NobodysHome's page

Speaking as a parent, I will never give parents crap for having their kids on leashes. They're worse than kittens when it comes to running off and endangering themselves. You can be staring right at them and they'll take off at a full run just so they can dart in front of a forklift.

I'm amazed our species has survived.

Speaking of the hellions...
...Impus Major found an old rabbit hide we somehow acquired or inherited over the years. He thought it would make nice bedding for the kittens so he put it on some padding on his dresser so the kittens could sleep on it. A real fur.

So, I'll give props to the tanner -- that thing has survived an astonishing amount of abuse. Didn't last 5 minutes on the dresser before the kittens were playing some form of game (I know what we called it in elementary school, but horrifically offensive these days and I don't know the new name for it) where one kitten would grab the hide and run with in and the others would pursue, tackle, and seize the hide.

In under 24 hours the fur has visited every room in the house. I occasionally see a tiny streak as one of the hellions runs headlong through the house to seize the hide and either skid across the hardwood floor on it or carry it to a new battleground.

Not exactly Impus Major's plan for the hide, but he is pretty darned pleased with himself nonetheless.

EDIT: And yeah, OMG. "Barn cat" vs. "Purebred cat". Fluffy doesn't know what the big deal about the hide is. But then, even when they're watching squirrels she just watches them. The hellions? They will clearly happily kill anything within reach, no matter the size. I fear Morrigan once she gets accustomed to the limitations on the leads and gets to hunt in the yard...

I found the Impus Minor/purrito pic.

Practical tip: Use proper shelving for storing your kittens.

Good night at game. Not only was the game fun, but the dog let me hold him and cuddle for a good 10 minutes or so.

Last night Impus Minor was running his game in the living room/dining room area (it's one big attached area that counts as three rooms: Foyer, living room, dining room), so I was in the bedroom playing Solasta on the craptop on one of those breakfast-in-bed tables.

First Stripey shoved herself up between the table and my belly because she likes tight spaces. Then Blacky curled up in my "lap" (is it a lap when you're lying down?). Then Fluffy came over and sprawled out on her back just out of my reach, as cats do. ("Prove you love me! Move 6" to pet me!")

And they were there for a good 3 hours. It was very pleasant.

GothBard's life at the moment: I wake her up at 7:00 am for work. I raise the blind. And a tumble of kittens pours onto the bed to play.

Wow... PetCo strikes out looking.

(1) I very consciously did not give them a phone number in my letter. So they called multiple times from a "Caller ID Blocked" number. And gee... I didn't answer.

(2) When they reached out by email, I re-explained my two issues: In the program, you accumulate points that you then convert into $5 online coupons. You are also awarded 3 additional coupons per month. My complaints:

a) As far as I can tell, there is no way to see how many coupons you have at the moment unless to start an online order, load up the cart with nonsense, and go to checkout. At which point it will show you your active coupones.

b) After multiple attempts, you cannot use the coupons in the store.

The agent's response? "You can always see your point total here, and if you go into the store your sales associate can apply the coupons."
Not what I asked, and no, no you can't.

Yep. My kids.

Impus Major is out back livestreaming as he herds the kittens around the back yard and talks about selling their eggs.

Waterhammer wrote:

Rain. In June. So confusing.

Going to be the norm for Scint and I going forward. Summer is the Rainy Season in Chengdu, primarily June and July.

K look forward to you teaching us all to swear in Chinese.

And these two really love each other, in spite of the ridiculous size differential.

By current growth curves, Fluffy will be 14-15 pounds; Stripey might hit 6.

The kittens' first test is upon them: The lemon rats have returned.

Our lemon tree produces a ludicrous number of lemons for its size. The rats have learned this, and some move into the tree for the summer to enjoy the bounty. They're smart enough to avoid coming into the house, but the kittens have definitely smelled them in the side yard. I suspect that if Fluffy encountered a rat she would attempt to adopt it, which isn't a particularly useful way to save our lemons. Stripey and Blacky were born of and raised by a barn cat. Blacky already nearly downed a crow.

I'll be interested in seeing how long it takes before the lemon rats perish.

And this is the more natural state of the flower.

Has stripes, sits on flower.

That's not a cat! That's a bee!

Considering that her growth curve has her topping out at under 5 pounds, she's going to be the size of a bee as well. Well, a *big* bee, but..

OK. Let's see whether this works:

Lenore, aka Fluffy in her Meowsoleum.

Mephisto Q. Meatball, aka Blacky on the ottoman.

Morrigan, aka Stripey in a flower. And if you look at Morrigan, Limey, you will indeed see a big hanging ball behind her.

So, I understand that for consultants, time is quite literally money so questioning their clients' decisions isn't in their best interests.

But today's question is such a, "No! Bad customer!" (Beats customer with a rolled-up newspaper) moment: "We want to know whether there's a maximum number of performance review cycles per year, because the customer wants (over 110)."

So, you have a customer who wants to implement a performance review system where there's more than two performance reviews per week? And you're NOT telling the customer, "Um, you might want to re-think your business processes on this one, rather than simply unquestioningly implementing it in software"?

Yes, I'm sure our application could handle several thousand review cycles a year. But what the heck are you doing!?!?!?!

Impus Major: I love to get home, reach into a flower, and pet a kitten. And if that isn't the most wonderful sentence in the English language, I don't know what is.

This is the tree the kittens sleep in.

Things that almost make NobodysHome feel guilty:

Impus Minor has been formally accepted to CSUEB, so he has to attend a mandatory all-day orientation over the summer. Yes, of course they allow a "parent or supporter" to come along. Yes, of course I signed up Impus Major as the supporter.

No, I have no regrets. Almost. But no. The joy they inspire will be worth it.

It's been quite a while since I wrote one, but today PetCo got a NobodysHome Letter™. Such letters have generated apologies from the IRS and DMV, or hundreds of dollars in free kit from Brio (gotta admit, Brio REALLY cares about its customer satisfaction).

I strongly suspect PetCo will ignore me, but the short version is that they offer a $240/year membership program that's supposed to get you $15/month in rewards points, but you're extremely limited in how you can actually spend those points and you can't ever check the total to see whether you're getting your money's worth, so it feels far more like a rip-off con than a rewards program.

Which, speaking as an industry insider who helped write courses on customer loyalty programs, is a Bad Thing.

The universe wants to make me melancholy today.

First, I learned that the Monsters, Inc. ride at Disneyland is shutting down after 20 years. In spite of all the lost memories of my alcoholic years, one of the best memories I have of the kids' childhoods was taking Impus Major on the ride when it very first opened. I forget why, but an attendant let us in a side entrance to skip the line. Impus Major loved the ride and screamed his little head off at all the appropriate points. And when we got off the ride, he was awarded a "Screamer of the Day" certificate by a beaming Disney cast member. Back when Disneyland actually cared about, y'know, the whole experience 'n' such.

So I was already on memory lane when I went out to light the pilot light in the studio and the Fluffernutter asked to come in with me, then meowed insistently for pets... and purred and purred and purred like she hasn't done in a decade. And I remembered how we used to refer to her as "the purr monster" and we hadn't heard that motorboat-like rumbling in nearly a decade. The meds are doing an incredible job for her. But realizing this, and the fact that she's being nearly forgotten as everyone dotes on the kittens, made me sit there petting her and listening to her purrs for a solid 10 minutes, thinking about her life and how soon she'd be leaving us and what I can possibly do (besides the drugs) to make her life better in the meantime. I thought she was enjoying her (possibly) final spring and summer in the yard, spending every daylight hour lying among the ginger lilies or on the sun-warmed concrete, basking her old bones and dreaming of times past. But she wants us, too. She made that very clear this morning. And I'm going to go out and pet her some more, because otherwise I'm a monster.

And yes, FTR, Stripey's mother is already small, and Stripey was the runt of the litter, so I am fully expecting her adult weight to be under 7 pounds. Fluffy's father is a monster and she shows every sign of following in his footsteps; she may well hit a healthy weight of 14-15 pounds. So that 2:1 weight ratio is unlikely to go away.

Speaking of S-class kittens, Stripey is definitely showing her stripes, as it were. She's now outweighed by Fluffy by more than 2:1. So she's learned where all the little nooks that Fluffy can't fit into are, sets up defensively there, and they have epic battles as Fluffy attempts to pierce her fortifications and she puts up a fierce defense. They have an absolute blast.

Blacky, erm, just jumps on Stripey when he sees her out in the open. Then gets mauled by Fluffy because adoptive sisters. I feel kind of bad for him, but the hoomans love his dopey beauty, so I think he'll be fine.

EDIT: He has also absolutely mastered the, "Curl up on a black piece of furniture and gaze at the hoomans with big golden eyes," trick. I wish cameras could do him justice. He is a majestic, beautiful beast. And he is NOT "dumb as a post". He is an average-intelligence cat surrounded by brilliant cats. So not "dumb but beautiful" but "average but beautiful". And isn't that worse? 'Cause he probably knows the other cats are all smarter than him...

What is the difference between an S-class kitten and a C-class kitten?

The Fluffernutter is so old and decrepit that she exists on soup: I mix canned cat food with water, microwave it, and bring her warm soup four times a day. For reasons beyond my comprehension, all three kittens consider this the Best Food Ever and persistently try to steal it.

C-class kitten: Hears me open the can. Runs into the kitchen. Watches me prepare the soup. Attempts to follow me into the room. Gets grabbed and tossed out. Every. Single. Morning. Without fail.

S-class kitten: Started off with the same behavior as C-class kitten, realized it didn't work, and started staying in the room waiting for the food to arrive. She'd still jump down while I was in the room and get thrown out. Then she'd try to take the food while the Fluffernutter was eating and the growls would alert me. So this morning when I started stirring she left the bed. I have no idea where she went. She completely hid while I put out both the kitten food and the Flutternutter's soup. I never heard a growl nor a peep. But once i opened the bedroom door half an hour later the soup bowl was empty and I finally spotted her happily trotting around the house. I have no idea where she hid. I have no idea how she got the soup without upsetting the Fluffernutter. But I'm sure she got it, and I have no idea how.

Oops. I just inadvertently created the "squirrel death challenge".

After Blacky nearly caught a crow yesterday (got within 2' of it and if he'd been bigger/a better hunter he would've nailed it), I moved the crow food on top of the catio. (Literally an outdoor cage you put your indoor cats in so they can enjoy being outdoors without the dangers or the harnesses. They hated it at first, but now they've started going in there and hanging out even when they're free on leads.)

So, the squirrels love the crow food (at least the nuts). But they must now climb a wire cage full of kittens to get at it. And oooh, they are NOT happy about this arrangement.

Their angry chittering soothes my soul.

Vanykrye wrote:

Friend of mine doesn't understand what I do for a living.

I ran into a strange audio issue on 2 of the three PCs in the house. Minor annoyance, I'll get to it later.

He's trying to help me troubleshoot, unasked. He's just trying to be helpful, and he is a friend. I'm trying so hard not to tell him to just go away.

But... you're not female.

No, I take it back. That would be, he knows what you do for a living, tries to help anyway, and explains how to fix it incorrectly in a condescending way.

What's truly terrifying is that I can personally testify to this.

If that hadn't been so ridiculously cute it would've been downright menacing:

(Gets up from desk walks through kitchen towards bathroom) A black kitten sits in the hallway door, gazing at me intently.

(Takes a few steps forward) A white kitten emerges from behind the bedroom door, sits down near the black kitten, and gazes at me intently.

(Steps between the two kittens into the hall) A striped kitten emerges from behind the hallway door, sits down so I'm surrounded, and gazes at me intently.

Were they not embodiments of pure cuteness, it would've been something right out of a horror movie...

Pet peeve of the day: "It's not A.I."

Our department has started using a text-to-speech tool. Such tools have existed for decades. And yet ALL of my co-workers started calling them, "AI voices."

At a team meeting a month or two ago I pointed out that we were NOT using AI voices, and were just using old-school text-to-speech.

At this morning's team meeting again, "The AI voices sound really robotic." So I pointed out that the company that provides our text-to-speech services also provides premium "AI text-to-speech" at a much higher cost, so if the team keeps using that term and it gets back to the vendor, they will be rightfully upset with us for publicly misidentifying their products.

And I see it on an almost-daily basis. People take something that's been around for years, or even decades (for example, self-driving car technology). And they randomly slap AI in front of it even when the product has never remotely been approached by AI.

It incenses me, because you're giving AI credit for stuff it has nothing to do with.

Proposal for a new international law (possibly an addendum to the Geneva Conventions):

Any adult who gives a child under 10 a battery-powered device whose primary purpose is to make noise shall be imprisoned for a period no less than 1 week in a solid 20'x20' cell with at least ten such children with ten such devices.

...Polish politics...

What's fairly interesting/pathetic about U.S. politics is that the President was originally instilled largely as a figurehead; Congress made the laws, the courts verified that the laws were constitutional, and the president signed off on the laws or oversaw the departments that implemented the laws. There was a HUGE amount of discussion about how much power the president should have during the Constitutional Convention; it was probably the second-most-debated matter (after state's rights), and the "weak president" faction won.

Unfortunately, in the intervening 200+ years, Congress hasn't wanted to take responsibility for anything and people have shown that they adore a dictator, so the president has been given more and more leeway to do whatever the **** he wants, to the point that our modern presidents are pretty much mini-emperors.

Drejk wrote:

Drejk wrote:

Elections.

Grumble, fumble, bumble...

People are dying to vote!

No, seriously, apparently there were at least two incidents when people came to vote and died - 97 old lady and 84 year old man. In the first case, she fainted before she received her voting card.

In this (second) round of presidential elections, we have one casualty so far (and over two more hours to go) - a 75 year old fainted while voting and died on the way to hospital.

That's some voter dedication, there...

Speaking of getting old, once you're in your 50s or 60s you're likely to suffer from a posterior vitreous detachment (PVD), where your retina slowly pulls itself away from the gel that fills your eyeball. As long as it happens slowly and doesn't tear the retina, it's just an annoyance...
...*but*, if you're like me, and you spend all day every day doing physical labor, it can get really annoying.

I just emptied the studio shed onto the lawn. Stood up. Saw a sea of floaters saying, "Stop all physical activity NOW".

So my kitchen and lawn are going to be full of crap for DAYS, because it's not just, "Stop working for a few hours to let it fix itself," it's, "Give it at least a week."

I'll see whether I can get the kids to throw stuff back in the shed.

*SIGH*.

The only good part about getting old is that it beats the alternative.

Speaking of S-class kittens...
...you know all those videos that show crows sledding on snowy rooftops and how it's proof of their intelligence?

GothBard and Impus Major were cleaning up from Impus Minor's game and leaned the whiteboard against the table. Stripey tried to scramble up it and slid back down. So she tried again. And immediately got the hang of it, jumping up to the table, jumping onto the whiteboard, and sliding down over and over again. Fluffy heard her and came to investigate, and soon the two of them were getting into wrestling matches at the top of the board, tipping themselves over onto the board, and then sliding down paw in paw.

Take that, crows!

I am looking at the reviews of Elden Ring: Nightreign and...

Uh... I see a lot of nice things that I would love to play with, improved movement, class skills, and such, but the fact that the game is not scaled for solo play, and the tight time limit for a run (two days lasting 20 minutes each, and the final boss fight, that leave little time for exploration and actually getting used to game) make me rather reluctant for foreseeable future...

Now I wonder, if NobodysGroup is masochistic enough to give it a try...

So, when a game asks, "Are you hardcore enough to beat our game?", our answer is an immediate, "Nope," and we take our money elsewhere.

Right now we're thoroughly enjoying Solasta, which answers the question, "What if Baldur's Gate skipped all those convoluted plotlines and personal relationships and just focused on implementing 5e rules well with a straightforward AP from level 1-20."

So, it's simplistic and linear and the relationships are paper-thin. But it's a 5e campaign the three of us can play together without an eccentric GM trying to "make things more interesting" for us by changing all the rules.

NobodysHome wrote:

** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **

I swear, all the memes about infants and baby animals determinedly and forcefully hurtling themselves towards deadly situations were produced by actual pet owners/parents.

The kittens' favorite toys? Any nails, tacks, or other sharp metal objects they find that they can pick up in their mouths and endanger themselves. We caught Blacky chewing happily on a potentially poisonous plant. They have an entire living room dedicated to cat trees and tunnels to produce a 3D playground for them (and they love it), but if it's sharp and potentially deadly, they're attracted to it like magnets.

The other delight is their choice in toys. There are cat toys strewn all over the house. Two of them are of the, "Dangly thing on a stick" variety. So of course they love grabbing the dangly bit and dragging the stick noisily all over the house. This morning I watched in astonishment as Stripey (aka Morrigan, A or S tier) went at a full run through one of the cat doors pulling one such stick behind her and managed (either intentionally or unintentionally) to have the string across her back so the stick flew through the door with her easily.

She's scary-smart and barely tops 3 pounds. She's going to be a monster. I expect many, many dead small critters on our deck once she's allowed outside without human supervision.

So, GothBard was trying to make a "cat tier list".

S Tier: Pussywillow, Sekhmet, Calliope
A+/S- Tier: Calypso (my little bear. I'd argue, but GothBard is probably right)
A Tier: The Fluffernutter
B Tier:
C Tier: Sama (Bringer of Death), The Cranky Calico (she was actually a decent cat until her final few years)
D Tier:
F Tier: Pearl. (Two brain cells: "Eat. Hide.")

So, where do our new cats fit in?
Morrigan, aka Stripey: Solid A. Maybe even an S. Has HUGE promise.
Mephisto Q. Meatball the Magnificent, aka Blacky: Most likely a C.
Lenore, aka Fluffy: "I think we need to introduce an SS tier."

A friend shared this.

Today, we were captured by Demonic Servitors who had taken on the appearance of the kindly giants who normally give us food and tickles, trapped in cages, despite a truly titanic struggle*, and taken off to the Hellish lair of the Dread Sorcerer VETNA-YARA-YOON, who prodded our tummies and anointed us with foul unguents, no doubt in preparation for sacrificing us to his eldritch, unknowable masters.

Luckily, we escaped**, since our savage spirits and raw-edged blades surrender to none, and emerged rich in treasure and experience, having learned that I (Sneaker) am far too looooooong in the thews and need a bigger cat carrier, and I (Squeaker) have my podge on, and require fewer cat biscuits and/or no more second breakfasts at the neighbours' houses.

* Mild howling and wriggling.
** They got their flea treatment and were taken home immediately afterwards

I'm taking Blacky and Stripey to the vet today and on the pre-check-in form they asked, "Why are you bringing them in today?"

On the subject of pets, I think this article is a very solid test.

The TL;DR version is that a Delta airlines flight was diverted for 2.5 hours because a dog on board had a medical emergency. There are two basic camps: "Good on them for stopping even to save a dog!", or, "How dare they? It was just a dog! The owner should pay the airline AND all of us for the inconvenience!"

As you could guess, I am strongly in the former camp. We've started flying Delta more and more often because they apparently took all the negative PR flack over the years and actually tried to fix things. Their flights are on time, and in general far more pleasant than most. And articles like this one make me think, "I should fly Delta more."

...except their hub is in SFO instead of OAK, adding an hour each way to the trip to the airport, so it's a heck of a time sink just for a nicer flight.

On the other hand, the relationship between Stripey and Fluffy is utterly heart-melting. Fluffy's on antibiotics and so gets special food over lunch. Because Blacky, I have to lock her in our room so she can eat in peace. So I left her there.

About 20 minutes later, Stripey started screaming horrifically. Impus Major and I went rushing to find her. She was at our bedroom door. I opened it. She raced in, found Fluffy, touched noses, started purring, and visibly relaxed. She simply did not want to be away from her adopted sister for that long.

SOoooo sweet!

That emotional whiplash of going from "Whew! I'm glad the cats seem to like this new brand of dry kibble. I was worried they wouldn't and I'd be stuck with two uneaten bags."...

...to "Oh wow, they really like it. They really really like it. Wait guys, slow down, not so fast, you're going to get tummy aches. Hey, big boy, you're not even chewing, you're just swallowing the (smaller) kibble whole! Oh no, they're not ever going to eat the other brands of kibble anymore."

OMG. I bought the Costco chicken and rice kibble to feed the wildlife (crows by day, skunks and raccoons by night). The cats act like they've never tasted anything better in their lives.

Gods, Blacky is demonstrating why I never approve of getting male cats. At 10 weeks old he was an absolute sweetheart. Now that he's maturing, the testosterone has kicked in and he's trying to be the dominant creature in the household. He attacks Fluffy and Stripey. Since he's bigger than Stripey, he attacks her 'til she squeals in distress. Fortunately, Fluffy is an amazing big sister and protects her. This morning he tried to attack the FlufferNutter with his claws out. The cuff from me sent him tumbling and he was like, "Holy crap! That guy hits hard!!!"

But he routinely attacks Stripey, Fluffy, the FlufferNutter, and me whenever he gets frustrated with me. Today at the vet we'll be learning just how soon we can remove his equipment.

And the problem is, once you remove a male cat's gear, they become little more than a vibrating meatloaf. Other people love these cuddly warm docile fur buddies. I prefer a cat with personality that charts its own path. With male cats, I get, "Unfixed complete d*** who pees everywhere," or, "Fixed cuddly meatloaf."

I'd prefer a cat, thanks. Which is why I am now adamant I'll never own another male cat.

Ah, well. I'm sure the kids will appreciate Lumpy.

I swear, kittens learn so young! The FlufferNutter gets special food to keep her weight up -- think feeding an old lady McDonald's every night to get her enough calories, and trying to keep three kittens out of the junk food.

So Fluffy has learned that the FlufferNutter's food tastes better, and cheerfully tries to follow me into the bedroom when I'm feeding her. Today I was trying to put the food out before I brought the FlufferNutter in. She followed me.

The entire conversation:
NobodysHome: You know darned well you don't get this food!
Fluffy: Rubs against my leg.
NH: (more sternly). No. This isn't for you.
Fluffy: Gazes straight into my eyes hopefully.
NH: (even more forcefully still). No!
Fluffy: Does a little bear, standing on her hind paws and reaching towards me hopefully.

Yes, I broke. One of our first two cats ever was "my little bear" and she'd stand on her hind legs to accept treats and get pets. It was unbearable. I had to make a new bowl of food for the Fluffernutter. Damned cuteness manipulator!

"There are 2 kinds of outdoors people: Those who want to save the environment, and those who want to eat the environment."

Amazingly enough, throughout the 1970s and 1980s the Sierra Club and NRA/hunter's groups got along very well because they both wanted the same thing: A pristine wilderness. Just for different purposes.

That kind of went out the window...

The utter agony of watching someone try to re-implement a requirement just because it's "always been" a requirement:

Can you help us build a rule that checks for any spaces in the field and, if there are any, generates an error and notifies users that spaces aren't allowed?

In short, we built a proper modern application that handles special characters correctly and they're asking us to undo that so they can refuse to accept spaces.

Grr...

Some habits get so ingrained they can have hilarious results.

GothBard came in and just barely managed to stop herself as she started to lay into me for leaving a box cutter out where the Fluffernutter could reach it.

NobodysHome wrote:

lisamarlene wrote:

Hermione's middle school graduation was last night. Today is the last (half) day of school, and her grad party at Dave and Busters (it's a grown-up, expensive version of Chuck-E-Cheese).

This weekend, we are taking the kids to Scarborough Fair, our local Ren Fair, to celebrate her 14th birthday. They've never been to one.
Oh, and Sunday we have our 5E game.

The great thing about being very busy is I don't have time to be sad. She's gone to school with me every day since she was eleven weeks old. The first year, I carried her in a sling all day while I taught. It's going to be so weird next year.

I cannot believe that in all our years together we never did a Ren Faire...

I can. We were perpetually broke.

You know darned well that wouldn't have stopped us. But I can see, "No, Shiro, you don't get to pay for everything again."

NobodysHome wrote:

(3) "Oh, you think we're doing a terrible job as your leaders? Well, just try to vote us out! Oh, look at that! There are too few of you! You'll *never* have leadership positions!"

So, I posted this this morning. Then Impus Major came to me just now and pointed out that FIVE Democrat members of Congress have died in office in the last 12 months.

So yeah, the whole, "We would rather stay in our jobs and retain power 'til we keel over dead than gracefully step aside and let YOU lead," really resonates with Gen Xers for some reason...

Enjoying beating on this dead horse for a bit, but as I think I've posted before, my dad was a fantastic example of this attitude: He loved his job and he couldn't imagine what he'd do if he ever retired, so when he turned 65 he became chairman of his department. When he reached mandatory retirement age of 70 he granted himself an exception. So he got to keep teaching 'til the day he died, giving himself a very satisfactory life...

...but...

...because he had such seniority, the department didn't have the budget to bring in anyone new -- he was literally making a double salary (full time employment plus full pension at 70). Because he was allowing himself to keep working, he let all his colleagues keep working.

Then he died. And the department that hadn't seen anyone new hired in over a decade completely collapsed and had to be rebuilt from scratch. It took them years to recover from his selfishness. So sure, he did right for him, but he completely hosed hundreds of students who came to his university hoping to major in his department but who couldn't, 'cause he'd destroyed it through selfishness.

Seems like such a parallel with our current government...

(3) "Oh, you think we're doing a terrible job as your leaders? Well, just try to vote us out! Oh, look at that! There are too few of you! You'll *never* have leadership positions!"

So, I posted this this morning. Then Impus Major came to me just now and pointed out that FIVE Democrat members of Congress have died in office in the last 12 months.

So yeah, the whole, "We would rather stay in our jobs and retain power 'til we keel over dead than gracefully step aside and let YOU lead," really resonates with Gen Xers for some reason...

LOL. I'm listening to our India team talking about how important AI is in helping us do our jobs better, and I'm thinking of how just yesterday Impus Minor asked ChatGPT to generate an opening hook for his research essay on eyewitness reliability...
...and it gave him a side-splitting, over-the-top courtroom drama scene right out of Ace Attorney except for the fact that the defendant ended up shot dead on the courtroom floor because of the flawed eyewitness account of the victim's brother.

He, erm, chose not to use it for some reason...

Yeah, I've already looked into the tax brackets, and if I've done my math right, we're still coming out ahead. My retirement was never going to be secure, even starting on my investing as early as I did. I really hate that my generation was raised with hope only to have it ripped away right as our careers were beginning.

You're talking to an early Gen Xer:

(1) "Social Security? It will be bankrupt well before you retire. And pensions were phased out in the 1970s. You're on your own."

(2) "Medicare? Don't make me laugh!"

(3) "Oh, you think we're doing a terrible job as your leaders? Well, just try to vote us out! Oh, look at that! There are too few of you! You'll *never* have leadership positions!"

And at least #3 has come true in spades. Check for Gen Xers at any level of government and we are grossly underrepresented. An article I saw last week was titled, "GenX: The biggest loser generation" and I was wondering how someone was going to shift the blame onto us, but the entire article was, "Before you complain about your generation, this is all the ways in which GenX was screwed over."

So yep. We're legendarily bitter.