Wow. Thanks so much for all that, Steph. I'm going to pick up some probiotic pearls, today to go with the citrucel regimen.

I'm so grateful, there's five bazillion webpages about IBS to wade through.

I am your go-to "Sweet Lord My Guts HURT!" woman.

The thing with the probiotics and fiber supplements is that they don't work right away, like drugs. It took at least a week or 2 before I started noticing that everything was calming the fuck down in my innards.

This is cuteness. [link] This is the same kid who had the Robocop costume.

No shit, aurelia.

I mean, they're adults, they made their own decisions but...

The whole mess just makes me want to bitch-slap this dude several times.

I've been obsessively checking to see when he finally shows his face. Is he any worse than those who believed him? I'm unsure if he's malicious in the Bernie Madoff sense of malicious. He doesn't seem to be a carny taking five bucks to see the woman with the head of a beauty queen and the body of a snake, robbing the rubes. Though, it'd be worth five bucks to me to see the ridiculousness, probably.

I'm not sure, but as far as carnies go, he seemed to really believe that the snakewoman did, in fact, exist. He seemed very, very sincere. If not, why not take the money and run?

Also, it'd be nice if someone checked on him and his wife to make sure they didn't take the Jim Jones route.

Allyson, did you get your web dev questions answered? To provide another data point on downpayments, I generally ask new clients for 40% down, 30% at the midpoint of the process when the client approves the design and we start building the thing out, and the final 30% right before going live (existing clients who come back later for updates or new features just get billed hourly). Every developer or shop I know does some kind of downpayment structure, although the details will always vary a bit -- so what you're seeing is totally standard.

This is a pretty clear example of what I'm looking for, and similar to my mockup. I don't have a particularly enormous web presence and my body of work is just a few items, so this sort of clean and neatness is what I need: [link]

Is he any worse than those who believed him?

I think so. He's the man in a position to influence lots other people and he used that influence to convince people to throw away their future. Even if he is a true believer that just makes him guilty of a lesser "crime". Like manslaughter vs murder. Even if he didn't intend to, he has cause a lot of damage to his followers.

ION, we're under a tornado watch until 10pm.

We got rhubarb in this week's CSA. I have a rhubarb crumble planned, but I'm a little dubious.

We got rhubarb in this week's CSA. I have a rhubarb crumble planned, but I'm a little dubious.

I'm considering a rhubarb pie. My grandmother used to make one that looks like it was a lot like this [link] but without the meringue, and I'm trying to figure out how to veganize that crust. (Right now, I'm betting on soy yogurt to replace the egg yolks. I'll give it a try and see how it works.)

amych, speaking of web dev, I gave a friend of mine your contact info who needs a website. He may have/may be emailing you. Hope that's okay.

It's either for his own company or for a smart grid startup in Durham that he just started working for.