Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates Puns

So I just finished reading Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates and absolutely loved it! Robbins uses vocabulary in such a compelling and witty way that he makes even the most ridiculous arguments seem logical, or at least worth consideration. The existential and even melancholy themes of the book are dissected in such a linguistically sophisticated way that they absolutely infiltrate your psyche. Not to mention the wonderfully sarcastic and witty style of the novel.

After reading it, however, I realized that I wasn't able to categorize it as any specific genre. This is a problem I have had quite often. Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated. I generally enjoy books which are not so much plot driven, but instead where the plot plays second fiddle to the more general existential commentary made by the author. Examples of this are basically anything by Vonnegut, Journey to the End of the Night by Louis Ferdinand Celine and even Hunter Thomson's gonzo literature. How would you classify books like that?

They sat for nearly two hours, in the course of which Switters lost himself so that his essence passed into what some are wont to call, perhaps unrealistically, the Real Reality: that realm of consciousness beyond ego and ambition where mind becomes a silver minnow in a great electric lake of soul, and where the quarks and the gods pick up their mail on their way from nowhere to everywhere (or is it the other way around?).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fierce_Invalids_Home_from_Hot_Climates

Lima, Peru

October 1997

the naked parrot looked like a human fetus spliced onto a kosher chicken. It was so old it had lost every single one of its feathers, even its pinfeathers, and its bumpy, jaundiced skin was lattticed by a network of rubbery blue veins.

"Pathological," muttered Switters, meaning not simply the parrot but the whole scene, including the shrunken old woman in whose footsteps the bird diggedly followed as she moved about the darkened villa. The parrot's scabrous claws made a dry, scraping noise as they fought for purchase on the terra-cotta floor tiles, and when, periodically, the creature lost its footing and skidded an inch or two, it issued a squawk so quavery and feeble that it sounded as if it were being petted by the Boston Strangler. Each time it squawked, the crone clucked, whether in sympathy or disapproval one could not tell, for she never turned to her devoted little companion but wandered aimlessly from one piece of ancient wooden furniture to another in her amorphous black dress.

Switters feigned appreciation, but he was secretly repulsed, all the more so because Juan Carlos, who stood beside him on the patio, also spying in the widow's windows, was beaming with pride and satisfaction. Switters slapped at the mosquitoes that perforated his torso and cursed every hair on that hand of Fate that had snatched him into South too-goddamn-vivid America.

I've just finished reading this, and I'm really curious about why [Spoiler](/s "Switters gets jolted when he puts his foot on the ground, but doesn't die. I know the anaconda killed "Today is Tomorrow", but shouldn't that have meant nothing at all happened to Switters? Or is the implication that the anaconda killed "Today is Tomorrow" at the exact instant Switters stood up?")

Thanks for your help reddit.

Hello! Would it make sense to build an earthbag home in a part of nevada where its hot in the summer and freezing in the winter? If so, how would I go about this? I have never built anything and i dont know what to fill the bags with to insulate. Is there something easier I could build thats better for a hot and cold climate? Thanks!

Edit: Pixel 3a to Pixel 4a

Hello - I've search and found several posts from 2020 regarding my issue, yet none seem to yield any answers. Maybe someone that had this problem back then can help me out.

Long story short: Cracked the screen on my 3a, went ahead and ordered a 4a directly from fi. With my 3a at home and at work (both rural areas of Western NC) I had service 4G LTE. Now I have no service at work and at home. (good service in town, likely T-Mobile)

Next: I got in a chat with fi support yesterday. Did all the steps usual steps and no dice. It appears I can't connect to "sprint".

Interestingly after the support guy said he needed escalate and ended the chat the phone magically started getting 4g LTE service (at my house).

Fi support e-mailed me and I replied it appears to be working now. They closed the ticket. I went out for the night with some friends, came home and I'm now again without service. I tried the troubleshooting steps again, but nothing seems to work. I have emailed the support group again, waiting for a reply.

Anyone have this problem find a fix?

I have a home with a small/medium size backyard. It's a very dry, hot part of the country where summers reach over 100 degree frequently. I plan on living here a while, but to survive, I'm tempted to get a small in-ground pool, which would take up nearly 40% of the backyard space.

It's expensive, but I'm trying to give myself a nudge by reasoning that it is an investment. I thought views were mixed, but I've read some say under right scenario, pool can increase the home's value by 7%. Because it's so hot where we live, I'm hoping that would be the case. Again, no plans to sell this house in near future or to ever turn it in a vacation rental - but one day down the line, will probably sell.

If I felt it was reasonable to assume it would raise the home value by around 5%, I could talk myself into doing this.

I'm hoping to get objective thoughts on this - can a small pool be seen as an investment decision?

Thank you!

My portfolio crashes and says ‘Token Invalid’

iPhone 12 Pro Max iOS 14.2

Uninstalled app and reinstalled

Logged out and back in.

I can see portfolio if I login on browser

Any ideas?

Thank you

I was walking by a pop-up test centre and though I didn't specifically need one, I was interested. Took 7 minutes from deciding to be tested to being on my way after. Results in 20 minutes. Can opt in or out to share that info anonymously with government. No issue with not being a citizen or anything.

It's a city with a (depressingly) functional public transport system. You need a vaccine cert or antigen test to ride so people with hang ups about the vaccine get themselves tested daily. Bars and restaurants diligently check the same, scanning and ID.

It was like wandering around la la land looking at things functioning properly, and people taking proper advantage of these services.

That said, the numbers there are rising too and they've also had to increase restrictions, but from what I can tell very few numbers and coming from public services or bars etc it's mostly unregulated activities, - but I was told this by a couple of Germans, haven't read it myself.

EDIT: lot of arguments in the comments about if the approach in Berlin was the right one, who's to blame for increasing numbers etc. My post wasn't to say look how great the approach to COVID was, or wasn't, in Berlin, but highlighting that once a decision on approach was made, they went whole hog and made things systemically easy and efficient, with very clear rules and restrictions. That was the major difference. Easy access and clear as day. Efficient doesn't necessarily mean the correct approach, but they are giving themselves the best chance on any decisions by being thus.

This can be in the form of tax credits, not unlike how green-tech companies receive them.

I think it would be popular policy, for several reasons:

1. Pre-covid, work commute was one of the largest contributors to air pollution, emitting billions of tons of CO2 annually.

2. Despite what CEOs & polls say, the overwhelming majority of office workers like working from home and saving commute time & costs. (Employers that have reopened their offices on a voluntary basis are generally seeing low attendance.) And siding with workers is politically popular.

3. Endorsing this type of policy might be less offensive to Big Business than economy-wide environmental regulations, or singling out the mining & oil industries.

4. With companies making record profits, it’s hard to suggest remote work has been a failed experiment. Instead, CEOs have been talking about “collaboration” & “company culture” to encourage workers to return.

Cons:

1. Remote work has hurt many small businesses (restaurants, etc) in financial districts. But after 1.5 years, the ones that survived have largely adopted their business models (eg catering, delivery, etc) to the situation.

2. Not every industry can work from home effectively, but most white-collar/professional jobs can, and they account for half the US labor force.

3. Many Fortune 500 CEOs & HR depts are already trying to meet workers halfway by endorsing a hybrid model (in office some days, WFH others), and jumping directly to fully remote might be a step too far. But hybrid work arrangements are very easy to rescind, and I’ve seen it happen to numerous coworkers in pre-covid times after company reorgs & new management.

San Francisco did consider a remote work mandate on private employers, but backed out primarily due to reason (1):

https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Bay-Area-planning-agency-advances-60-work-from-15592276.php

What I’m suggesting is not a mandate, but a tax & regulatory incentive structure to encourage employers to make the change.

Do you just leave the AC and dehumidifier on all day? How does this work for someone who works 6 days a week and no ones at home for most of the day?