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I read that as esophagus and was horrified.
I would assume that The Roaming Esophagus belongs to the same genre as Trail of the Screaming Forehead and Return of the Nose of Dr. Verlucci.
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PARTY AT LISAMARLENES PLACE BRING PACSZIWW and Teensy Valeros are on their way back to Texas this weekend, expecting to arrive late Sunday night.
Hermione is over at my father law and his wife's house tonight and tomorrow morning so I can have a little time just to rest and then clean house.
Now I not what pacszi are. Good.
Prepare... We all must prepare... For the great Feast of the Superb Owl is upon us once again...
FEAST! FEAST! FEAST!
I'm not going to be doing any feasting, or watching owls. Mostly just listening to records and hoping my neighbors don't make too much noise.
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This February is really giving me 1980s flashbacks: Yet another storm front is moving in mid-week, with potential rain from Wednesday (Valentine's Day) until the next Wednesday, and totals in the 3"-4" range. I remember when I was in middle school (so circa 1979-1980) there was one February where we got measurable precipitation every single day of the month, so this kind of rainfall isn't unheard-of. Over the weekend I even had to do the requisite "mosquito check" on my property (which is seriously just, "Did the sump pump drain the lawn? Are there any buckets holding standing water anywhere on the property?", so it took under 5 minutes).
It's just been a long, long time.
And hoo, boy. It's a good thing I told my manager it was going to be a slow week. We should hear back from both of GothBard's job opportunities this week (and we're hoping at least one is a, "Yes!"), and it's now been 4 weeks since the DMV received the Celica letter so it's time for me to check back in with them and find out whether they have any idea what's going on.
Hard to work when you're so distracted by waiting for other things outside of your control...
EDIT: Oh, and our taxes. But even our accountant said I did a darned good job at our estimated taxes this year, so all told it'll be a nominal refund that's enough to pay the accountant and a little bit more, which is about perfect, in my mind.
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For a long time I didn't understand all the hatred around the Duolingo app.
Then Teensy Valeros and I made a New Years project (not a resolution) to start studying Polish together daily.
Now thanks to Duolingo, I can say "Słon lubi ciasteczka."... The elephant likes cookies.
And I want to know what kind of drugs the app writers were on, and if Jodorowsky is going to make the Duolingo movie.
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And I want to know what kind of drugs the app writers were on, and if Jodorowsky is going to make the Duolingo movie.
I have my doubts if Jodorowsky could handle the madness that is Polish language...
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For a long time I didn't understand all the hatred around the Duolingo app.
Then Teensy Valeros and I made a New Years project (not a resolution) to start studying Polish together daily.Now thanks to Duolingo, I can say "Słon lubi ciasteczka."... The elephant likes cookies.
And I want to know what kind of drugs the app writers were on, and if Jodorowsky is going to make the Duolingo movie.
How do you (you-you and Not-So-Teensy Valeros) feel about handling ń, ś, ć, ż, sz, cz, ą, ę, et. al?
I'm all for duolingo.
That owl means business.
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Also ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING
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I'm all for duolingo.
That owl means business.
I have a Duolingo owl I made and hung up in my room for a "Have you done your homework?" banner.
Always scares at least one kid who's up on the memes.
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Also ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING
Dig dig dig dig dig flop
Dig dig dig dig flop
Did dig flop
Dig flop
Flop
Ok I'm good here..
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I'm all for duolingo.
That owl means business.
Hoo hoo! Practice your irregular verbs, or else!
Lots of owls on this thread all of a sudden...
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Lots of owls on this thread all of a sudden...
The owls are not what they seem.
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Owls well that ends well.
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"All right, we're going to do some vocab review."
"On Quizlet?"
"No, OnlyFans."
"...Yes, Quizlet."
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Owls well that ends well.
Man, you guys are a hoot.
"All right, we're going to do some vocab review."
"On Quizlet?"
"No, OnlyFans."
"...Yes, Quizlet."
I would have been the most excited, motivated student ever in that moment.
Who?Owls well that ends well.Man, you guys are a hoot.
The guy playing first base.
On the one hand, back in the 1980s when they loved to run articles on, "What is the hardest/easiest college major?", a major in Business beat out even P.E. or cosmetology as the easiest major offered by any school anywhere.
On the other hand, when even basic mathematics is assumed to be beyond your reading audience, it's embarrassing.
Money 'magazine' did an article about a TikToker pointing out that hard work and dedication is no longer worth it. To paraphrase: "She said that making $200,000 a year, you'd be expected to work twice as hard and put in 16-hour days, so in terms of an hourly wage you'd be no better off than if you made $100,000 a year and only had to put in 8-hour days. We did the math, and she was right! You get the same hourly wage in both cases!"
It was... painful... to read...
Speaking of painful, for our 30th anniversary we decided to finally replace our rapidly disintegrating dishware, as replacements are now on the order of $40-$50 per item and we're not THAT rich.
So we got ourselves the nice standard British Portmeirion botanical series, which has existed for a century and will probably continue to exist for another few centuries. And in spite of the fact that we got boxed crates of the stuff (12 of each piece), every single solitary piece had a sticker on it. And not some E-Z-Peel sticker that came right off. The anti-shoplifting, "You need some MEK and 120-grain sandpaper to remove this sticker" stuff.
I have better things to do with my life than remove 100-odd indelible stickers on my dinnerware.
Bad Portmeirion. No biscuit.
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On the one hand, back in the 1980s when they loved to run articles on, "What is the hardest/easiest college major?", a major in Business beat out even P.E. or cosmetology as the easiest major offered by any school anywhere.
On the other hand, when even basic mathematics is assumed to be beyond your reading audience, it's embarrassing.
Money 'magazine' did an article about a TikToker pointing out that hard work and dedication is no longer worth it. To paraphrase: "She said that making $200,000 a year, you'd be expected to work twice as hard and put in 16-hour days, so in terms of an hourly wage you'd be no better off than if you made $100,000 a year and only had to put in 8-hour days. We did the math, and she was right! You get the same hourly wage in both cases!"
It was... painful... to read...
it was painful to read your recounting of this intellectual disaster . . . .
but i find myself laughing in the face of the despair this prompts.
we're doomed.
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On the one hand, back in the 1980s when they loved to run articles on, "What is the hardest/easiest college major?", a major in Business beat out even P.E. or cosmetology as the easiest major offered by any school anywhere.
On the other hand, when even basic mathematics is assumed to be beyond your reading audience, it's embarrassing.
Money 'magazine' did an article about a TikToker pointing out that hard work and dedication is no longer worth it. To paraphrase: "She said that making $200,000 a year, you'd be expected to work twice as hard and put in 16-hour days, so in terms of an hourly wage you'd be no better off than if you made $100,000 a year and only had to put in 8-hour days. We did the math, and she was right! You get the same hourly wage in both cases!"
It was... painful... to read...
it was painful to read your recounting of this intellectual disaster . . . .
but i find myself laughing in the face of the despair this prompts.
we're doomed.
Next CY is going to tell us he makes twice as much for working 30 hours in a week instead of 15... for the same job!!
Next CY is going to tell us he makes twice as much for working 30 hours in a week instead of 15... for the same job!!On the one hand, back in the 1980s when they loved to run articles on, "What is the hardest/easiest college major?", a major in Business beat out even P.E. or cosmetology as the easiest major offered by any school anywhere.
On the other hand, when even basic mathematics is assumed to be beyond your reading audience, it's embarrassing.
Money 'magazine' did an article about a TikToker pointing out that hard work and dedication is no longer worth it. To paraphrase: "She said that making $200,000 a year, you'd be expected to work twice as hard and put in 16-hour days, so in terms of an hourly wage you'd be no better off than if you made $100,000 a year and only had to put in 8-hour days. We did the math, and she was right! You get the same hourly wage in both cases!"
It was... painful... to read...
it was painful to read your recounting of this intellectual disaster . . . .
but i find myself laughing in the face of the despair this prompts.
we're doomed.
Definitely more than twice as much actually, I almost always get a raise on my first check because of my work ethic.
And... sea of suck.
Just got a message from one of my colleagues that they were hit by a RIF today (Reduction in Force =
Polite term forLayoff). I've complained directly to our upper executives about the whole, "Surprise! You're laid off!" approach, but they are of the opinion that it's kinder to the people being let go, so yet again today I got a "surprise".I don't care for these surprises.
I know this is a bit late, but just an fyi...
WARN Act Avoid nasty surprises if you hear a rumor.
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And... sea of suck.
Just got a message from one of my colleagues that they were hit by a RIF today (Reduction in Force =
Polite term forLayoff). I've complained directly to our upper executives about the whole, "Surprise! You're laid off!" approach, but they are of the opinion that it's kinder to the people being let go, so yet again today I got a "surprise".I don't care for these surprises.
I know this is a bit late, but just an fyi...
WARN Act Avoid nasty surprises if you hear a rumor.
For better or worse, tech companies have bypassed the WARN act by providing vastly more compensation than necessary in exchange for former employees not complaining.
For example, Global Megacorporation could well cut me tomorrow. They'd offer me 6 months' salary in a severance package, and I could choose whether to take a lump sum or be paid over the next 6 months. In exchange, I'd sign a document waiving my WARN rights. Or I could refuse the severance, sue, and get my 60 days, losing several months' salary on principle.
Here's the relevant quote:
What if my employer pays me for the 60 days instead of sending me a WARN notice?
WARN requires 60 calendar days' written notice. The law makes no provision for any alternative such as pay in place of a notice. While an employer who pays workers for 60 calendar days instead of giving them proper notice technically has violated WARN, the provision of pay and benefits in place of a notice is a possible option. Because WARN provides for back pay and benefits for the period of the violation, up to 60 days, generally this approach by an employer—pay in place of notice—means that the employer has already met the penalty specified in the Act, if the payment is not required to be made. WARN allows voluntary payments of wages and benefits to be offset against any damages that might be awarded. If, however, a payment is required by another law, contract or company policy or practice, it may not be offset against WARN damages.
EVERY tech company I've ever heard of gives employees at least 60 days' severance and benefits so they don't have to worry about WARN; they've already paid the maximum penalty.
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Wooooooo!!!!!
First news came in and it was our taxes. Our refund is 3.5x what I was expecting!
I have no idea what California did, but our refund nearly doubled year-on-year without us doing anything differently. And then I overestimated our Federal taxes by quite a bit as well.
I'd love to say, "Time to go shopping," but this is all, "Hallelujah! We can pay down the debt we incurred while GothBard was unemployed," money.
Oh, wow, look at California go!
From Global Megacorporation: "On January 1, 2024, a new California law came into effect requiring employers to notify certain current and former California employees that provisions of any agreement entered into with the employer that would be deemed to be a “noncompete clause” under California law are void."
I had to sign the usual, "If you leave you can't take your friends nor your customers with you," clause. That clause is now void.
Not that I'm going to leave Global Megacorporation, but considering all the stupid coming out of California's government most of the time, it's nice to see them get something right once in a while.
It was... painful... to read...
I should note that my degree is in trees and I needed 2 semesters of physics as well as multiple economics classes that required you to do compound interest vs. linear increases.
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I’m bad at math – at least, at anywhere near where things start getting interesting – and there’s always so much other stuff going on, but I wish I could make some time to look over my old notes. For old times’ sake. :(
Completely unrelated, except for, I guess, numbers:
Bad Portmeirion. No biscuit.
Who is Number One? :D
My sister-in-law collects Portmeirion ware, though she inexplicably favours the more minimalist stuff. My kid brother was horrified when I told him that, of course, Portmeirion is The Village from The Prisoner. I may have inspired a certain low-level paranoia in him. What are sisters for, after all? :)
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It's been so long since we've had snow, opening up the closet to get my snow gear which was hanging up and organized gave me a bit of a rush, like when Batman opens up his display case for his suit in the batcave.
Also ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING ITS SNOWING
Hmmm...
I wonder if it was snowing...
How did that get past our fans?
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Bad Portmeirion. No biscuit.
Who is Number One? :D
My sister-in-law collects Portmeirion ware, though she inexplicably favours the more minimalist stuff. My kid brother was horrified when I told him that, of course, Portmeirion is The Village from The Prisoner. I may have inspired a certain low-level paranoia in him. What are sisters for, after all? :)
The entire reason that we learned about Portmeirion ware was that when we went to Europe in 1997, GothBard knew I was a HUGE Prisoner fan, so she arranged for us to visit. Then we found out that in addition to making eerie shows, they sell dishware.
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Looks like another demolition job is starting up, which means another 70-hour work week starting on Monday...
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Thank you, Steam, for showing me all those sales I have no money for. I cleared my PayPal for now and it will take a lot of time to fill up to any meaningful level again.
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Speaking of games being shown on sales and such.
NobodysHome, have your gaming group seen something called Helldivers 2?
It's a third-person co-op shooter about... Well, Starship Troopers-like setting where the players are defending Corrupt Militaristic Oligarychy Sole Democractic Civilization In The Galaxy against threat of alien bugs, psychic invaders, and commie cyborgs, or something like that.
I played the first Helldivers (which wasn't a twin-stick top down shooter, not a third-person game like the second is) and while it had its charm it was far too much of a co-op centric game for me to keep playing and the second game seems to be even more of a co-op-centric for me to consider, but maybe your group will find it fun.
Speaking of games being shown on sales and such.
NobodysHome, have your gaming group seen something called Helldivers 2?
It's a third-person co-op shooter about... Well, Starship Troopers-like setting where the players are defending
Corrupt Militaristic OligarychySole Democractic Civilization In The Galaxy against threat of alien bugs, psychic invaders, and commie cyborgs, or something like that.I played the first Helldivers (which wasn't a twin-stick top down shooter, not a third-person game like the second is) and while it had its charm it was far too much of a co-op centric game for me to keep playing and the second game seems to be even more of a co-op-centric for me to consider, but maybe your group will find it fun.
I'll make a note of it -- right now we're suffering a bit through Valheim 2 Enshrouded, but there's apparently a multiplayer co-op steampunk game coming out next week that GothBard wants us to try.
Steampunk game? What is it?
Nightengale.
Looks promising. Definitely very straining to my integrated gfx card, though.
Will the curse that is the 1970s never die?
Sooooooooo many terrible ideas were born that decade, and I could write a thesis on how badly they continue to impact the world, but today's tirade is brought to you by "Pidgin-Speak in Documents".
In the 1970s printing cost money, so anything you could do to reduce the total word count was a win. Adjectives? Too expensive! Articles such as "a", "an", or "the"? The document's perfectly legible without them! So you ended up with technical papers, user manuals, memos, and all sorts of other nonsense all written so poorly that it was almost impossible to parse.
And apparently the people who were taught to do this in the 1970s grew up to become teachers, and taught a new generation to do it in the 90s, who then taught yet another generation to do it in the 2020s.
Otherwise it's hard for me to comprehend how one of my co-workers who isn't much older than my sons is writing such article-free dreck.
(That's "dreck" with a 'c', not "drejk" with a 'j').
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On the other hand, my accountant went 100% paper-free and it's pretty darned awesome. Upload all my tax forms to a secure site, download the prepared tax documents from the same site, pay by Zelle, and we don't need a single piece of paper.
Needless to say, every company still ignores our requests to be paper-free, but it was fun to see how smoothly it all worked in principle.
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My taxes are so laughably simple that I could probably do them myself...
But I'm lazy.