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Tank birthday and I'm a Geezer

Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
This time of the year I like to remember all the kids who don't have it as good as most kids. There are so many very sick kids in hospitals who won't be home for Christmas and many never make it home. Way to many of them are infants who were born from drug addict parents and are going through withdrawal.

 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
I thought it was my brand new and tiny 3/4" filefish as I couldn't find him for a couple of days. Then I fed the tank worms and there he was all happy and all so I have no idea what that dried up fish was but I do occasionally find a fish in there that I haven't seen in months or years.

I know I had 2 Gecko gobies and I only catch a glimpse of a fin from those every couple of months at most. It could have been one of them. :thinking-face:

Anyway on another thread I have been in a "discussion" with someone and I have been misquoted a number of times. My method of no quarantine or medication must be very confusing because some people have it almost totally wrong.

I also have nothing against quarantine as long as it is not done for a very long time like 72 days.
But I think if you want to do that it is fine as long as when you put that fish into your tank it has a chance to eat food containing gut bacteria to give it a chance to revive it's immune system to be hopefully immune to things we normally find in a natural tank.

If we don't want to keep a natural tank and prefer instead to depend on quarantine, UV and medication, that is fine. But in such a tank we just can't add anything that has not been quarantined because those fish will not be immune to that. We also need to be careful and not feed those fish live food unless it is from fresh water where there would be no parasites.

Plenty of tanks run like that and if that is what you want, that is what you should do.
All new tanks should be run like that especially if they were set up with ASW and dry rock as those tanks are not healthy and won't be until the bacteria, viruses and funguses settle down and do what we pay them for. That may take a couple of years.

Many people, especially scientific people who like to study charts and learn about all the studies of the life cycle of parasites and such are at a loss unless they are keeping their tanks in a lab.

Frankenstein was born or made in a lab and look what happened to him with all the village people wanting to set him on fire and all that. :astonished-face: Frankenstein could never live in a normal house because he ate with his feet and probably smelled like dead people.

Labs are totally different from a common home tank. They are fed certain foods that are sterilized to kill parasites and bacteria lest that corrupt the study. The tanks are mostly bare or just have inert materials like PVC or glass which stresses the fish to no end.

Then they count the parasites to see how they multiply and see how long it takes to kill a percentage of the fish.
They will study how long a fishes immunity lasts after it was removed from parasites and put in a sterile tank. Then in a laborious process they introduce parasites to see how long the immunity lasted.

This is all good information to know especially if you are going to be a marine biologist and are writing a paper on it. For the rest of us with a normal life and tank it doesn't mean anything.

Of course it is all true and scientists can spent their entire lifespan on this instead of going out with their girlfriend to a nice seafood restaurant and maybe having the Cod with a side order of clams on the half shell.

But in a home tank we can't separate our fish from the parasites present so the parasites are happily living in there with the fish just as they do in the sea. Those hungry parasites, especially the ones with fangs will constantly try to take a bite out of a fish gill. (If you look really close and maybe squint a little, you can see those fangs. ) :rolleyes:

When those parasites take a bite out of a fish, the fishes immune system eliminates the parasite in one of a few ways but the fishes immune system is very smart and it remembers that bite.

Instantly the fish starts pumping out antibodies that will repel the next parasite bite so even if this protection only lasts 6 months (Like scientists say) it doesn't matter unless that fish is in a lab where it won't get another parasite bits so it's immunity will eventually wane. Those bites are like measles booster shots.

I didn't make this up as I am an electrician, albeit a really good one. I have posted scientific papers on that because I know people like to read things by people with more degrees than a thermometer. A fahrenheit thermometer because I think they have more degrees but I could be wrong.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
Farmer and duck.jpeg

A big city New York lawyer went duck hunting in rural Texas. He shot and dropped a bird, but it fell into a farmer's field on the other side of a fence. As the lawyer climbed over the fence, an elderly farmer drove up on his tractor and asked him what he was doing.

The litigator responded, "I shot a duck and it fell in this field, and now I'm going into retrieve it."

The old farmer replied. "This is my property, and you are not coming over here."

The indignant lawyer said, "I am one of the best trial attorneys in the U.S. and, if you don't let me get that duck, I'll sue you and take everything you own."

The old farmer smiled and said, "Apparently, you don't know how we do things in Texas. We settle small disagreements like this with the Texas Three Kick Rule."

The lawyer asked, "What is the Texas Three Kick Rule?"

The farmer replied, "Well, first I kick you three times and then you kick me three times, and so on, back and forth, until someone gives up."

The attorney quickly thought about the proposed contest and decided that he could easily take the old codger. He agreed to abide by the local custom.

The old farmer slowly climbed down from the tractor and walked up to the city feller. His first kick planted the toe of his heavy work boot into the lawyer's shin and dropped him to his knees. His second kick landed square on the man's nose. The barrister was flat on his belly when the farmer's third kick to a kidney nearly caused him to give up.

The lawyer summoned every bit of his will and managed to get to his feet and said, "Okay, you old coot, now it's my turn!"

The old farmer smiled and said, "Naw, I give up. You can have the duck."
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
Good Morning and Happy New Year. We just got home yesterday from the Bahamas. My family took me there for my Christmas birthday on a private jet. Yeah I know. Us mere mortals don't do that and neither do I but I went.

I will explain it after I up load the pictures. But it's good to be home.

Happy New Year.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
Our Daughter took us to Grand Bahama Island on a private Jet. It was my birthday on Christmas. I was totally surprised and I offered to split the cost.........

Of the Champaign. :unsure:

I won't go into how we got this jet but my family were the only ones on it going and coming. It's a really exciting way to travel but most mortals, including me couldn't even afford the air in the tires of the thing.

It was a Gulf Stream 5. This one.

Cloud Sky Tire Vehicle Aircraft



It is a small airport that only houses these types of planes. WE park right next to the"terminal" about 20' from the front door.

You go into this beautiful lounge where they treat you to Champaign, muffins, granola bars, coffee, etc.

The plane waits for you and you make the schedule so if you are late, the plane will stay there for you.

We walk to the plane that was right next to the back door and get in where the Stewardess, Hostess, cabin attendant asks us to sit anywhere we want. (or whatever is PC to call them but they were stewardesses when I first used to fly)

There is a bedroom, kitchen, couches and lounge area so no regular cabin seats.
Smile Comfort Fun Couch Leisure




The Captain comes back to chat a while and we take off. I have been on quite a few small planes but never small jets. They do shake more than commercial planes in turbulence but not much. Once you get above the New York, lousy weather it was motionless even at 550 MPH.

We land in Grand Bahama Island where someone greets us and takes us to this house.

On the way I noticed that much of the Island was devastated. I found out they had a number of hurricanes and the last one much of the Island was under 20' of seawater. That was horrible for everyone on the Island and there were huge hotels, brand new on the beach totally empty with no windows as they were all blown out. The wind speeds approached 200mph.

Everything in it's path was destroyed.
And this was "salt water" as opposed to Noahs flood which was fresh water. Or at least I think it was because it was assumed to be from rain.

It's hard to tell because Noah used a swing arm hydrometer which was arguably not very accurate. I understand he got it from his Great, Great, Great Grand Father Adam who gave it to him because he didn't have a pocket to put it in because it is hard to fashion a pocket into a fig leaf and Eve got tired of holding it. In those days the swing arm hydrometers weren't accurate because the arm was made out of acacia wood that was left over from the Ark of the Covenant. It was in the shape of a snake with an apple in it's mouth and the gold gilding on it caused it to sink.

Of course they didn't have plastic so the thing was made out of stone and you could only use it once. To read it, you filled it with water then gingerly laid it on it's side and smashed it with a coconut so you can read where the arm rested.

On a side note that not many people know about, Noah had a son named Strauss. He wasn't happy with the choice in clothes in those days as they only had a fig "leaf" to wear. He looked at it and figured if he could rivet a pocket into it he would be the first clothing designer which is how we got Levi Strauss Jeans. (Google it, it's in the Old Testament )

Anyway, we go into this beautiful house and check it out. It was beautiful but dated from the 80s or so and no one lived there for the last 10 years. The beach, pool and Jacuzzi was gorgeous.


Sky Water Plant Tree Arecales




There was also a huge Koi pond which had two huge tutles in it.
Water resources Water Reptile Plant Watercourse




I will finish this later.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
Thank you Diana. I wish you and your family the same.
I can always count on you to read my dribble on here. I don't even read it myself. :D
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
This Friday I will go in for my 31st surgery. This one is a tiny surgery and I am not sure why they are even calling it surgery. I have this "freckle" on my lower eyelid and being my wife makes me go for a skin check every year the guy found this tiny spot about a quarter the size of what a bite would look like from an anorexic toddler mosquito who still has his baby teeth.

So it's supposed to be skin cancer and of course they must remove it. I am 74 years old and it would take 60 years for this thing to kill me so I just don't get it.

Yesterday they made me go for a pre- op check up and a covid test which I feel is way over kill.

After the "eyelid specialist surgeon" (who knew there even was such a thing) finishes removing the thing in 4 hours. (yes, this is supposed to take 4 hours for some reason. Maybe he has to glue back my eyelashes one at a time) then I go to the "eyelid plastic surgeon" in a different building miles away who will attempt to make me look like I have Betty Davis eyes.

This will take all day and I will probably have a patch on my eye so I can change my name to Paulie Pirate. My wife will have to drive me and I am not crazy about that because she drives with a left foot gas pedal because her right leg doesn't work any more. I won't let her drive on the highway but we have to for this as I don't want to drive with one eye. (And most of my friends ran to Florida to escape the cold)

On another note, yesterday as I was looking for the doctor for the pre op and I asked my 12 year old " I Phone 4" to tell me how to get to this place. My phone just "said" that I am not connected to the internet and it can't tell me anything. I am not that good with I Phones but it never had to be connected to the internet for that and it even worked in Hawaii, Tahiti and Brooklyn so I wasn't sure why it didn't work all of a sudden.

I took it to a phone fixing place and he told me the phone was to old and Apple stopped using G3 so they shut it off and I needed a new phone. They didn't sell phones there so I don't think he was lying just to sell me a phone.

I don't want a new phone because this one is simple and all I do with it is take some pictures and call people. I don't watch epic movies like
"The Ten Commandments, Avitar" or "Gone With the Wind" on it and I don't play games. I never use it for E Mail because I really don't even know how so I don't need a two thousand dollar "I Phone 27" with 43 Gigabytes. (I don't even know what a gigabyte is)

So this morning I went to the Verizon store to get a new one. First I researched (on my computer) the best phone for my needs. I found this Apple 13 Mini is supposed to be the best in the size I wanted.

I got to the store at ten to ten because they open at 10. I pulled up to the door and noticed there was a girl waiting to get in.
She was a tall blonde, thin, nice looking carrying a tablet and wearing red sneakers and smoking a Marlboro cigarette but I really didn't pay much attention to her.

I said, you were here first so you go in first. She said she works there. She asked me why I was going there. I said "my phone croaked and Seri doesn't talk to me any more".

She asked if she could see it so I handed it to her. She asked me my password and pushed two buttons and handed it back to me.
It's fixed......She said the Data function was turned off.......... Like Duh.

I said, I probably should give you the seven hundred dollars you just saved me. :D

She said my I Phone 4 is good but it is much slower than a new phone. I said to her, if I am traveling on the highway going 60 MPG, isn't my I Phone 4 going as fast as an I phone 14? :unsure:
 
diana a

diana a

Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
I'll say a prayer for you and your surgeon. Hope everything is okay when he is done.

Glad the IPhone is fixed. Love your stories.
 
MadReefer

MadReefer

Vice President
Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
Hope your surgery goes well.
All carriers turned off G3. I have to switch between auto and G5. Problem is on G5 no text or calls. PITA, I hate to buy a new phone as there really is nothing wrong with it.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
Yesterday my phone died again so I figured it was trying to tell me something but it didn't want to bother SIRI to tell me.

I had to get a new phone. You just can't walk into a phone store, not in New York anyway and the place is huge like Home Depot. It's like going into a doctors office which by the way I have to go to today for two surgeries.

You have to make an appointment and you have to do it on your phone. If I could make an appointment on my phone, I wouldn't have to go there and get a new phone now would I?

So I go to this huge mall 45 minutes away and this girl about as old as my Grand Daughter greets me like her Grand Father and sits me down. (I hate malls because like all men, I get that mall look) She asks me if I am comfortable and perhaps need a blanket, put my feet up or a cup of tea.

Then she asks what she can do for me and I give her my 12 year old IPhone 4. This totally amazes her and she calls over all the other employees who were younger then my phone.

They were amazed and never saw an IPhone 4. They are all playing with it and using functions that I had no idea were on the thing. They thought I kept it in my flannel pajamas for 12 years because it doesn't have a scratch on it and looks like it came out of the Henry Ford factory yesterday.

So she comes out with this "IPhone 13 mini" which I searched and figured I needed. It is supposed to have the best camera and the pictures of you actually look better than you really do.

It actually has two cameras and I think it is the same phone Steven Spielberg used to film Avatar. Or was that that other guy? I don't know.

She shows me some of the functions and tells me that when I get home to my nursing home the thing will know it's connected to wifi and automatically transfer the old data and pictures from my old phone into this one. Like really! I doubt it.

She said due to the antiquity of my old 3G phone she couldn't just transfer the data (which is mostly fish pictures) to the new phone because my old phone would get all nervous and blow up or go on fire.

So I leave the store with this new phone which doesn't do anything yet and go home. I called my wife on my way to see if the thing worked and what do you know, it did.

I get the thing home and lay it on my counter to get my wife. When I come back, it reads "Hello Paul".

What a nice phone. It does all sorts of things and now I am in my kitchen waiting for it to make me breakfast.
 
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