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NobodysHome wrote:

I'm amused that FedEx had such a massive financial miss and is taking a beating and talking about all the difficulties they're facing.

5 years ago, if you sent something by FedEx, it was absolutely, positively guaranteed to be there on time and intact. They were the best in the industry by far, and it cost you.

Somewhere down the line, someone decided to reduce quality to make their costs more competitive. These days I consider UPS Ground a better bet than any FedEx service, and if I want overnight I'm going to go USPS.

How the mighty have fallen.

Moral of the story? If your prices are high because you're the best there is, don't cede that position to lower your prices.

But free enterprise! Competition! Invisible hand of the market!


Definitely invisible.


Some things are invisible... some things are certainly not.


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New guy: Isn't that good enough?

Me: Is it perfect?

New guy: Well, no

Me: Then it's not good enough.


NobodysHome wrote:

I'm amused that FedEx had such a massive financial miss and is taking a beating and talking about all the difficulties they're facing.

5 years ago, if you sent something by FedEx, it was absolutely, positively guaranteed to be there on time and intact. They were the best in the industry by far, and it cost you.

Somewhere down the line, someone decided to reduce quality to make their costs more competitive. These days I consider UPS Ground a better bet than any FedEx service, and if I want overnight I'm going to go USPS.

How the mighty have fallen.

Moral of the story? If your prices are high because you're the best there is, don't cede that position to lower your prices.

FedEx was always overpriced. Badly. They panicked when they got actual competition and overcorrected with respect to their prices. They never thought they would get competition from USPS of all places.


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Freehold DM wrote:
NobodysHome wrote:

I'm amused that FedEx had such a massive financial miss and is taking a beating and talking about all the difficulties they're facing.

5 years ago, if you sent something by FedEx, it was absolutely, positively guaranteed to be there on time and intact. They were the best in the industry by far, and it cost you.

Somewhere down the line, someone decided to reduce quality to make their costs more competitive. These days I consider UPS Ground a better bet than any FedEx service, and if I want overnight I'm going to go USPS.

How the mighty have fallen.

Moral of the story? If your prices are high because you're the best there is, don't cede that position to lower your prices.

FedEx was always overpriced. Badly. They panicked when they got actual competition and overcorrected with respect to their prices. They never thought they would get competition from USPS of all places.

FedEx was the Hertz of shipping. "Yes, you're paying 3 times as much as anyone else. But you're getting exactly what you need, when you need it, with no exceptions." That's valuable when things are of critical importance, and businesses and individuals are willing to pay that price. (I once paid $55 to overnight a letter of recommendation to a university in South Korea.)

The moment you're in the least unreliable -- ONE package gets missed or damaged -- you're now just like everyone else and unless you're priced like them you're hosed.

FedEx dropped its quality before its prices. They're doomed.


Half the group couldn't make it tonight, so the rest of us played "Clank in Space". It was a lot of fun, but instead of the 45-90 minutes it says on the box, it took us 3 hours. That includes setup and learning the rules (we had all play "Clank" before, at least a little, but never "in Space"). Scores were fairly close, too. One had 86. Then 112. Then 113. And I had 114.


Of course the problem with relying on your internal clock to wake up during the week instead of an alarm clock is you end up waking up at 4-4:30 9n the weekend as well.

The upside to that is the house is incredibly peaceful at 4-4:30.


I enjoy waking up between 5 and 6 every morning; on the weekends it lets me take care of the paperwork from the week and relax for a while before anyone else is up.


Days Gone are on sale again. And still too pricey. Pass for now.


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It turns out that twin sword techniques work equally well with two pillows shaped like fish. How about that?


Limeylongears wrote:
It turns out that twin sword techniques work equally well with two pillows shaped like fish. How about that?

I knew that!


3 people marked this as a favorite.

In mauritania the peace corps had a little tallent night thing. I Whirled around a pair of machetes, then put flashlights on both ends of a staff and whirled that around.

Someone said they recognized the machete moves as philipino stick fighting (which it was, and made sense, sense that was how it developed) but not that whirling finish at the end What the heck was that?

The thing leonardo does in teenage mutant ninja turtles when he cuts the pizza...so worth the scars figuring out how to do that


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Fantasy NPC: Mr. Pinch.

An elven purveyor of unauthorized medicine.

Sovereign Court

Drejk wrote:

Fantasy NPC: Mr. Pinch.

An elven purveyor of unauthorized medicine.

I'm sure that he's a cousin of mine.


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Now that we're a couple of months in to HelloFresh, here are a few positives and negatives:

POSITIVES:
- The meal kits are cheaper than Bay Area groceries. Our overall grocery bills have shrunk noticeably since we started the service.
- Unlike Blue Apron, the meals really do take roughly an hour to prepare. Of course, the recipe sheets say ridiculous stuff like "5 minutes prep time, 30 minutes cooking" and then expect you to wash and dice all the vegetables, get out all the pots and pans, sort everything, and do the entire mis en place in 5 minutes flat. Ain't happening, but overall it's typically under an hour for me.
- Both kids are able to cook the meals on their own. It may take longer (one meal took Impus Major an hour and 45 minutes because it had a lot of chopping), but they can do it.

NEGATIVES:
- It is very, VERY "American" cooking. Every vegetable is prepared by tossing in olive oil, salt, and pepper, then roasting on a baking sheet at 425°F for 25 minutes. Every sauce is prepared by mixing mayonnaise and/or sour cream with broth, then adding a "flavor packet". Every meat is, "Cook for 5 minutes on a side in a cast-iron pan." For getting three "new" dinners every week, they very quickly flow together into an unmemorable mass of baked vegetables with mayo-based sauces and simple grilled meats.
- Speaking of American, they really really like ground meat. I know that it's cheaper, but unless you explicitly order something different, your dinners are going to consist of ground beef in a sour cream sauce, ground pork in a sour cream sauce, and ground beef and pasta in a sour cream sauce, all served with baked vegetables.
- I'm Californian. If it isn't green, it isn't a "vegetable". Too many of the HelloFresh meals take the Reaganesque approach that potatoes count as a vegetable. Or carrots. (I'll forgive carrots more than potatoes.)

Since it's getting the kids cooking and GothBard can pick the meals every week AND it's reducing our bills, we'll probably stick with it.

But I'm definitely not "wowed" by their meals.


2 people marked this as a favorite.
NobodysHome wrote:

Now that we're a couple of months in to HelloFresh, here are a few positives and negatives:

POSITIVES:
- The meal kits are cheaper than Bay Area groceries. Our overall grocery bills have shrunk noticeably since we started the service.
- Unlike Blue Apron, the meals really do take roughly an hour to prepare. Of course, the recipe sheets say ridiculous stuff like "5 minutes prep time, 30 minutes cooking" and then expect you to wash and dice all the vegetables, get out all the pots and pans, sort everything, and do the entire mis en place in 5 minutes flat. Ain't happening, but overall it's typically under an hour for me.
- Both kids are able to cook the meals on their own. It may take longer (one meal took Impus Major an hour and 45 minutes because it had a lot of chopping), but they can do it.

NEGATIVES:
- It is very, VERY "American" cooking. Every vegetable is prepared by tossing in olive oil, salt, and pepper, then roasting on a baking sheet at 425°F for 25 minutes. Every sauce is prepared by mixing mayonnaise and/or sour cream with broth, then adding a "flavor packet". Every meat is, "Cook for 5 minutes on a side in a cast-iron pan." For getting three "new" dinners every week, they very quickly flow together into an unmemorable mass of baked vegetables with mayo-based sauces and simple grilled meats.
- Speaking of American, they really really like ground meat. I know that it's cheaper, but unless you explicitly order something different, your dinners are going to consist of ground beef in a sour cream sauce, ground pork in a sour cream sauce, and ground beef and pasta in a sour cream sauce, all served with baked vegetables.
- I'm Californian. If it isn't green, it isn't a "vegetable". Too many of the HelloFresh meals take the Reaganesque approach that potatoes count as a vegetable. Or carrots. (I'll forgive carrots more than potatoes.)

Since it's getting the kids cooking and GothBard can pick the meals every week AND it's reducing our bills, we'll probably stick...

All those negatives are basically how people cook in the Midwest.

It makes you wonder whether my poor sense of taste is genetic or regional.


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For all the grief the game industry gets, there are some really decent companies out there.

GothBard got the follow-up call from the SportsGameBall franchise to let her know they were interested in continuing, but they'd noticed that she hadn't said a word about sportsball in either of her interviews, and was working for a sports franchise really something she wanted to do? She admitted that no, it wasn't, but she was really interested in their RPG division and the recruiter said, "Oh, THAT job has been on hold! I'll be sure everyone knows you're interested!"

So honesty all around, complete understanding that not everyone loves sportsball, and once the other position opens, she'll at least be considered.

All in all really solid.


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Making a sauce with mayonnaise is something I've never come across in my life. I doubt I'd enjoy it, personally.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
NobodysHome wrote:
- Speaking of American, they really really like ground meat. I know that it's cheaper, but unless you explicitly order something different, your dinners are going to consist of ground beef in a sour cream sauce, ground pork in a sour cream sauce, and ground beef and pasta in a sour cream sauce, all served with baked vegetables.

I never really understood American obsession with minced meat, and burgers in particular. Yes, you can make some nice things from minced meat. Sznycel, klopsiki, lasagna. From time to time. Whole pieces or chopped meat (like goulash and various stews) are as good if not better most of the time.

Quote:
- I'm Californian. If it isn't green, it isn't a "vegetable". Too many of the HelloFresh meals take the Reaganesque approach that potatoes count as a vegetable. Or carrots. (I'll forgive carrots more than potatoes.)

Well, they could give you ketchup...


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Limeylongears wrote:
Making a sauce with mayonnaise is something I've never come across in my life. I doubt I'd enjoy it, personally.

*something-cough-Great Britain-something-cough*


I am back from The One Ring session...

Three guesses who got struck with a critical hit in the first round of the fight, failed an armor roll against injury (come on, they assaulted our party in The Pony in the middle of the night, I only managed to grab my shield and sword), and then proceeded to roll the worst result on wound quality and immediately went unconscious and slowly dying.

At least I managed to hamper the toughest of the intruders with my newly learned virtue that drained 2 out of his 4 Resolve points so he was really hesitant to boost oneself when facing against my sister (for one round) and then the rest of the fellowship (who were sleeping in another room and had to deal with their own 3 intruders).


Limeylongears wrote:
Making a sauce with mayonnaise is something I've never come across in my life. I doubt I'd enjoy it, personally.

BTW: I love mayonnaise-based sauces.

My stomach, less so :(

You could give a try to Polish vegetable salad (or vegetable salad with additions of chicken or egg). You might find it in Lidl or one of Polish (and likely Lithuanian) shops around.


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Pride and Prejudice Rewritten for the Bay Area:

Mrs. Bennet: I hear he makes $40,000 a year!
Elizabeth: Oh, dear! Is he homeless?

EDIT: As I was looking some things up I found this delightful article on figuring out Mr. Darcy's income in modern dollars.


4 people marked this as a favorite.
NobodysHome wrote:

Pride and Prejudice Rewritten for the Bay Area:

Mrs. Bennet: I hear he makes $40,000 a year!
Elizabeth: Oh, dear! Is he homeless?

EDIT: As I was looking some things up I found this delightful article on figuring out Mr. Darcy's income in modern dollars.

The plot twist is they are talking about their kid's teacher.


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One of the reasons conspiracy theories and other false beliefs exist is confirmation bias: You're more likely to notice things that confirm your beliefs than things that contradict them.

Today's an interesting case. It seems like every semester there's a smurfstorm of midterms, assignments, and obligations just as concert season rolls into full swing. Tomorrow night we're off to see Sabaton at the Fox theater in Oakland. Typically, Impus Major would have a major exam the day after the show, GothBard or I would have some major project, and I'd be tirading about how things always seem to work out terribly.

Except Impus Major and Impus Minor have their midterms today, GothBard is getting her design challenge for another job she wants today, and by tomorrow evening we'll actually all be free to enjoy the concert, in direct contradiction to my beliefs and biases.

You just have to pay attention. Most drivers are decent. Many bicyclists obey the rules of the road. Things usually go just fine. You simply don't notice when things go right, and remember when things go wrong.


6 people marked this as a favorite.
NobodysHome wrote:

One of the reasons conspiracy theories and other false beliefs exist is confirmation bias: You're more likely to notice things that confirm your beliefs than things that contradict them.

Today's an interesting case. It seems like every semester there's a smurfstorm of midterms, assignments, and obligations just as concert season rolls into full swing. Tomorrow night we're off to see Sabaton at the Fox theater in Oakland. Typically, Impus Major would have a major exam the day after the show, GothBard or I would have some major project, and I'd be tirading about how things always seem to work out terribly.

Except Impus Major and Impus Minor have their midterms today, GothBard is getting her design challenge for another job she wants today, and by tomorrow evening we'll actually all be free to enjoy the concert, in direct contradiction to my beliefs and biases.

You just have to pay attention. Most drivers are decent. Many bicyclists obey the rules of the road. Things usually go just fine. You simply don't notice when things go right, and remember when things go wrong.

All I heard was "Grassy knoll purple monkey moon landing".


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I should probably be concerned at how excited the kids were to make up news anchor names for this project.


4 people marked this as a favorite.
captain yesterday wrote:
NobodysHome wrote:

One of the reasons conspiracy theories and other false beliefs exist is confirmation bias: You're more likely to notice things that confirm your beliefs than things that contradict them.

Today's an interesting case. It seems like every semester there's a smurfstorm of midterms, assignments, and obligations just as concert season rolls into full swing. Tomorrow night we're off to see Sabaton at the Fox theater in Oakland. Typically, Impus Major would have a major exam the day after the show, GothBard or I would have some major project, and I'd be tirading about how things always seem to work out terribly.

Except Impus Major and Impus Minor have their midterms today, GothBard is getting her design challenge for another job she wants today, and by tomorrow evening we'll actually all be free to enjoy the concert, in direct contradiction to my beliefs and biases.

You just have to pay attention. Most drivers are decent. Many bicyclists obey the rules of the road. Things usually go just fine. You simply don't notice when things go right, and remember when things go wrong.

All I heard was "Grassy knoll purple monkey moon landing".

Fun fact: I live 3.7 miles from the Grassy Knoll. At least 2 or 3 time a month, errands around town have me getting home by driving over the white X's painted on Elm Street in the exact spots the President's car was positioned when the bullets struck.

Dallas is a weird damned town, but that is easily one of the top five weirdest things about living here.


lisamarlene wrote:
captain yesterday wrote:
NobodysHome wrote:

One of the reasons conspiracy theories and other false beliefs exist is confirmation bias: You're more likely to notice things that confirm your beliefs than things that contradict them.

Today's an interesting case. It seems like every semester there's a smurfstorm of midterms, assignments, and obligations just as concert season rolls into full swing. Tomorrow night we're off to see Sabaton at the Fox theater in Oakland. Typically, Impus Major would have a major exam the day after the show, GothBard or I would have some major project, and I'd be tirading about how things always seem to work out terribly.

Except Impus Major and Impus Minor have their midterms today, GothBard is getting her design challenge for another job she wants today, and by tomorrow evening we'll actually all be free to enjoy the concert, in direct contradiction to my beliefs and biases.

You just have to pay attention. Most drivers are decent. Many bicyclists obey the rules of the road. Things usually go just fine. You simply don't notice when things go right, and remember when things go wrong.

All I heard was "Grassy knoll purple monkey moon landing".

Fun fact: I live 3.7 miles from the Grassy Knoll. At least 2 or 3 time a month, errands around town have me getting home by driving over the white X's painted on Elm Street in the exact spots the President's car was positioned when the bullets struck.

Dallas is a weird damned town, but that is easily one of the top five weirdest things about living here.

Wow.


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captain yesterday wrote:
NobodysHome wrote:

One of the reasons conspiracy theories and other false beliefs exist is confirmation bias: You're more likely to notice things that confirm your beliefs than things that contradict them.

Today's an interesting case. It seems like every semester there's a smurfstorm of midterms, assignments, and obligations just as concert season rolls into full swing. Tomorrow night we're off to see Sabaton at the Fox theater in Oakland. Typically, Impus Major would have a major exam the day after the show, GothBard or I would have some major project, and I'd be tirading about how things always seem to work out terribly.

Except Impus Major and Impus Minor have their midterms today, GothBard is getting her design challenge for another job she wants today, and by tomorrow evening we'll actually all be free to enjoy the concert, in direct contradiction to my beliefs and biases.

You just have to pay attention. Most drivers are decent. Many bicyclists obey the rules of the road. Things usually go just fine. You simply don't notice when things go right, and remember when things go wrong.

All I heard was "Grassy knoll purple monkey moon landing".

That's what THEY want you to think. Wake up, Satan's brainwashed cattle!


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Putting together some background info for our upcoming Macbeth unit and discovering the whole Gunpowder Plot connection makes me feel like a meme historian because I'm going to have to explain why Shakespeare has a link to the smurfing Guy Fawkes masks.


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Whats shakespere got to do with the V guy? :)

Or more likely anonymous

The only man to enter parliment with noble intentions...


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Here's an idea: after a certain age, dragons slowly turn into precious metals and disintegrate, so what you might think is the great wyrm's hoard is, in fact, just years of accumulated sheddings, or very valuable dandruff.


Can I just say that I love Welch's fruit snacks.


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BigNorseWolf wrote:

Whats shakespere got to do with the V guy? :)

Or more likely anonymous

The only man to enter parliment with noble intentions...

1. Guy Fawkes is part of a group plotting to blow up the House of Lords.

2. Some of Shakespeare's relatives are implicated in the plot.
3. Shakespeare goes hard on brown-nosing in Macbeth to get off of the "possible treason" list.
4. The Guy Fawkes mask is popularized in comic form by V for Vendetta.
5. V for Vendetta gets a movie adaptation.
6. Internet edgelords decide they like the message (accuracy of interpretation debateable) and co-opt the mask for Anonymous.

Six degrees of Bonfire Night!

I could not for the life of me tell you with any accuracy how many anons actually know anything about Guy Fawkes.


I am hungry.

Please send food.

Thank you.


Freehold DM wrote:

I am hungry.

Please send food.

Thank you.

I can't help you there I forgot my lunch today so will be at the whims of whatever food place is nearby.


Freehold DM wrote:

I am hungry.

Please send food.

Thank you.

My time has come!


The Dreaded Lutefisk wrote:
Freehold DM wrote:

I am hungry.

Please send food.

Thank you.

My time has come!

have you been prepared properly?


4 people marked this as a favorite.
Freehold DM wrote:
The Dreaded Lutefisk wrote:
Freehold DM wrote:

I am hungry.

Please send food.

Thank you.

My time has come!
have you been prepared properly?

I plead the fish!


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Ouch. Having been on the hiring end of catastrophes like this, I feel the company's pain. But now I get to see GothBard's side of things and nobody enjoys it.

GothBard had some really good interviews with a larger company last month. She never heard back after the second round, and assumed they'd ghosted her. Then she heard through the grapevine that there had been a major reorg at the company (aka layoffs). This morning a different recruiter reached out to inform her she'd made it to the third round and when would she like to interview?

She is nonplussed.

But yep. Been there. You've got an open requisition to hire someone. You start the process, start interviewing, and find a candidate you really like. Then, WHAM! Layoffs/reorgs happen, your req gets frozen, and you sit there twiddling your thumbs for a month waiting for it to get re-approved. Once it finally gets re-approved, you have to sheepishly reach out to that candidate and say, "Ahem. Hey. Excuse me? Are you still looking?"

So GothBard's gone from no leads on Thursday to two design challenges, an invite to a third-round interview, and a follow-up from the SportsBallMegaCorp recruiter pushing her for the RPG job as of today.

And as always, as the spouse you sit there hoping that at least ONE of these things is going to go all the way.

Wish her luck!

EDIT: Oh, plus the contracting gig. So as she puts it, she went from 0 leads to 5 in just a few days.


The Dreaded Lutefisk wrote:
Freehold DM wrote:
The Dreaded Lutefisk wrote:
Freehold DM wrote:

I am hungry.

Please send food.

Thank you.

My time has come!
have you been prepared properly?
I plead the fish!

spoilered for politics:
There's gonna be a lot of that over the next few months...

Freehold DM wrote:
The Dreaded Lutefisk wrote:
Freehold DM wrote:
The Dreaded Lutefisk wrote:
Freehold DM wrote:

I am hungry.

Please send food.

Thank you.

My time has come!
have you been prepared properly?
I plead the fish!
** spoiler omitted **

How joyous! Lutefisk for all!


Freehold DM wrote:
The Dreaded Lutefisk wrote:
Freehold DM wrote:
The Dreaded Lutefisk wrote:
Freehold DM wrote:

I am hungry.

Please send food.

Thank you.

My time has come!
have you been prepared properly?
I plead the fish!
** spoiler omitted **

Why? Are you expecting Roland Emmerich's Godzilla?


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I'm at the Sabaton concert, in the "Telegraph Room" area (because when can't Shiro upgrade?), and there's an honest-to-goodness decibel meter on the sound board that I can read from here. I am happiness.


NobodysHome wrote:
I'm at the Sabaton concert, in the "Telegraph Room" area (because when can't Shiro upgrade?), and there's an honest-to-goodness decibel meter on the sound board that I can read from here. I am happiness.

100.7? That's why I don't do concerts.


The opening band was mostly in the 99.7- 103.2 range, with a couple of peaks at 107 and one at 108. Which is pretty terrifying: 2800-person theater? 100 decibels. Farmer's Market on a 30' wide street? 95 decibels. Someone's doing something wrong here.


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Do Sabaton sell Sabaton branded sabatons at their gigs? I sure hope so.


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I'm almost finished with my project!

Just a few more days!!

Needless to say I'm pretty excited, just gotta keep my shit together and focus on not f%&%ing anything up.

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