cases, these people are illegally smuggling wildlife or just don’t want to pay to transport the animal another way. I don’t think a peacock would be very happy on an airplane, for example.

But I also suspect that a lot of people need them to distract themselves from the anxiety of flying, because flying sucks, even for those of us without a specific anxiety about it, and it seems to be getting worse and worse. I’d love to bring a whole herd of bison through the offices of American Airlines just to push back against capitalism, not to mention the feelings of alienation and constraint caused by air travel.

But I don’t have the resources to do that. Most people don’t. So they bring their pets. No shame.

No, you're missing the point of what I was saying. I'm not suggesting that you should bring Tonka on an airplane. You mentioned not wanting to give Tonka up, and I assume you meant if you lost your house and had to move into an apartment. Aside from the fact that there are pet-friendly apartments around, accommodations can be made for Emotional Support Animals in the context of housing in buildings that don't allow pets. It's part of the ADA, although I'm not an expert in the subject, so I'm not sure if that only applies to government-subsidized housing, or all rental housing.

I'm also not suggesting that you should go on disability. My comment was a response to your wishing for a "real" disease. Major depression is a real disease in the eyes of the law.

[Hot Pepsi]

Oh, I see.
I don’t think it will come to that and even if it did, i’d find a pet-friendly place or live in my friends’ basement for a while. Though it’s good to know that there are provisions for support animals.

I don’t think the law can convince my family, friends or colleagues, unfortunately. So i’ll just keep muddling through.

Mostly, *I’m* the one who needs to believe it’s a treatable disease. The alternative is that it’s all hopeless.

[Femme Folle]

I don’t think the law can convince my family, friends or colleagues, unfortunately. So i’ll just keep muddling through.

Oh yeah, that, I totally understand that. My parents didn't "get" it for years. To them, most mental illness was the result of not going to church. And it's not like mental illness didn't exist in their families--my mom's dad committed suicide in the '50s and my dad's family is full of hoarders (OCD) and undiagnosed ADHD. The culture in which they grew up just had a very different perception of what constitutes mental illness (hint: it had to be bad enough that a person needed to be committed to a hospital, aka, asylum).

[Satchmo Distel]

Treatable disease is relative. In other words, there are limits on how much the disease can be eradicated rather than managed. If you are performing OK in your job and you have enough motivation to read some books, watch quality TV, post here, maybe do some writing, give loving companionship to a pet, I would define that as managing it OK, even if it seems overwhelming. Survival is a kind of victory.

I didn't think I would make it to 21 when I was hospitalized with depression at 18, yet here I am at 51, and every year was a challenge to get through at times. Each battle was tough and I felt some shame every time I made a mistake or revealed weakness, but my reward is that I get the prestige of teaching students knowing that they think I am good at what I do, even though I was shit and sweated buckets every lesson when I started out.

[Lurgee]

My off-site specialist role is chatting semi-knowledgeably to small children (usually boys, still) about dinosaurs when their parents admit they themselves can't tell a stegosaurus from a triceratops.

You shouldn't get to be a parent if you don't know that.

I remember something about dinosaur hips eing Very Important. Your common or garden lizardy thing has legs that stick out to the side, whereas a proper dinosaur has legs that are stuck on underneath.

By God, obviously.

[Jah Womble]

Depends upon whether said dinosaur is saurischian ('lizard-hipped') or ornithischian ('bird-hipped').

I promise I'll stop in a bit.

[Bored Of Education]

Treatable disease is relative. In other words, there are limits on how much the disease can be eradicated rather than managed. If you are performing OK in your job and you have enough motivation to read some books, watch quality TV, post here, maybe do some writing, give loving companionship to a pet, I would define that as managing it OK, even if it seems overwhelming. Survival is a kind of victory.

I didn't think I would make it to 21 when I was hospitalized with depression at 18, yet here I am at 51, and every year was a challenge to get through at times. Each battle was tough and I felt some shame every time I made a mistake or revealed weakness, but my reward is that I get the prestige of teaching students knowing that they think I am good at what I do, even though I was shit and sweated buckets every lesson when I started out.

Ha, I know that feeling. That was with medication as well.

"Treatable" always seems to me like there is going to be an end 'cure' whereas "managed" or "manageable" feels more accurate.

[Hot Pepsi]

Ha, I know that feeling. That was with medication as well.

"Treatable" always seems to me like there is going to be an end 'cure' whereas "managed" or "manageable" feels more accurate.

I have to get a new psychiatrist because I have new insurance and I'm thinking I'll use this opportunity to tell him/her that the way things were going really wasn't working. I thought it was working ok because I didn't feel too bad or any real catastrophes, but then I took a step back and saw that it wasn't really working, that I was actually not ok, but just kinda numb and not really present in my own life. Just kinda going through the motions. As soon as I "woke up," so to speak about three weeks ago, and tried to fight it a bit more and be more active, I noticed I was getting more headaches and more nausea and this weird thing that I can't really explain but I'm familiar with - it's a bit like dizziness, but not quite, but is almost certainly a side-effect of one of the drugs - and was thinking about stuff a lot more which messed up my sleep again.

So I need to start over. Maybe come off all the drugs and start over, if I can.

It's like how a friend of mine advised me that the best way to clean out a space - one's car, storage room, closet, etc - is to just take everything out and lay it out (except dump the obvious trash, of course) and then carefully consider what you really need and put only those things back in. I feel like that's what I need to do with everything now.

I didn't think I'd get this far either and I don't know how I'm going to make it to old age, but that's future me's problem, I guess.

[Hot Pepsi]

Oh yeah, that, I totally understand that. My parents didn't "get" it for years. To them, most mental illness was the result of not going to church. And it's not like mental illness didn't exist in their families--my mom's dad committed suicide in the '50s and my dad's family is full of hoarders (OCD) and undiagnosed ADHD. The culture in which they grew up just had a very different perception of what constitutes mental illness (hint: it had to be bad enough that a person needed to be committed to a hospital, aka, asylum).

I don't think my parents believe that mental illness is a result of not going to church - though they'd like me to do that and I would if I could ever feel human before 1 pm on a Sunday - but they don't really get what it's like or seem to get that it's not "about" anything. It can start to feel like it's "about" things, which becomes a downward spiral because the depression causes and exacerbates real-life problems, but its not really about anything. It's just a neurological thing that isn't very well understood and it's not just in the head either, as our nervous systems are all connected.

I can't quite find a genetic link for me. My grandfather was bipolar, apparently, but its not really discussed so I don't know all the details. His brother was a functioning alcoholic and probably had PTSD, but I don't know much about that. But I can't identify anyone in the family or on the tree that had what I have, which often makes me feel like I must not really have it. Which doesn't make sense, I guess.

I suspect that a lot of suicides, especially among young people, are an expression of the frustration that nobody believes them. We often hear "it was just a cry for help" as if that makes the person a narcissist. So I suspect a lot of people who kill themselves are at least partially trying to say "I TOLD YOU, MOTHERFUCKERS." I suspect that because I've thought it. A lot. Not so much recently, but definitely in my youth.

Our culture is so drunk on "individualism" that we can't believe that there are social diseases that manifest in individuals or vice-versa. We deserve to be sacked by the Visigoths.

[Femme Folle]

My ex once said to me, "What do you have to feel depressed about? Look at everything I've bought for you."

Some people are incapable of understanding what they've never experienced for themselves.