Katsuobushi (aka bonito) is dried, fermented and smoked tuna and it’s
incredibly hard. It’s so hard that it’s possible to fashion a shiv out
of it.
To do so, you’ll need a mandoline, an adjustable wrench, a metal
file, a vise to hold it in, an oven, a whetstone and some patience. YouTuber kiwami japan shows the way.
You’ll not only get a dangerous weapon out of the deal but also a big
bag of bonito flakes (which are great for making your food look like
it’s moving).
I mean the whole damn point of the Nativity story is that the supposed son of God (interpret Jesus how you fucking want, of course) was born to a couple of poor, exhausted peasants in the stable for the inn, and his first bed was a feeding trough for animals. That would nowadays be like a poor couple where the mother gives birth in a parking garage behind the motel because they couldn’t find a better place and nobody else would take them in. It’s a pretty gritty setting, and the idea is that God was reborn in some of the rock-bottom lowest circumstances. The only thing majestic was all the angels and shit, and of course motherly love
I get that a lot of the art portraying Madonna and Child as fabulously wealthy europeans in splendid robes and golden light was meant to glorify God + whichever nobility was sponsoring the artist, and while of course it’s genuinely beautiful art, it just always struck me as horribly missing the point, which is that the supposed son of God started in incredibly humble circumstances, among the kind of people that everyone else looks down on
Friendly reminder that a big part of why Christianity spread so far so quickly was because it was geared to the poor and the sick finding relief from their suffering in Heaven, an eternal paradise.
Christianity as it is now has been misappropriated by the rich as a tool for destruction and subjugation to maintain the status quo of their being rich. Just like the rich always do.
It’s not very often that I ask other people for help, but this is something I can’t do on my own. And if I could borrow a moment of your time, I would like to begin.
Just a few months ago, last October 2017, my best friend gave birth to the most beautiful, precious boy named Arron.
For a while, she was without a doubt the happiest mother in the world – struggles and hardships included. Because at the end of the day, even through all the sweat and tears, she gets to see the sleeping face of her precious baby boy. And that’s when she knows it was all worth it.
But here’s the thing: Arron was born with a clubbed foot.
In hopes of being able to correct it early, my friend had Arron’s pediatrician fit him into a Ponseti brace and for 2 weeks he’s been wearing it. 2 weeks, and it’s been nothing but constant trouble.
And he has to wear it for 5 years.
He cries. He screams. He’s barely able to sleep. And he’s in so much pain, it’s driving my friend to wit’s end. “This thing is a torture device,” she once told me. “It breaks my heart hearing him scream this way.” And it breaks my heart as well. Even more so when I finally saw what it’s been doing to him.
Terrified that there might be something wrong with the Ponseti brace, my friend started doing some research of her own. And what she discovered was very disheartening.
A 25% chance of relapse. Multiple tenotomies, where they cut the Achilles tendon. Flat foot. Rolled ankles. Inverted knees. Injury to the non-clubbed foot. Tendon replacement surgeries. So many things that could go wrong with the treatment, and right now Arron is not responding well to it.
And so, my friend decided to look for an alternative. What she ended up finding was this:
A $2,055 brace called the DTKAFO or Cunningham. It’s a new innovation that hasn’t yet been patented, so not many doctors know how it works. But it offers a wide variety of advantages in comparison to his current brace.
Only 2 braces are needed, and it’ll bedone by the age of two thanks to the 23/7 wearing and constant correction it provides. It allows full mobility, which doesn’t hinder milestones. There won’t be any delays in his rolling over, crawling, or walking. Relapse rate is at a 10%chance, and most cases are from improper use by the parents and starting the treatment later than protocol. It has two straps: one on the thigh, and one on the foot, meant to keep the brace attached but doesn’t need to be tight like the Ponseti. The brace is 1.5 inches too short to make sure the foot plate is snug against the foot no matter where he moves, so it’s always doing what’s needed.
And the creator of the Cunningham lives only a few states away.
But it’s not the travel expenses itself that are my friend’s immediate concern. It’s the brace: the $2,055 that neither my friend nor her husband have, even despite their work, and their insurance can’t cover for it. We had hoped the creator of the Cunningham would allow partial payments of the brace, but perhaps due to previous clients he is now requesting them in full. They have already set up the date: January 4, 2018. My friend makes her journey there on January 2.
I know this is different from what I usually post, but if anyone is able to spare a few dollars or even just help spread the word to someone else who can, it would mean the absolute world to us. My friend is a great person, and the best mother I know because she puts her child’s needs in front of her own. We don’t want him in his current brace any longer than he needs to be. Her precious little boy doesn’t deserve this suffering, especially for something that was never his fault. Please help Arron. Please help a mother and her child.
Urocyon's Jaunts 2.0 
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