Deep 6 FaWtL

Good stuff as always

Heh. Haven't been in the gym for a while. So maybe not as good as you deserve...

*makes note about gym-gremlin*

Limeylongears wrote:

captain yesterday wrote:

NobodysHome wrote:

And now I'm enjoying my afternoon occasionally checking on Impus Major's flight. It's amazing to me that I can see his altitude, air speed, and (very) rough position in real time from my home.

These modern technological wonders...

Are you sure it's Impus Major's flight or Santa Claus? Because I've been fooled by that before.

This is a Wisconsin thing, is it, where, instead of a jolly old elf in a sleigh, a young man from California ambles down your chimney and fills your stockings with ethically sourced bio-active kombucha?

The thing about Wisconsin that not everyone knows is EVERYONE has their own method for making kombucha, which they are more than willing to go into excruciating detail if anyone even brings it up.

Of course, and you have Jolly St. Impus to thank for that.

** spoiler omitted **

Nobody should have to take a plane ANYWHERE unless they're crossing an ocean or otherwise traveling either to another continent or 4000+ km away.

I would love that. I really would. I absolutely loved being able to hop on (relatively) clean, comfortable, reliable trains when I lived in Italy, knowing I could go to Paris or Prague for a few days and be back home when the rail timetables said I would be there.

I've ridden Amtrak a few times and loathed it. It's all the comfort and hassle and cleanliness of air travel for the same cost as air travel but with none of the convenience. And, thanks to the fact that the freight lines *always* take precedence whenever there is a conflict on the rails, Amtrak is miserably unreliable and never arrives anywhere close to on time.

Going to a gaming convention and back by rail, I've had amtrack routinely be four hours late to show up for a three hour car trip.

It's not even that much cheaper for one person to rent a car, fill it up and drive.

I have no idea how they're still in business at those prices

Going to a gaming convention and back by rail, I've had amtrack routinely be four hours late to show up for a three hour car trip.

It's not even that much cheaper for one person to rent a car, fill it up and drive.

I have no idea how they're still in business at those prices

Massive governmental assistance. Federal and state governments give Amtrak billions of dollars every year to stay operating. For instance, according to that most reliable of sources Wikipedia, in 2021 they received approximately $4.7 billion from the feds alone. And more than $6.7 billion this year. Also, nearly 2/3 of all passengers ride in just 10 cities, so these are where Amtrak focuses most on customer service.

As for giving freight trains preference, that's actually illegal. Amtrak trains are required by law to have preference over freight trains, even though (outside of the Northeast, Southern California, and bit of Michigan) Amtrak doesn't own the rails. Before 2008, however, no one really enforced that law. Now, things are getting better. For instance, one line, the California Zephyr, was on time only 5% of the time back in 2008. Now it's over 78%. Another, the Missouri River Runner, has jumped from 11% to 95%.

Personally, I've ridden Amtrak twice. Both times the train was more or less on schedule.

That's pretty amazing. I think we were 30 hours late from Richmond, CA to Seattle, WA in the 1990s. That's not a typo. 30 hours late on a supposedly 48- hour trip.

We are expecting a high of 38 today, with brisk winds (which aren't really a problem for me because I wear layers and wind resistant gear) and I don't have any cutting to do whatsoever, just screeding out rock chips and laying down the border for the future stone mosaic (which is now going to be two cranes instead of a dragon, which I'm extremely disappointed in, but not my choice and they'll still be some kick ass cranes).

Impus Major's impressions of Virginia after nearly 12 hours of travel and being up 'til after 2:00 am for him:
- "Virginia drivers are incompetent. California drivers are stupid."
- "Virginia has such an incredible biome. They have grey squirrels instead of red squirrels."

Impus Major's impressions of Virginia after nearly 12 hours of travel and being up 'til after 2:00 am for him:

- "Virginia drivers are incompetent. California drivers are stupid."
- "Virginia has such an incredible biome. They have grey squirrels instead of red squirrels."

Send him to Olney, Illinois. They have white squirrels. And nothing else.

This year's Halloween looks like it's going to be a melancholy affair for us. It had always been our favorite holiday, and GothBard was always over-the-top with her costumes, while I cheerfully gave out full-sized candy bars to all comers. She gleefully competed in her company's annual Halloween costume competition, and usually placed in the top 3. When the kids were young, GothBard hand-made all of their costumes. As they got older, they pieced together bits and pieces of costumes to create the delightfully bizarre. (My all-time favorite is still Impus Major's "sparkle tutu undead unicorn" get-up.)

Then starting around 2016 or 2017 I started to get soured on giving out full-sized bars because a bunch of middle schoolers started showing up again and again and again, figuring I wouldn't recognize them. In 2018 they had the gall to show up SIX DIFFERENT TIMES, then started giving me crap for not giving them candy.

In 2019, someone stole GothBard's favorite Halloween decoration out of our front yard (chibi death), we got maybe seven kids under 12, and the middle schoolers were the rudest they'd ever been. We discussed permanently closing our doors, but Impus Major felt that Halloween was important enough that he was willing to deal with the rude middle schoolers to keep things going.

Along came COVID and shut down Halloween in 2020 and 2021, but GothBard still participated in her company's costume competition, and the kids still went to their friends' houses in costume.

It's 2022. GothBard isn't working so she has no reason to make a costume. Impus Major is far behind at school and almost all of his friends are off at college, so he's made no noises about Halloween. Impus Minor doesn't seem to care, either.

In all likelihood the four of us are going to curl up and watch The Nightmare Before Christmas together in the dark, ignoring anyone who tries to come to our door.

And it saddens me, because I always loved Halloween before greedy middle schoolers and decoration thieves made me feel it wasn't worth doing any more.

It is snowing.

- "Virginia has such an incredible biome. They have grey squirrels instead of red squirrels."

Please be aware that gray squirrels are friendly, especially in cities, and may approach you en masse looking for hand outs. They are not the psychopathic red squirrels (aka larval form of wolverines)

Fantasy NPC: Glit Flitwibble, Scholar of Gremlins.

Because gnomes.

Quite obviously a scholar of the highest caliber and far too above the other plebeians to be truly appreciated in her time.

Bravo! Keep up the good work!

"Just drive until the mosquitoes pick you up. That's how you'll know you're there."

"Just drive until the mosquitoes pick you up. That's how you'll know you're there."

If DC ever achieves statehood the Mosquito will definitely be the state bird

It's funny how predictable meal services are:

(1) To appeal to the broadest swath of U.S. consumers, the meals are all incredibly "Americanized", with every sauce based on either mayo our sour cream, and sugar added to every single dish.

(2) To minimize the costs, the cheapest seasonal bulk ingredients are used. I swear, if I have to garnish another dish with shredded red cabbage mixed with mayo and sugar...

(3) The cooking times are gross underestimates. I've been cooking for 42 years, yet I couldn't cook a HelloFresh meal using the instructions in the allotted time if my life depended on it.

(4) Every other family member is sick of having to cook once a week. Trying to get them to take their turns to cook now leads to grumbling, complaining, and an open question as to why we're doing this.

(5) The "savings" are minimal. I checked the grocery budget for the year, and there's no noticeable dip nor rise when we started doing HelloFresh. We're paying just about the same as we did before.

I doubt HelloFresh'll last 'til the end of the year. I'm sure as heck not going to do 3 meal kits a week, and I think the other family members are getting tired enough of cooking that we may well cancel it and go to a, "You're responsible for suggesting one dinner a week," model instead.

Little annoyance of the day.

Local (and I mean living in my city) TV, movie, and theater actor, well-known and well-loved since the eighties was arrested for driving under the influence (supposedly he admitted that he had a glass of wine) after (thankfully very minor) collision with a bicyclist.

I liked him much and respected him so it's annoying revelation because DUI is one of my pet peeves. Doubly annoying because of the sympathy my brain is trying to go softer on him than normally when I hear of DUI cases...

(3) The cooking times are gross underestimates. I've been cooking for 42 years, yet I couldn't cook a HelloFresh meal using the instructions in the allotted time if my life depended on it.

Well, at least it doesn't turn into a piece of coal after being left unattended for more than 10 seconds...

Anyway, I think that most publicly shared recipes underestimate the cooking time.

(4) Every other family member is sick of having to cook once a week. Trying to get them to take their turns to cook now leads to grumbling, complaining, and an open question as to why we're doing this.

I feel the same. Except everyday.

Little annoyance of the day.

Local (and I mean living in my city) TV, movie, and theater actor, well-known and well-loved since the eighties was arrested for driving under the influence (supposedly he admitted that he had a glass of wine) after (thankfully very minor) collision with a bicyclist.

I liked him much and respected him so it's annoying revelation because DUI is one of my pet peeves. Doubly annoying because of the sympathy my brain is trying to go softer on him than normally when I hear of DUI cases...

I have a complicated relationship with DUI.

Obviously I "strongly dislike" when people commit this reckless, foolish, and utterly dangerous crime.

I also despise when the police use DUI charges as a weapon against people who are not actually committing DUI.

I don't know the Polish laws or testing methods. I do know that here, the testing methods are generally suspect due to bias, vague and subjective standards, and objective inaccuracies. Many innocent people have been charged with a DUI, which gets publicized, only to have the charges get dropped later, which is generally not publicized.

And my father committed this horrible transgression on multiple occasions.

So...yeah... it's more complicated than it should be for me.

It's funny how much tiny little things can start enraging you.

As I think I've mentioned, my work area is in the dining room. So the expectation is that if anyone comes to the front door, I'll get up, go over, and deal with it.

At least 2-3 times a week, a family member walks out the door, closes it, realizes they forgot something, and bangs on the door so I can let them back in. It's jarring. It's disruptive. And considering that they consider that it's less work for me to get up, walk 30' to the door, open it, walk back to my desk, and get back to work than for them to simply pull out their frigging keys and open the door themselves, it infuriates me far more than it should.

But considering the options are:
(1) Unlock the door when you leave, because it really doesn't matter,
(2) use your keys, or
(3) inconvenience NobodysHome by making him get up and get the door.

I disapprove of #3.

So, I understand you want to make your company feel like a "caring" place, so you send out new hire and retirement emails. But FFS can you use a BCC to send the list? Because you KNOW your employees are actually idiots.

Our director sent a retirement announcement to the entire org. And of course it was someone who was really popular, because it's hard to go 20+ years at a company without making friends. Thus, I'm dealing with literally dozens of "Reply All" well-wishes.

"Did you REALLY need everyone in the org to see your, 'Congratulations, Bob!' email?"

I am a small enough person and drink so infrequently that I personally have a absolutely no driving if I've been drinking policy.

It's funny how much tiny little things can start enraging you.

As I think I've mentioned, my work area is in the dining room. So the expectation is that if anyone comes to the front door, I'll get up, go over, and deal with it.

At least 2-3 times a week, a family member walks out the door, closes it, realizes they forgot something, and bangs on the door so I can let them back in. It's jarring. It's disruptive. And considering that they consider that it's less work for me to get up, walk 30' to the door, open it, walk back to my desk, and get back to work than for them to simply pull out their frigging keys and open the door themselves, it infuriates me far more than it should.

But considering the options are:
(1) Unlock the door when you leave, because it really doesn't matter,
(2) use your keys, or
(3) inconvenience NobodysHome by making him get up and get the door.

I disapprove of #3.

I'd be guilty of this at times, except I live alone, I always carry my keys on me (on a leash since the one time I almost lost them at friend's place), and always opened the door for myself when I forgot something even when I was sharing living space with others.

So nope, if you hear banging on the door after someone went out, it definitely isn't me, Impus Mediocre!

Well, if I ever get keys, that is.

Not sure about Impus Freehold, though.

I am a small enough person and drink so infrequently that I personally have a absolutely no driving if I've been drinking policy.

I am Medium-sized, but I too drink infrequently and have absolutely no driving if I've been drinking policy.

What do you mean that's cheating?

Crookshanks (after finally listening to Metallica after hearing them referenced during satanic panic in school): I'm very disappointed, they didn't reference Satan once!

WFH office setup in the central area of the home is a recipe for unmitigated productivity loss and countless disruptions for sure, I learned that the hard way back around 2018 when I myself tried working form our dining room area.

I doubt the input will be useful as I'm sure you've considered your options already but since I moved my setup to a corner of our master bedroom (if you can call it that being a meager apt) I've found far fewer issues with distractions and whatnot. That is not to say that I don't have interruptions with WFH, after all the main draw of it is that I CAN be at home and offer help pretty much at the drop of a hat when the pets, kids, or wife needs an extra set of hands or in the latter situation a mere sanity break but it's made a big impact for me.

WFH office setup in the central area of the home is a recipe for unmitigated productivity loss and countless disruptions for sure, I learned that the hard way back around 2018 when I myself tried working form our dining room area.

I doubt the input will be useful as I'm sure you've considered your options already but since I moved my setup to a corner of our master bedroom (if you can call it that being a meager apt) I've found far fewer issues with distractions and whatnot. That is not to say that I don't have interruptions with WFH, after all the main draw of it is that I CAN be at home and offer help pretty much at the drop of a hat when the pets, kids, or wife needs an extra set of hands or in the latter situation a mere sanity break but it's made a big impact for me.

Well, I've been working from home since 2006, so I'm pretty used to the setup. The issue is that COVID make everyone else in the family WFH, and that's what hosed things.

Our house isn't big enough for me to move. There's no such thing as "a corner of the bedroom". It's a king-sized bed and two dressers, and that fills the room.

And all of a sudden it's "Bay Area Winter". The Cranky Calico has moved to her winter spot on our bed where the sun shines in the south-facing window for almost the entire day.

It's funny how predictable meal services are:

(1) To appeal to the broadest swath of U.S. consumers, the meals are all incredibly "Americanized", with every sauce based on either mayo our sour cream, and sugar added to every single dish.

(2) To minimize the costs, the cheapest seasonal bulk ingredients are used. I swear, if I have to garnish another dish with shredded red cabbage mixed with mayo and sugar...

That does not sound at all appealing.

Every election, I go through all the candidate statements, voting records, and even decision histories for justices, all so my family can make informed decisions when they vote.

Unfortunately, after one candidate statement, my entire summary was, "XXX is an a$$hat."

Sometimes, you just have to be honest.

Every election, I go through all the candidate statements, voting records, and even decision histories for justices, all so my family can make informed decisions when they vote.

Unfortunately, after one candidate statement, my entire summary was, "XXX is an a$$hat."

Sometimes, you just have to be honest.

It all depends on if you prefer nut jobs or a###!#!s.

My teenager told me that I'm old and out of touch. I said "You better eat my shorts, 'cause that's hella whack, home skillet!"

Pretty sure I won tbat argument.

My teenager told me that I'm old and out of touch. I said "You better eat my shorts, 'cause that's hella whack, home skillet!"

Pretty sure I won tbat argument.

If you can find a translator you might have

ALL (DE) is getting interested in Warhammer 40k, which could be a) fun, and b) expensive.

I used to play 40k, and have recently (in the last year or so) started watching people play on YouTube. I would like to get back into it, but it is expensive and I don't really have the time for it either. I still have my old armies, but base sizes and such have changed since I last played (almost 20 years!), so I would either have to have an understanding opponent or spend time rebasing everything.

NobodysHome wrote:

Every election, I go through all the candidate statements, voting records, and even decision histories for justices, all so my family can make informed decisions when they vote.

Unfortunately, after one candidate statement, my entire summary was, "XXX is an a$$hat."

Sometimes, you just have to be honest.

It all depends on if you prefer nut jobs or a#!$$++s.

I only vote for nutholes and assjobs.

My teenager told me that I'm old and out of touch. I said "You better eat my shorts, 'cause that's hella whack, home skillet!"

Pretty sure I won tbat argument.

Word, homie!

At least 2-3 times a week, a family member walks out the door, closes it, realizes they forgot something, and bangs on the door so I can let them back in.

Being that absent minded is why we usually leave the door unlocked. My aunt (from a not as nice neighborhood) was confused by the idea

"Whats going to wander through the front door that's scarier than I am?"

I am a small enough person and drink so infrequently that I personally have a absolutely no driving if I've been drinking policy.

I am the opposite of you and I do not drive at all if I have had any alcohol in the past 8 hours. Not even a single sip. Drinking alcohol is a gigantic sign to any and all around me that I am either going to bed after this or I am getting in an uber and then going to bed after this.

NobodysHome wrote:

At least 2-3 times a week, a family member walks out the door, closes it, realizes they forgot something, and bangs on the door so I can let them back in.

Being that absent minded is why we usually leave the door unlocked. My aunt (from a not as nice neighborhood) was confused by the idea

"Whats going to wander through the front door that's scarier than I am?"

I've taught the kids and wife how to weaponize every toy and knick knack in the house. I frankly feel sorry for anyone that bursts through my door expecting an easy mark.

For all you Monty Python fans

Almost a TTRPG Monty Python game

It's funny how power outages teach you a lot about a person. Our power went out.
GothBard: I have a call at 11:30 and I can't deal with this crappy cell phone signal! I'm going to Peet's.
Impus Minor: Take me with you! I'll hang out at Talkies.
NobodysHome:
(finishes morning stretches)
(finishes morning strength exercises)
(makes his lunch)
(makes coffee)
(has lunch while watching the small furry animals out the front window)
(gets out the voter guide and ballot to start working on the next page)
*** The power comes back on ***
NobodysHome: So soon? Crap. Now I have to get back to work.

I'm almost finished with my current project (for the year). Of course then it's on to the next big project.

For all you Monty Python fans

Almost a TTRPG Monty Python game

Hmpf

It's only a model.

It's funny how power outages teach you a lot about a person. Our power went out.

GothBard: I have a call at 11:30 and I can't deal with this crappy cell phone signal! I'm going to Peet's.
Impus Minor: Take me with you! I'll hang out at Talkies.
NobodysHome:
(finishes morning stretches)
(finishes morning strength exercises)
(makes his lunch)
(makes coffee)
(has lunch while watching the small furry animals out the front window)
(gets out the voter guide and ballot to start working on the next page)
*** The power comes back on ***
NobodysHome: So soon? Crap. Now I have to get back to work.

I could not make myself coffee tea with power out.

Ok, technically I could but it would be unbelievable pain in the donkey, finding a suitable pot and boiling water in it on a gas, instead of relying on electric kettle. The difference is staggering.

Also, I don't have small furry animals out the front window (or the side, or back window, for that matter). And no, arrogant pigeons peering into my windows don't count. They don't do that outside of spring and summer anyway.

Speaking of incompetence that infuriates NobodysHome:

I used to teach classes on embedded hardware programming. Things like flight control systems, the Mars Pathfinder base station, and even trivialities like smart picture frames. And one of the single-most-important concepts is, "If you only try something once, then give up, you're going to have serious issues down the line."

So, in brief:
(1) Virtually every house with network access now has a router that takes a significant amount of time to boot and connect (1-2 minutes).

(2) Virtually every networked device in said house will boot faster than that, hence when it boots it won't detect a network.

For almost every device in the house, they're smart enough to say, "OK, well, I'll try again once the user asks me to access the network."

I've complained that my Bose speaker doesn't do that, so after every power outage I have to wait to make sure my network is fully up and running, then reboot the Bose. I had a NetGear router that I disposed of because it was just as stupid.

Well, we finally upgraded to fiber optic, and I just learned that the phone modem, which came with the fiber modem, is just as stupid. We had a power outage, the phone modem booted quickly, said, "Oops, no network," and gave up permanently. I had to reboot it to get it working again.

Engineers who write code like that should be fired and should never work again. It's just too incompetent...