Gosh, seems sort of obvious, doesn’t it?
“After selling out of physical products, Paizo offers a a huge deal on digital products”
“Massive Legend of Zelda Lego Set Might’ve Leaked”
“It turns out the potential sequel to Pokemon: Detective Pikachu may still be in the works.”
“EA, which loves to cancel Titanfall games, cancels secret Titanfall game”
I note that Peter Jacobsen’s bio does NOT say how many children he has. Advice quality drops to 0.
Just because he doesn’t advertise his monocle polishing orphan supply….
Titanfall 2 was the last game I really got into. The multiplayer modes were great. Thank you EA for not tempting me to waste that kind of time again.
Raising children is a hostage situation. The only question is whether the children or the parents are hostages.
Another reason for Keanu’s character from Speed not to have kids with Sandra Bullock’s character… we know how he deals with hostage situations.
”
The first half of our lives are ruined by our parents and the second half by our children.”
Clarence Darrow
That is no defense.
I would have gone here for fourth link music — but that’s just personal preference.
Detective Pikachu was an okay movie (Reynolds really made it… so it would probably be a little weird to set it back up… what, do Mystery Dungeon where Mew-two sends him in undercover?) of an okay (way too damned short) game.
EA continues its sterling status of Suck…. no surprise.
Happy Friday all… Here comes the weekend.
Classic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsgBpsNPQ50
A guy in our high school somehow came up with an orange jacket right at the height of Loverboy mania. We were all so envious.
That is so much my brothers music. Add some early Def Leopard, and you got him!
That should be for Saturday night.
Yep, my brothers favorite album.
It was really good. People who only knew their later stuff missed out. I was like 14 when it came out and we all thought it was amazing.
My fave from that one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHNBxd4LnDs
Riven!
Even though I’m not a gamer, I always enjoy your Friday lynx. So thanks!
Somewhat related, Malice interviewed Colin Moriarty this week and I thought it was a good conversation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGn7-xmlKKY
He didn’t know log cabin republicans were gay?
That was hilarious! Malice was legit flustered.
I asked Chat GPT to write a comedy sketch about the Chinese spy balloon.
ChatGPT is Chinese spyware: confirmed
ChatGPT better not quit its day job.
Which is weird cause it’s knowledge of the world is to 2021
I don’t always understand all the Friday links, but I still enjoy them.
We used a lot of those parenting rules on our kids, and the kids my wife babysits, with great results. The one exception was our oldest, who would not alter her behavior no matter the punishment. She also had hours long screaming temper tantrums. But we adopted her at age 7, when she had a lot of ingrained personality issues.
The thing about Chinese spy balloons is that when you shoot one down, an hour later you want another one.
Lol.
The articles are coming fast and furious now. OMG! EMP PAYLOADZZZ!
LOOK AT THIS SPY BALLOON AND NOT AT THIS
AI translation from German incoming
link
What?!? Why would they bother with a balloon for an airburst EMP? They have perfectly functional ICBMs that aren’t going to be potentially shot down as soon as they approach our airspace. (Not that we did, but we certainly could have pretty easily).
Conspiracy theories should at least not be completely illogical.
https://twitter.com/dcexaminer/status/1621599189539999746
I wasn’t kidding. Remember when the sleight of hand was modestly clever?
Ugh.. some whack-job CIA analyst pitching a “balloon gap” it looks like.
What next… Fang Fang smuggles in micro nukes and we have a thigh gap?
An incoming ICBM will get an immediate response from our military before it is even detonated. Apparently we just let balloons drift around above us unmolested.
Yeah… I have to put that in the “Who the hell would have thought?” category.
Yup. This was a test. Now they know, and will develop balloon-based delivery systems.
That’s more like it.
Swalwell says the same thing about Chinese spies. An hour later and you are horny again.
There are many of you who know more about this type of thing, but is it possible to shoot holes in that balloon so it slowly comes down? The way our military is talking the only way to handle it would be to fire a stinger missile at it, which of course would be too dangerous, so…
I’m surprised some rednecks in Montana haven’t fired at it. Or maybe they have.
Or maybe use a helicopter, snag it with a hook, and drag it somewhere? Do these people not watch movies?
Since the reports I saw said it was above commercial air travel, I doubt a chopper would make it up there well.
And aren’t Stingers ground-to-air? I would think Sidewinder in this scenario… but yeah, a couple of rounds from a fighter should do it. Not sure how “gradual” the landing would be, though.
I saw a batman movie where they just put a great big Y shaped rig on the front, then you grab it out of the air.
Missed it by that much . . . . .
It’s apparently at around 66,000 feet. That’s a little beyond the range of any of the guns I had before my tragic boating accident. I wonder what they can pick up from the balloon that they can’t from a satellite.
What’s the altitude of the damn thing?
Wouldn’t surprise me, but as I recall it’s at 60,000 feet, which makes any such effort pretty futile.
F15-Eagle service ceiling is at 65,000
Just strafe the damn thing with 20mm
Of course it’s more useful as a propaganda tool if it’s still in the air.
That was my thought. Put some holes in it, see if it descends, repeat as necessary.
That’s too high to scramble some Sopwith Camels.
Snoopy hardest hit.
Was thinking “what is the big deal”, China has satellites. However, real photography and clearer pictures are achieved with a lingering platform.
It’s a Friday, and I’ve got nothing going on tonight (other than watching the new episodes of Vox Machina that dropped), so I’ll be kicking off the Zoom/Happy Hour/Advice show at 2000 Eastern.
Feels like a necktie & crystal tumbler kind of night
Intrigued
I asked ChatGPT to write a joke about the Chinese spy balloon.
ChatGPT racist: confirmed
Yeah.. that was more of a city joke there, ChatGPT.
Just in case Riven missed this Sims News.
Oh joy. The girlfriend just re-installed and started playing that again. She was a bit miffed upon hearing there was going to be a new one, and it’s not due out until next year.
I never transitioned (see what I did there?) from Sims 3 to Sims 4. Sims 3 World Adventures is the greatest game of all time.
I played Sims 1 for a couple hours, was bored, and never looked at it again.
Stumps or GTFO.
Mojeaux has some competition.
I asked ChatGPT to write a romantic scene about the Chinese spy balloon
Actually better than its attempt at comedy, but I was hoping for more PG-13.
When a balloon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amooorrreeeeeee.
I’ve had to compete with worse writing than that.
Where is UCS?
Sounds like UCS has a fancy new pair of hacking gloves!
So what did they do pre-pandemic? Just shout over the cube walls? “Hey Bob, should I update the bank details for a huge contractor based on an email I just got? Looks pretty legit to me, it is from not-a-hacker@gmail.com“
But at least they really cared!
I forgot to mention that the money was recovered because the fraud was discovered within 5 days of the transfer, so they could reverse it. Of course the reason it was discovered was because the contractor called them asking where the money was.
I’m disappointed that you think I’d use a local bank to deposit gains into.
Mrs. Prole: I’ve been making decisions all day. I want you to make the decision for dinner.
Me: OK.
(Does research)
How about going to this comedy club and this restaurant.
Mrs. P: That’s downtown. I don’t wanna go downtown.
Me: OK. How about Dimassi’s?
Mrs P: That’s a buffet. People are gross at buffets.
Me: How about this pizza place we haven’t been to? It’s right next to the kolache place we go to.
Mrs P: If we’re gonna get pizza, we should just get pizza at Costco, because it’s not expensive. But I don’t want to do that, because I want to get out of the house.
Me: You just vetoed me, picked something else, then vetoed your own suggestion. How about you pick the place?
Mrs P: I’m not arguing with you! If you want to go to that pizza place, then let’s go there.
Me: (Counts to ten) OK, let’s go there.
Mrs. P: Is the place nice? Does it have enough seating?
Are we married to the same woman?
Kinky.
lulz
When dating the future Mrs. TOK, I’d often hang out with her family. I’d have a very similar conversation.
TOK: What’s everyone want for dinner?
Everyone: Whatever you decide is fine!
TOK: Taco Bell?
Person 1: Ugh not fast food.
TOK: How about the steak place?
Person 2: Too expensive, and I want to eat now.
TOK: Pizza?
Person 2: I said I didn’t want to wait.
TOK: Then where?
Everyone: Up to you, whatever you want is fine.
*starts twitching from PTSD*
How about going to this comedy club and this restaurant.
OK, that was your mistake. You asked.
Mr. P: you asked me to decide, I have. I’d like you to join me, but you can stay home if you prefer.
Can confirm this works.
Triggered.
Can’t shoot down these balloons!
https://archive.ph/YKNIp
Friday Funbags.
There was some decent MILFage in there.
I don’t disagree that some employers abuse this, but you can also play the game. You don’t need to punch a time clock and arrive precisely at your working hour or leave only after your designated hour either. You can also take breaks when you’d like.
Companies save billions of dollars by giving employees fake “manager” titles, study shows
That said the employees that are being abused in this manner are unlikely to know that they can use this to their advantage,
I don’t think the link goes to where you think it does.
But based on your comment, titles are good for when you want that next job. Maybe your current employer won’t bump you in your bank account for your highfaluting title, but your next employer probably will.
Like anything it can also hurt you. If you are a code monkey who has been “promoted” to Director of API Services, it is hard to explain to a potential employer that you really do just want to be a code monkey and you won’t be mad if you are no longer a Director.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/salary-manager-jobs-fake-titles-save-4-billion-overtime-nber/
It’s employers exploiting the legal definition of exempt and non exempt employees.
It’s always pissed me off.
FAA did that a number of years ago and some techs got some huge payout
Especially when despite the manager or professional title, they want minute level time reporting like a piece work monkey.
OT. Enjoy
https://youtu.be/XGmYvJB8mlc
One on the right made this famous.
Nice, I love those first takes.
Related music: heard an aidoru pronouncing “alibi” as ariba. Now I have SAP Alibi stuck in my head when doing any kind of purchasing transactions.
I’ve been exempt my entire career and I’ve never been a manager. But I don’t work extra hours either so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Perusing some of the regs, they look vague enough to drive a truck through.
I enjoy the awesome combination of being both salaried and tracking my time in six minute increments.
I also get yelled by mid-level project managers (who couldn’t count to ten without using their fingers) for charging over-budget to individual client projects at the same time the execs are demanding we charge more time to client projects.
Being a consultant is fun.
Local Karen gets Minneapolis bike advocacy group in hot water
The comments are pretty funny. Like a pizza thread here. Lots of nonsense from both sides.
Thanks for that, Jimbo.
I wouldn’t call her a Karen, so much as someone pushing back against the people who want to steal car lanes and turn them into bike lanes. These movements are lousy with, and fronts for, the anti-private transport, anti-freedom of movement crowd.
Yep. They also generally sponsor events like the Critical Mass and Slow Roll rides designed to block traffic “to encourage better thought out streets” and “to make drivers aware of our presence.”
Because nothing endears people who already don’t like your group as much as making their commute home even longer while being assholes about it.
Talking about post apocalyptic sci fy games…..
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11692871/How-womb-transplant-work-trans-women-born-men.html
Please god, bring on SMOD or the Horsemen of the Apocalypse already.
Um, if they were really women, wouldn’t they generally already have a womb?
Well thats just bigot talk.
OFFFS.
What could possibly go wrong?
Uffda
You know what would be fun? Maybe auctioning off those 3 acres and seeing how much you could get for that land!
Crap! What a shitty copy/pasta.
Your a moron.
Nah… he just decided on some takeout city pasta.
I assume there will be a casino.
“Friends of the Falls”. In my town there’s a ton of “Friends of This” and “Friends of That” groups. Generally they are all astroturf organizations run by the same handful of people including the lady who runs the local newspaper. Sometimes they are quite successful. They formed a group called “Friends of XYZ Park”, for a park that didn’t exist and got the state of CA to spend a bunch of money to confiscate it from the offroad area that owned the land. It was really something to watch.
They same group now has a Friends of Downtown that’s doing everything they can to prevent housing from being built downtown.
Until the 1700’s the Dakota lived around Lake Superior in Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin.
I wouldn’t think there was a lot of buffalo in those forests.
It’s the same thing here. Moose weren’t around until the logging industry took off. Now all the tribes claim moose as part of their “heritage”.
You’d be surprised at how stealthy buffaloes are in forest. We imagine them as plains animals, but they were pretty much across much all of North America at one time, with a few pockets where they weren’t.
Eventually yes…but we can’t get cars to operate in a mixed world of human/computer piloting…
I’ll prefer my airline to have 2 pilots for the foreseeable future.
https://www.axios.com/2023/02/03/fully-autonomous-flight-planes
“Afterwards, they fly with a perfect operational record.”
So… they’re not really saving money, they’re just shuffling the chairs around.
Sounds like a solution in search of a problem.
Yep and I would guess a standby pilot will be regulated on each flight just in case
Germanwings agrees.
Flying is actually an easier engineering problem than driving.
2nd pet grooming trailer is 80% complete. Electrical should be done today as long as the gaining owner does it all like I instructed him to.
Which really got me thinking. This isn’t a tough thing to do except the ceiling, but could be a lucrative business. 7k trailer with about 4000 in upgrades and materials (generator, table, tub, AC)..sell for 30-60K depending on the market.
My issue is I am a utilitarian type person. Once the electrical and tub are in place it’s done in my mind. You can go off grooming.
Sounds like this could lead to a hairy situation.
Ok groomer
Nice.
My thoughts too.
Nicely done!
😂😂
*OBE puts bucket on bathroom floor, hangs garden hose from hook*
“OK, honey, bathroom remodel is done!”
Whelp that didn’t work out. The young cow-worker gave up pretty quickly. I used to be able to clear the entire roof in about four hours. It’s snowing again but thankfully eldest Grandson and compadres will be over tomorrow. Jesus Christ, it used to be that you would clear the roof and then jump down into the bank. I spent the winters of my boyhood shoveling snow for cash money. There must be something in the water.
Quiet Quitting?
We have grown soft.
Not all. The rural kids still have that spark. It was just so ridiculous watching that soft man trying to anything. He lasted one hour.
Of course when I was a lad anyone named “Jeremy” would be relentlessly bullied. Hope that he chokes on that free food.
That stopped when he spoke in class that day. Or just threatened to lock them in the gym and play Pearl Jam over and over until they left him alone…
HA!
“Forty dollahs. Cash!”
Getting back to Riven’s post, I always found the best way to deal with whinging was a firm “Fuck That!”
One evening D2 started a tantrum. Spontaneously, I told her, “I don’t want to hear that here. Go to your room and scream in there.” Remarkably, it worked, and I used it often after that.
NoDak Ray of Sunshine (really!)
https://twitter.com/ktivnews/status/1620950261639380994
That is awesome! The last three shots were all net, too! That kid is my hero.