
CrystalSeas |
4 people marked this as a favorite. |

Did...
Did I just read..."Our neighborhood's so rich, the poor people can pick and choose what free stuff they get"?
But, like...how can one afford to live in an area that's so affluent ...and still be poor enough to GET charity?
1) The rich people who volunteer to staff the thrift stores pick over their neighbors donations and choose what will be available to the poor people.
and
2)You don't live there, you just thrift-shop there.
At one point in my life, I needed a lot of formal dresses for balls (think 3-4 per year). I would drive about 50 miles to the thrift shop for one of the richest neighborhoods in the US, where really fancy formal gowns were sold for $25-$75 at the neighborhood thrift store. Gowns that had cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars originally.
And I still periodically drive to rich neighborhoods to shop their thrift stores. High quality goods available for pretty low prices.
Much better than picking over the stuff that poorer people donate where I live.

Vidmaster7 |

It took four cameras, OBS, discord, a desktop to manage video and a laptop to handle audio, but the first virtual game with dwarven forge was a success. We finished the dungeon of doom and laid Sysool to rest.
Having wrapped up that campaign, we will return to the world of the Black Company and tidy up a lingering campaign thread there.
After that, probably plaguestone assuming the dwarven forge set up for that arrives in a timely fashion.
In other unrelated news, I have deleted FB for the sixteenth time this year and find myself vowing (again) not to reinstall. So much poison there.
Oh your streaming your D&D/PF sessions? That's cool. I have thought about it myself. I stream my minecraft world but I would like to set up to stream D&D just need more hardware.

Vidmaster7 |

So... wooooow...
Today is the first day of Impus Minor's all-online semester.
As of 8:00 pm last night, one of his teachers emailed him that cameras will be mandatory for his class. Since we don't have one, this is problematic.
At of 7:00 am this morning, he'd only received emails with Zoom links for 4 of his 8 classes today. He went to his student portal and found 3 more, but he still doesn't have a link for his mandatory first period training that starts in 2 hours.
I've been in education for 28 years now (teaching college for 8, training corporate customers for 20). If I tried to pull the s*** the school is pulling I'd be fired with cause.
"No; it's not *MY* job to communicate with my students! I gave them half a dozen portals to check. They need to go to all of them and find the information for themselves."
Yeah, er... no.
I think the teachers should be a bit understanding if everything isn't perfect the first day and I'm sure their are going to be students that have more problems then just those on the first week. I wouldn't sweat it too much.

Vidmaster7 |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |

captain yesterday wrote:There is no covid 19 in ba sing seSharoth wrote:I have come to the conclusion that CY is an earthbender!I went out looking for a new hat this weekend and found a cool earth nation hat, unfortunately it was sized for kids (I don't know why they keep insisting Avatar is for children).
So Tiny T-Rex has a cool new Earth Nation hat.
Ugh real life is the worst. America turns into Ba Sing Se and we don't even get earth bending powers.

Vidmaster7 |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |

Orthos wrote:CrystalSeas wrote:I mean, expecting competence and capability and being disappointed on the regular is something of a trend in NH's posts as of late. Sorry to say it dude but it's true.NobodysHome wrote:they'd spent the summer training the teachers, staff, and administrationDid they "provide training" or did they provide training and then administer some sort of test of mastery after the training was over?
I would guess that you're making a lot of assumptions about training and mastery that are illogical and don't match any previously available data.
The greatest disappointment of my life was learning that:
(1) Showing up to work on time, and
(2) doing what I was asked to do,
made me the "best employee we've ever had" at multiple places.Show up. Do your job. You'll be the best ever.
That saddens me more than you know.
EDIT: A good example was at the video store. "If there's no one in the store, you should go around and try to straighten out the videos and make sure they're in the right place and in alphabetical order."
As a mild obsessive-compulsive, I found this an extremely relaxing way to pass the time.One day the owner walked in.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm cleaning up and sorting the videos like you asked me to."
"I knew someone was doing that! The store's been much neater since you arrived! Great job!"And I was just puzzled. You asked me to do it. I did it. What's the big deal?
Apparently, doing work when the boss isn't around is something a lot of people just don't do.
IME the worst part about being reliable and on time and a good worker is they start expecting more and more from you while everyone around you does less and less expecting you to pick up the slack and when you don't your the one that gets in trouble for not keeping up.. At this point it's bare minimum until I find a job that treats me correctly.

Vidmaster7 |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |

So, I've asked this question as a joke, and maybe said it once or twice as a rant, but seriously, this has been on my mind lately...
** spoiler omitted **
Or maybe I'm just wrong. I am really bad at understanding people.
Oh I can actually answer this question.
1. So to tell someone to go out and vote for our candidate will get more resistance then just telling someone to go out and vote2. a certain party tends to do better when voter turnout is high. so it behooves them to get as many people to vote as possible.
3. For local officials your vote is more important then for the big ones naturally.
4. Their are actually some people out their that are committed to the political system and truly in their hearts believe that the system works best when everyone participates. (I kind of agree in spirit but If I said I completely believed I would be being hypocritical.)
Hope that helps.

gran rey de los mono |
Do you think that the person who invented the umbrella was going to just call it a "brella", but then hesitated?
"What's that?"
"It's a new thing I created to keep the rain off of me."
"Neat! What's it called?"
"Ummm, brella."
"Umbrella? Odd choice, but I like it. Hey everyone! Come check out this umbrella!"

Vidmaster7 |

Do you think that the person who invented the umbrella was going to just call it a "brella", but then hesitated?
"What's that?"
"It's a new thing I created to keep the rain off of me."
"Neat! What's it called?"
"Ummm, brella."
"Umbrella? Odd choice, but I like it. Hey everyone! Come check out this umbrella!"
Comes from the Latin word Umbra meaning darkness.

gran rey de los mono |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
gran rey de los mono wrote:Comes from the Latin word Umbra meaning darkness.Do you think that the person who invented the umbrella was going to just call it a "brella", but then hesitated?
"What's that?"
"It's a new thing I created to keep the rain off of me."
"Neat! What's it called?"
"Ummm, brella."
"Umbrella? Odd choice, but I like it. Hey everyone! Come check out this umbrella!"
Nah, I'm pretty sure that's how frat guys interrupt each other.
"Um, brah? Can you move? I can't see the TV."

gran rey de los mono |
gran rey de los mono wrote:I go to a support group for people who don't know when to shut up. It's called "On-and-On-Anon".Please don't stop going. it is very important.
I just sit there and refuse to speak. It's hilarious how uncomfortable it makes them. They can't stand the silence, so they feel like they need to fill it, but they also know that they are there to try and learn how to shut up. I love it.

Vidmaster7 |

Vidmaster7 wrote:gran rey de los mono wrote:Comes from the Latin word Umbra meaning darkness.Do you think that the person who invented the umbrella was going to just call it a "brella", but then hesitated?
"What's that?"
"It's a new thing I created to keep the rain off of me."
"Neat! What's it called?"
"Ummm, brella."
"Umbrella? Odd choice, but I like it. Hey everyone! Come check out this umbrella!"Nah, I'm pretty sure that's how frat guys interrupt each other.
"Um, brah? Can you move? I can't see the TV."
Or if your quite a bit overweight (or just gifted) and unsure about what sort of equipment to wear on a run. What to wear... Umm bra?

Dr. Doommaster7 |

Vidmaster7 wrote:I just sit there and refuse to speak. It's hilarious how uncomfortable it makes them. They can't stand the silence, so they feel like they need to fill it, but they also know that they are there to try and learn how to shut up. I love it.gran rey de los mono wrote:I go to a support group for people who don't know when to shut up. It's called "On-and-On-Anon".Please don't stop going. it is very important.
Silence is a powerful weapon when used correctly....
...............................
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4 people marked this as a favorite. |

*sheds tears of sorrow of lost Lego*
Getting any in my childhood was a challenge.
I have three small boxes upstairs that my brother and I meticulously collected over our years of childhood. Lego was something we only got from others, as a birthday present, as it was too expensive.
But we got such milage out of it. So many stories told with it.The boxes are now in a closed, ready to be washed and gifted over a period of time once my niece is old enough to use them.
(there are still super mario stickers on the boxes <3 )

Sharoth |

The series Accomplishments of the Duke's Daughter is a very good read. I have enjoyed the series Immensely. Not much action, but the economic and political machinations are very well thought out.

Nylarthotep |

On the upside i decluttered the garage. On the downside it is because my younger son has been up since 245.
If he stays up i will go test my yeti and new cameras. Not gonna be much good at work today.
I gifted my legos to my nephews/niece and now they are back in time for my sons. I expect there will be more sets added over birthdays and such.
I will note there are myriad uses for legos within the adult bdsm community.

gran rey de los mono |
I have to go with the D4. Lego's are rough but a D4 will cripple you.
I saw somewhere a dice set Where the dice were shaped like weapons the D4 was a caltop that looked like little blades.. I imagined stepping on it and said nope never buying that set.
Just don't drop the dice on the floor and there's no problem. Or if you do, be very careful until you find them.

gran rey de los mono |
Sharoth wrote:I love Lego. So do my cats.You fool! If you thought it was bad when SkyNet gained sentience, you really don't want to see what happens when cats figure out how to build with Lego.
Absolutely nothing will happen. Those lazy f!s aren't going to do anything.

Scintillae |
6 people marked this as a favorite. |

So, I've asked this question as a joke, and maybe said it once or twice as a rant, but seriously, this has been on my mind lately...
** spoiler omitted **
Or maybe I'm just wrong. I am really bad at understanding people.

The Vagrant Erudite |

In the land of Kush.
Okay, if someone else doesn't make the joke, I think I'm obligated to...

The Vagrant Erudite |

Okay, internet, ya need to stop. When you google the phrase, it's a vegan restaurant at the top of the page.
Not an ancient kingdom. Not the Montreal orchestra, which apparently is a thing with the same name as well.
Not even a glorious place where good hippies go when they die, which is what MY mind thinks of first when I hear "Land of Kush"
A vegan restaurant.
Here I am doing an image search to reply with, just, the most obvious joke that like 2/3 of you will ignore, roll your eyes at, and go "typical Vagrant", and what do I get? Mediocre looking Indian food.
Don't get me wrong; I love Indian food. It's my second favorite after Thai (GOOD Indian food is my favorite, but it's easier to f#!$ up than Thai - finding a decent Thai restaurant is pretty easy). However, I really must insist that Google needs to up it's game if that's top of the page before the other things I listed.

Freehold DM |

The Vagrant Erudite wrote:Did...
Did I just read..."Our neighborhood's so rich, the poor people can pick and choose what free stuff they get"?
But, like...how can one afford to live in an area that's so affluent ...and still be poor enough to GET charity?
1) The rich people who volunteer to staff the thrift stores pick over their neighbors donations and choose what will be available to the poor people.
and
2)You don't live there, you just thrift-shop there.At one point in my life, I needed a lot of formal dresses for balls (think 3-4 per year). I would drive about 50 miles to the thrift shop for one of the richest neighborhoods in the US, where really fancy formal gowns were sold for $25-$75 at the neighborhood thrift store. Gowns that had cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars originally.
And I still periodically drive to rich neighborhoods to shop their thrift stores. High quality goods available for pretty low prices.
Much better than picking over the stuff that poorer people donate where I live.
Outright glitzy goodwill and salvation army stores in Manhattan sometimes. I'll let you know what I find when I check them out. And thats before getting into Manhattan popup sample sales.

Nylarthotep |
9 people marked this as a favorite. |

Re: encouraging people to vote
There are also some of us who either by training or inclination believe that the system as written can work, but works best when there is full participation.
We had something like 60% voting in the last two big election cycles. That means that HRC and DT each got about 30% of the popular vote. If that other 40% had voted the results might be different. Instead of guessing what the silent 40% want, having their vote counted would help us understand where we really are as a nation.
Are we a bunch of racist xenophobes? Are we a bunch of tree hugging hippies that want to keep the natural habitat of the red breasted caterpillars that live on confederate statues intact? Our current level of participation makes it unlikely if we will ever know what is a true median or mean belief. All we have are the bimodal results of the two party system.
Imagine, for a second, that the other 40% had voted and voted 3P. But we will never know, because they did not get out and vote.
Using a more extreme example, I see leadership on both sides of the aisle accused of treason in my various feeds. However, my response is that - if the person was elected on a mandate to do x, it is the will of the people to do x and that cannot by definition be treason. However, since 40% of the people do not express an opinion on x, we never really know if the person was elected on a mandate to do x.
So, yes, even though I am likely to disagree with any given person's politics, I want them to vote. I want them to express their outrage through the process instead of property destruction. I want ready access to voting polls, easy ballot submission, and proper enfranchisement. I also want verification and spot checks to stop fraud. But I want people to vote. Even if I disagree with them.
Maybe especially if I disagree with them. Because if the will of the people is x, and I don't agree with x, maybe it is time to look hard at why I don't agree with x. And if x is truly on the wrong side of history, then maybe I need to work harder to help people understand why x is horrible.

NobodysHome |
3 people marked this as a favorite. |

Yeah, Nylarthotep encapsulates my opinion well: Whenever someone says, "I don't vote because my vote doesn't matter," I respond that every election in U.S. history could have been swayed to any candidate, even a third-party candidate, if the non-voters had simply voted en masse.
So the system isn't broken because of the lack of any real choice. It's broken because so many eligible voters refuse to choose.
EDIT: The Wikipedia article on it has a nice table at the bottom where I *might* be wrong if you go back to 1900 and before (73.2% in 1900), but post-1908 we've never broken 63%.