Item the 1st – On weird dreams and connection to the real world. The other day, I semi-woke up in the middle of the night, that mostly asleep state, but seemingly fully aware of your surroundings. Usually when that happens, there’s something in my brain churning around; this time is was a particularly difficult (at least for me) rhythm part in a song. In this state, I knew how to count it. I may have even been strumming along physically – but that could have been a different part of my brain doing something else entirely… I remember thinking “Cool, that’s pretty easy, makes sense, I’ll play it tomorrow.” Well tomorrow comes, I pick up the guitar and …. nothing. I have no idea what I was thinking. It made perfect sense at the time, I think it was correct, but I can’t implement it in the real world. Spastic hand has no rhythm to keep the pattern going. The underlying feeling and knowledge of how to correctly count it and the physical motion is still there sitting in the back of my brain, but I can’t really recall it. I can’t do it.
This sort of thing happens for work problems and particularly challenging things in the real of my DIY projects. Sometimes, the idea/solution stays. But often times, it’s just gone, except for the knowledge that “yes you did solve the problem, but too bad for you”. Sometimes the opposite happens too – I’ll half wake up in a panic about some issue – usually it’s the amount of things I need to do in several different areas that I’ve made very little progress on and I’m in a panic about how in the hell I’m going to make this work. When I wake up, I remember the panic and roughly what it was about, but there a relief that “hey, it’s not really that big of a deal, it will all work out – why where you so worried”. Sleep is weird.
I can understand how people can think of the dream world as a portal to a different world. Or, similar to dreams or these states of semi-consciousness, a psychedelic experiences. I think there’s a more ‘mundane’ (actually probably not mundane at all, just not mystical) explanation involving volatile memory, but I can understand the interpretation.
Item the second – This was ‘Triggered’ by some comments on this very blog; I apologize in advance if I piss someone off – I have the same sorts of reactions, but object – especially when I do it – to the dismissive tone we often use. But we need content apparently and content is king, so I’ll risk pissing someone off even if that is absolutely not the intent.
So the two comments (maybe paraphrased, but the gist is there). 1) EvilSheldon, in relation to video games and difficulty – “I have neither the free time nor the patience to ‘git gud'” and 2) Threedoor, in relation to people lamenting the Super Bowl half time show “Sportsball is weird and gay.” Two seemingly unrelated things (though more related at fundamental level than might be appreciated), but one common thread is the tone of condescending dismissiveness of people who have different priorities. I don’t thing that tone is intended, but that’s how it comes across on ‘paper’ – probably similarly to how this rant is coming across on ‘paper’…
Anyway, on the first – using ‘git gud’ implies a derision for those who might object to a complaint about the difficulty of a game by saying “well, just improve your skills, newb”. For what it’s worth, I generally have the same reaction to ‘difficult’ games, especially if the difficulty seems largely there for the sake of difficulty. Games for me are an escape, a portal into a hopefully interesting story. “But it’s more realistic!” – right, when I’m slaying orcs, casting spells, and courting the fairest lady in the land (with a reasonable chance of success), gritty realism is what I’m going for… At this stage of my life (and pretty much my whole life) investing the time needed to perfect a game mechanic is extremely low priority. But I’m not going to be dismissive of those who do prioritize it – excelling at the game can be the correct goal and reflect an admirable quality; it’s just not for me in this context. But it’s in no way clear that my approach is the proper representation, intrinsically correct, as implied by the dismissive tone of ‘git gud’ – sometimes getting good is a legitimate, proper goal.
On the second – I often have a similar reaction, but am perhaps more ‘invested’ in sports ball than Threedoor (where invested means enjoy watching games from time to time). And I know a lot of people who are dismissive of ‘sports ball’ as beneath them, not for the sophisticated, smart people. That’s a little different than the implication of ‘weird and gay’, the latter being more an expression of confusion about the attraction people feel to the endeavor, the former more the snobbery of self-styled ‘smart’ people. I look at sports ball and think – every single human culture ever has engaged in this activity. It’s a reflection of the innate evolutionary need to compete in hierarchies. How could it be weird? How could you be superior by dismissing it as beneath you? Said as someone who’s not particularly into “sportsball” (a pretty dismissive term in and of itself) and doesn’t really grok the absolute investment in “my team” or “we won” that a lot of people have in relation to their particular sports ball team. But I do grok that the general drive to participate in the phenomena is a fundamental reflection of human evolutionary biology.
Shorter on both – other people like different stuff and have different priorities, and in this case, it’s not clear to me that their priorities are inherently less correct – as is implied by ‘git gud’ and ‘weird and gay’. We can express our disinterest or different sets of priorities, but to be arrogantly dismissive is silly.
Item the 3rd – I’ve noticed a tendency in the MAHA-adjacent movements (and before there was even a MAHA) to attack “agency capture” as the boogeyman in the area of food and medicine. The implication is that the agency/government oversight is inherently good, just being corrupted by evil corporations and money. That’s probably inevitable as the ‘movement’ attracts former lefties who still maintain their leftist view of the world. And maybe there is, as is often the case, not some insignificant truth in the corruption narrative. Regulatory capture is a real thing – I’m just not sure it’s a cause rather than a symptom. You can’t just blame regulatory capture, pursue it – almost always by increasing government oversight, regulation, passing laws, the very things you just identified as captured – and expect to fix the problem. Just like in medicine, you don’t fix a problem by treating symptoms. I always come back to the fact that I have nothing to fear from Pfizer, they can spend all the money they want and I can tell them to pound sand. When government gets involved that’s when I have to fear them. How does increasing the power of that part of the equation somehow magically result in solving the problem? It obviously (by definition – that’s why we’re talking about it!) failed before and you’ve just made it more useful to ‘capture’ the institution. It will work this time though…
Perhaps even more fundamentally, it’s a mistake to see industry and state as two separate entities, one neutral or working for the good of the people and the other intent on corrupting the other for their own nefarious purposes. An imperfect (very) analogy, but somewhat parallel is the relation between Hitler and the German people. The whole of the German people were not innocent bystanders who were led astray and corrupted by their evil rulers. The were symbiotes and each one lead the other in the direction they both wanted to go. Hitler had no power beyond what was given to him by the German people and he responded to their desires and demands just as much as they to his. Regulatory capture cannot happen if the regulator doesn’t want to be captured. Regulatory capture doesn’t happen if the regulator doesn’t have coercive power over the population. Regulator and regulated both gain in the process; no amount of granting additional power to the regulator or changing rules around will have any lasting effect so long as both parties stand to gain. And the only way both parties can gain is because one, the regulator, has such tremendous power. The only way to stop regulatory capture, is to remove the power that the regulator has over the population.
Huh, I was hoping the 3rd would be shorter as it’s not fully developed in my head, but I do carry on somewhat…
–Frédéric Bastiat
Interact with progs much?
Edumacation and credentials!!!
It’s amazing how people who are materially worse off than me in nearly every aspect of their life think they can do better than me at my own life.
Neph: I was once given very preachy advice about my marriage (which was fine and still is) from a smarmy shithead I worked with. His life was a train wreck and he had had a long messy divorce. When he finished I asked him
“Hey, how are you and Debby doing these days?”
We are still in the monkey stage. Most of us spend most of the time fretting over what all the other monkeys are doing, especially what they are doing with their junk.
SB, did he at least scuttle off in embarrassment?
I have a friend that often says, “What you should do…”
He is serious, wanting to impart his vast and superior knowledge to us lesser beings.
I feel sorry for him, caught in that web where he can’t escape and no one is paying attention to him.
Spastic hand has no rhythm
I thought it was guilty feet that had no rhythm.
Damn, I missed a perfect music link…
My music links are the best.
My music links are the best.
So I’ve been led to understand.
Teds lynx bring all the boys to the yard.
one common thread is the tone of condescending dismissiveness of people who have different priorities.
I’ve been to one World’s Fair, a picnic, and a rodeo, and that’s the stupidest thing I ever heard come over a pair of earphones.
I can understand how people can think of the dream world as a portal to a different world.
Nods in “Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath”.
Regulatory capture is easy to solve as long as you engage in magical thinking.
“Assume a spherical regulator . . . .”
If you start dreaming about peeing, WAKE UP IMMEDIATELY!
There’s never ever a urinal installed in an elevator…
Are you sure about that?
What if it is a waking dream?
Regulatory capture is concerned about industries capturing regulators and doing bad things like enforcing monopolies and such. This absolutely happens. Nowadays you have a problem that few people saw at the time when Carter was discussing regulatory capture, which is political capture of the regulators. Greenies/commies/what have you take over regulatory body and use it to push their unelected agenda This is what seems to be a major problem today. And regulation just does not sit well on a leash. It always grows, always gets out of control. So… Ban it all?
The guy telling people to get gud is often the same guy sneering at sportsball, and generally both come from his perception that the ‘normies’ mocked him in high school for being unathletic and considered him a loser for playing video games. So now he in turn mocks those who are beneath him in video game skill and considers those who watch sports to be losers. The thing is, while I agree wholeheartedly that there is obviously something in human nature that craves the team identification and mass emotion that comes from being a sports fan, there is equally obviously something in human nature that craves the feeling of superiority in skill, and taste. In fact I think it’s the same something in human nature in both cases. We’re tribal animals who depend on our status in the tribe for our wellbeing.
Personally, I enjoy pro sports fans making fun of esports fans for “just watching people playing games”. Guys… it’s the same thing, just on a different field, with different rules, and different skill sets.
While I don’t understand the draw of Twitch, I can at least comprehend it.
When is somebody going to post this? Oh, I guess right now. I did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_obeR1OIm8
I’d argue that esports insert a level of abstraction that make them not quite the same thing.
JaimeRoberto:
No more than golf, darts, crokinole, billiards, pool, and the like. I’d also argue that there’s much less randomness in esports (but not collectable card games such as Magic: the Gathering) than live sports.
I meant watching people play esports inserts a level of abstraction.
Agreed on both points. Thing is, I think I’m arriving at the conclusion that the impulses and biases that our evolutionary history has imbued us with simply don’t scale very well at all to deal with what that very evolution has made possible for us as a species to accomplish. And that’s the blackest pill of all, because there is no solution to that problem.
We are optimized for life in small communities. So optimized that we grew those communities into cities of millions and nations of hundreds of millions, which we are ill suited for. In other words, I agree wholeheartedly.
To tie two twigs of thought together, I had never even seen a lacrosse game until my freshman year of college. After watching a couple of games, I thought “that looks like fun.” I then spent hours and hours and hours with a lacrosse stick in my hands, learning to proficiently throw and catch the ball. If there wasn’t anybody around to play catch with, I’d throw against a wall.
It never occurred to me it wasn’t the best use of my time. I got fairly gud, too. Played on the college team and then several years afterward on a club team.
YMMV
i thought I was a skilled fisherman, Canadian fishing trips and watching friends taught me that I had a ways to go to catch up.
So I changed and enjoyed the camaraderie, it was easier than learning how to be a better fisherman.
Words to live by.
“to the dismissive tone we often use”
Oh, phhtt! *waives hand*
This tone is the reaction to so many people loading their arguments (not people here but the ones we discuss) with emotion. Sadly this works with the majority of the human race because they are largely irrational.
I was recently accused of being a Trump fan. I explained that I am not a fan….of anyone. I dont give a shit whose name is on an office door. I care about the practical outcomes of their policies. Who that person is, if they are good or bad, if it is someone I would go fishing with or not has a nothing to do with it. Policy and outcomes matter, personality – zero.
I was then informed that I have that exactly backwards. Then I had to listen to a feelz laden rant about how so-and-so is such a good man.
My natural reaction to that is “Oh fuck. Are you talking again?” every time I see that person.
If you consolidate all the little businesses into one or two megacorp behemoths, they are easier to regulate, right?
On regulatory capture: In the early nineties I was listening to congressional hearings about that in the medical industry.
Apparently some congress critters were concerned that govt regulators were also employees of the drug companies. Two jobs…govt regulator and employee of the industry they regulate. Yep.
When one was asked why such an obviously corrupt system should be allowed to continue one of them said, in a nutshell, “Because we really like it like this. If you stop us we will throw a tantrum and take our ball home.”
Regulatory capture is, I think, one of the biggest problems we have. It should be stamped out entirely.
I don’t know how you stamp it out though. Realistically, you need to stamp out the power of the state and that doesn’t seem to work out very well – or at least very peacefully or long term.
And one can see the logic of the revolving door – you’re asking a bunch of government bureaucrats to regulate a very complex and challenging field of endeavor. Of course the very people with that expertise will inevitably be the group to have the expertise necessary to understand what they are doing in a regulatory environment. You can nibble around the edges of that problem, but I don’t know how you solve it.
The only solution is to limit the power of the state to broad principles, not the minutiae. And to prevent the state from imposing solutions on the population. But even if you can accomplish that for the short term, it won’t last.
“The only solution is to limit the power of the state to broad principles, not the minutiae. And to prevent the state from imposing solutions on the population. But even if you can accomplish that for the short term, it won’t last.”
I had a history teacher tell me once that the rachet only goes one way – towards more market strangulation. Sadly this is true.
I recently finished a good book, “The Death of Liberty” by David Thomas Roberts. It’s sort of a history of The Income Tax and it’s destructive powers that lead to socialism. It’s the sort of book that pisses a person off ’cause there seems to be no solution.
Suthen and most other Glibs would be agitated just reading it. If anyone is interested email latvia2112@ the yeyhoo. Happy to send it on.
“Nobody else has the expertise necessary.”
At least for me, the condescending dismissiveness was 100% intended. People who spend all their time and money ‘gittin’ gud’ at video games are silly wastrels who should feel bad about their life choices. Whereas people who spend all their time and money climbing the ranks of an obscure practical shooting sport are wholly admirable and should be looked up to for their dedication and work ethic.
Yes, this is sarcasm. And I do like video games, although I mostly play indie turn-based strategy and platformers. AFAIC, gaming has been in a downward spiral since Jagged Alliance 2.
My specific use of the phrase ‘git gud!!!’ was a response to a common internet trope whenever someone bitches about the difficulty of some game or other – I think it came about during the dawn of soulslikes, which I admit to a particular disdain for.
FWIW, that’s the way I took your comment. I just triggered a series of thoughts, random even, about the disdain a lot of people have for what other people consider worthwhile. #MeToo, so I want to be aware of it when it bubbles up from the putrid swamp of my broken psyche.
With that, I’m checking out. I have some concrete to play with and some balls to inspect. Joints that is. Enjoy the snark until the Afternoon!
Just as long as you don’t get mixed up – inspecting the concrete and playing with the balls…
Yeah, the specific “git gud” came about as the counter to those who disliked the Souls like gameplay. For those unaware, the Souls series of games is well known (and well regarded) for very difficult boss fights, unforgiving level design, very tight timing windows, and no ability to easily farm (overpower your character) to make fights easier. A lot of more casual players complained and asked for difficulty levels, the publisher said that wasn’t what they were aiming for with their games, the fans of the games also said they wanted more difficult challenges, and the people asking for easier fights needed to “git gud”.
I actually get both sides of the argument. I’m somewhat tired of games that even on the hardest difficulty I can face roll my way through the fights without any struggle, while I’ve bounded off games with that one boss or that one level that requires some skill/timing that I just can’t get to work.
I have been on both sides of that argument, years back I was a fairly decent player in WoW. I have little to no natural aptitude and my ‘skill’ was a result of hours spent on dps spreadsheets, practicing rotations on target dummies, and endlessly grinding for gold, gear, and consumables to be optimally prepared. So of course I was very dismissive of the “casuals,” and in that context it made sense, after all it was group content and the casuals were factually holding us back from progressing and achieving our goals. Then I quit for a decade and when I came back I was a casual, and had no interest at all in putting in the meta game effort. Now I am solidly in the live and let live category. I hope everyone enjoys their hobbies, dinner, and sex life as much as possible, except rogues, rogues can choke on a dick.
That’s kinda where my ‘Rule of Three’ came from. In a video game, I’ll give any one necessary task three honest attempts, then it gets uninstalled and probably returned.
I came up with this after spending three days and 150+ attempts to get through the tree flood level on Ori and the Blind Forest. I eventually managed to get through it, but there was no sense of accomplishment at all – just the vague notion that I’d managed to luck into the right button-mashing combo this time, and that the rest of the game would just be more of the same.
lol I know exactly where that is because that is where I dropped out on my last attempt at the game. I had passed it during a previous attempt but this time I said fuck it and never went back.
Which is a shame because I adored every second of play before that moment took all the enjoyment away.
The 2nd game has a similar sequence I gave up on. Both are timed events that I don’t have the patience for anymore. And both are dramatically more difficult than anything that comes before.
Speaking of regulatory perversion, I have seen stories about the EPA collaborating with “environmentalists” and coaching them on how to sue “polluters”.
Realistically, you need to stamp out the power of the state and that doesn’t seem to work out very well – or at least very peacefully or long term.
Trump is nothing but a frost heave on the expressway to Hell.
The long term political forecast is bleak, but on the other hand we are amazingly privileged to have been born in a world, and particularly in a country, that amassed unprecedented wealth over a few decades of reasonable freedom and has coasted on that. Much as I hate a lot of what is happening, all our lives are among the best materially any human has ever experienced.
it’s a mistake to see industry and state as two separate entities
We really need a cool symbol to illustrate the strength that comes from the state and industry being tightly bound together. Like, I dunno, a bunch of sticks tied together, illustrating that they are stronger that way, together. Maybe include a ax head in there. That’d be rad.
I like your fashion sense.
I hate home renovation. Current projects are fixing a chimney for a wood stove and putting in a heat pump. Two hvac companies have ghosted on quotes after coming out, including one that we were willing to hire provided their quote wasn’t insane. Third is tomorrow and recently bought out by a behind the scenes consolidator (which of course hasn’t advertised that they own three of the larger local shops) that I found out after making the appointment.
Wood stove and chimney are two-three different contractors or shops, with varying degree of comfort with their quotes.
I just want it to end.
Contractors freak out if they see orphans in potato sack clothing, or gimps or libertarians. That might be your issue.
Dammit!
There is a livecam in Jamaica streaming the hurricane. For now.
https://x.com/OffThePress1/status/1983174524100346338
The ‘Git Gud’ bros aren’t usually implying practice, just ‘Git Gud’. Like saying ‘Don’t be unattractive, be attractive’ or telling a person in a wheelchair ‘Just walk’.
Much as I hate a lot of what is happening, all our lives are among the best materially any human has ever experienced.
Absolutely.
On our evolution, groups, etc. discussed above
I have to run to the store and such so in my absence if you are feeling overly cheerful you should check out
https://portalcioranbr.wordpress.com/2025/10/22/peter-wessel-zapffe-existential-elk-essay-pursuit-wonder/
I will check back in to see what yall’s insights are….aside from the glaring logical flaw in his reasoning
Whether there is some external meaning to our lives or not there is plenty of potential for internal meaning, and a fair amount of joy is possible. Nihilists always fail to impress me; they see the bleak tragic portion of existence and then argue for maximizing bleakness and minimizing joy. Anti-natalism is the cry of a man too cowardly to take responsibility for his own suicide.
Time to panic
“Let’s recognise our failure,” he told the Guardian and Amazon-based news organisation Sumaúma. “The truth is that we have failed to avoid an overshooting above 1.5C in the next few years. And that going above 1.5C has devastating consequences. Some of these devastating consequences are tipping points, be it in the Amazon, be it in Greenland, or western Antarctica or the coral reefs.
He said the priority at Cop30 was to shift direction: “It is absolutely indispensable to change course in order to make sure that the overshoot is as short as possible and as low in intensity as possible to avoid tipping points like the Amazon. We don’t want to see the Amazon as a savannah. But that is a real risk if we don’t change course and if we don’t make a dramatic decrease of emissions as soon as possible.”
The planet’s past 10 years have been the hottest in recorded history. Despite growing scientific alarm at the speed of global temperature increases caused by the burning of fossil fuels – oil, coal and gas – the secretary general said government commitments have come up short.
Six months to live, tops.
“I’ll give you a couple bucks for your waterfront house, chief. What, not selling?”
Devastating!
And that going above 1.5C has devastating consequences. Some of these devastating consequences are tipping points, be it in the Amazon, be it in Greenland, or western Antarctica or the coral reefs.
He asserted without evidence.
A chance I have to take…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9TByT3QlWc
Iron Maiden – 2 Minutes To Midnight
https://youtu.be/9qbRHY1l0vc?si=iPdmJoYez40Bw8hV
It’s like updates from some alternate universe. How do you even engage with people that divorced from reality?
He called for governments to rebalance representation at Cops so that civil society groups, particularly from Indigenous communities, will have a greater presence and influence than people paid by corporations.
“We all know what the lobbyists want,” he said. “It’s to increase their profits, with the price being paid by humankind.”
And we can pay the injuns in shiny trinkets and keep the cash for ourselves.
Good grief. The tedious melodrama. 😂🤣
No one would yuck your yum, if your yum wasn’t so yucky.
World leaders should also be schooled by Indigenous peoples in how to achieve a balance with nature, the secretary general said. “Political leaders are often more concerned with the day-to-day problems of society, especially at times when the economic situation is complex and aggravated by climate change, by disasters, by catastrophes. So sometimes there is no notion of the importance of a harmonious relationship with nature and therefore it is necessary to permanently maintain a pedagogy with the political leaders, and there is no one better than the Indigenous communities to do this pedagogy,” he said
What a steaming dog dish of vapid blather.
Where’s Rousseau when you need him?
Hell, where he belongs I hope.
From last night’s UCS dedthred:
This baffles the fuck out of me. Chipotle threw my son under the bus over about a thousand dollars. Lost a good manager aaaannnnd they don’t care.
He was sent to a store in Sedalia, which is 105 miles away, so they put him up in a hotel. While there, he was unable to do anything meaningful, because he was lateral to the general manager of that store, instead of superior. GM wouldn’t do anything, and what he did do wasn’t correct. For example, dude wanted to go to Columbia (68 miles from Sedalia) for sour cream. XY says, “Go to Walmart.” “They’re not an approved vendor.” “They are now because I made them one. You don’t need to be gone 2 hours to get sour cream when Walmart’s down the road.” That was the only issue on which XY won because that wasn’t the bad part. The bad part was that their (XY’s and GM) boss wouldn’t back XY up. Then, on the ONE day off XY had in three weeks, the store had an audit that they failed, that my son had tried to warn the GM about, and so he lost his bonus, about $1,000. Boss and grandboss wouldn’t fight for that. After a while, XY was sent back to his home store in KC.
The plan was for XY to go to MSU in Springfield and open the store there (he’d opened 3 stores by this time), which was scheduled to happen in September. In the meantime, he was to be sent to Topeka (79 miles). XY says, “Okay, you’ll need to put me up.” Nope. “Okay, then you’ll need to reimburse gas and mileage.” “Nope, not gonna do that, either. In fact, we’re going to make it your home store.” XY said, “Nope” and put himself on LOA until September when he went to Springfield.
September comes. He goes to Springfield. Store opening pushed back a month because they forgot to get permits in time. Meanwhile, XY has no money coming in, and they won’t let him use his PTO, of which he has much. He quit. Let me tell you. I have never seen that kid so heartbroken, honestly.
I had to break down how corporations break down everybody eventually, but explaining the turnstile of baby MBA beancounters and short-term quarterly reports are the only thing that matters to a smart managerially gifted 19-year-old who put his heart and soul into a company is not an easy task.
Oh, my sweet summer child.
Well that fucking sucks.
I’m really sorry to hear that Mo. For both of you.
It does. Did they have to pay him for his accrued PTO?
If so they also economically hurt themselves by not paying mileage or putting him up in a hotel.
I don’t know if they HAD to pay his accrued time, but they DIDN’T.
I don’t know if that’s because of the fiduciary duty, just blind adherence to process and procedures, or just people being assholes. Delaying the opening of the store is going to cost a lot more than reimbursing your son for lodging or gas.
It’s a misuse of “fiduciary”. And I don’t mean by the people here. It’s used as an excuse for cost cutting and dumb short term decision making.
You can still be a fiduciary and make short term decisions that are more expensive with the expectation that you will get a higher return. Similarly, if you feel that it will can decrease turnover you can pay for employee expenses.
In my industry of financial services there is plenty of case, regulatory and statutory law that defines the behavior.
Short term decision making is arguably a breech of fiduciary duties. The left has gone insane with the concept of stakeholders, but there is a real world place for the idea that treating employees and contractual counter parties fairly yields long term rewards.
The only thing the beancounters want is cheap labor because they resent having to pay for labor at all. I mean, I get it buuuuuut it’s like these people never heard of the Boots Theory.
I just ran into this. I did a coding project (VBA) for my friend’s company, and she keeps saying, “Push that cost back and bury it in something else because they’re going to squeal.”
Okay, she’s my friend and she gets where I’m coming from and she understands the value of what I did, but there’s only so far she can push, so I’m not going to say, “Fuck you, pay me now.” I’ll do what she asks, but I’m super-peeved. “I just saved you all a shit-ton of time/money with my VBA voodoo and you don’t want to pay for it.”
Market value is WAY more than I’m charging, too, by the way, and I did it in 5 days.
1. They think of me as a transcriptionist/editor.
2. They think of me as an employee, although I’m a contractor/consultant WITH MY OWN BUSINESS that does other things.
3. They’re used to paying Indian wages. Having USians is new for them and they balked at that, even to get them out of a bind. I asked my friend if the ROI on one US transcriptionist is really that bad against FOUR Indians to make a document client-ready (i.e., transcriptionist, reviewer, QA, auditor) and she said absolutely. One transcriptionist working 40 hours a week, knows at least two languages, if not three PLUS medical jargon, makes about $200/month. Fuuuuuuck.
4. Transcription is seen as the redheaded stepchild of the revenue cycle. All loss, no profit.
And that’s on top of the fact that the CIO DEMANDED I do the remainder of the project (mind you, this is a HUGE project) on THEIR machine where everything is locked down, they won’t install any of my tools, AND it’s Win11. I’m doing transcription and you have blocked webmd.com.
Bitch, please. I doubt you’ve ever demanded any of your other consultants work on your equipment, and yes, I WILL die on this hill.
My friend says, “They won’t let you work on your own machine.”
I said, “Okay.”
She says, “… That’s it?”
I said, “Well, yeah. I mean, you’ll have to find somebody else, but that’s the end of the road for me. Please gently remind them I am a contractor/consultant, NOT an employee, and THEY are my CLIENT. I’ve fired clients before.”
She really didn’t know what to say to that.
I came THISCLOSE to writing up a detailed report and breakdown of market analysis/value and the tax implications of using their equipment as a contractor/consultant, when she came back to me and said, “The CEO approved it. She didn’t see what the problem was.”
Well, allrightythen.
So, yes. I find that cheaping out on a long-term cost- and time-saving tool is fiduciary irresponsibility.
He has the core experience needed to manage a local or small regional restaurant that isn’t so far down the corporate slope. Sounds like there’s tons of potential in him.
There’s a small chain down here called Gettin Basted. They’re just starting to franchise and expand. May be a good fit for him.
He’s working for the company that manages the fast food outlets on campus (Chartwells? I think?), which is office work for him, but occasionally he has to step in to help in the actual restaurants. The bad thing is, they’re closed on school breaks, so he doesn’t get paid for that time.
Bureaucrats loathe the idea of exercising judgment. If you follow policy to the letter any disaster that happens is someone else’s fault for formulating the policy. If you consider individual fact patterns and exercise judgment, you own the disaster. It doesn’t matter if the bureaucracy is corporate or governmental. Hopefully your son takes the skills he learned at Chipotle and finds a place to use them that will offer him more opportunity.
Checks to make sure that’s covered by Army Regulations.
There’s always a waiver for every reg.
#ows616 🔎 4/5 (01:10)
⭐⭐⭐⭐
🔥 streak: 2
onewordsearch.com
If you were in the market for a scar, now’s the time to scoop one up.
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/fn-to-discontinue-all-scar-models-44823361
I’m not generally shopping for injuries.
It is Halloween…
It’s Stellantis, what could go wrong?
How Jeep Plans To Squeeze 324 HP From a 2.0L Turbo Without Wrecking Reliability
https://www.thedrive.com/news/how-jeep-plans-to-squeeze-324-hp-from-a-2-0l-turbo-without-wrecking-reliability
Damn it!
You can’t lose something that was never there?
https://www.thedrive.com/news/how-jeep-plans-to-squeeze-324-hp-from-a-2-0l-turbo-without-wrecking-reliability
What could possibly go wrong?
For one thing you could fail as a timelord by posting a link a minute after the Master.
That’s what I get for reading the article first. 🙁
Nicely done. That’s works for both handles.
It rubs me the wrong way, for some reason, when fans are all “we won” when the pro team with their city’s name on the jersey does well. In high school, many of the players were your actual friends. In college, some would be in your classes or members of your frat. It made sense to root for them. Now college and pro players are mercenaries paid to perform in your city by some billionaire who grew up somewhere else. And the Olympics can be annoying too, with breathless stories about some athlete from Third World X who has lived virtually entire life in the U.S. and trains here too.
College football is massively less compelling now that “Buddy Williams for Rutgers, a 6th year senior transfer from Fresno State via Ball State and Pitt is tackled by D’Omicron Janes for UCLA, sophomore transfer from Lehigh by way of Florida Atlantic.”
Yay, highly paid randos with a jersey of a school I attended a decade ago are playing against highly paid randos from some school halfway across the country.
Im increasingly of the opinion that fantasy sports and sports betting is propping up a bunch of declining sports leagues.
My son lives and dies with UTexas football. He probably has a bio on every transfer player
I’m not sure if it’s sports betting propping up the leagues, since there’s people who are willing to bet on things like WWE, pre-season NFL, and the WNBA. Fantasy football is a big market, but I don’t think much of that makes it back to the league.
I have no idea how they were allowed to get in bed with each other. The corruption must be off the charts but Muh Team so everyone looks the other way?
To be clear, Neph, I don’t think it’s a direct link. I think the betting and the fantasy football keeps a bunch of eyes on sports that would be suffering from declining ratings otherwise.
Who doesn’t love some PR spin and a nice tongue bath from the folks at Ars Technica?
Here’s how Slate Auto plans to handle repairs to its electric trucks
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/10/slate-auto-announces-repair-network-access-to-superchargers/
“Slate is partnering with RepairPal to use the latter’s network of more than 4,000 locations across the US.”
Great!
“RepairPal locations will also be able to install the accessories that Slate plans to offer, like a kit to turn the bare-bones pickup truck into a crossover. And some but not all RepairPal sites will be able to work on the Slate’s high-voltage powertrain.”
Oh – so if you want them to install bolt on accessories you are good to go. If you want them to fix an actual defect you may not have quite 4,000 locations. OK, how many can actually fix the truck?
———
Got it.
Naw. You can’t piss me off.
More of a shrug and a confusion as to why people like watching sports.
If you were playing, at actually invested, say if you owned shares in a team I would get it.
Otherwise sports are no different than the distraction of watching TV.
Dismissivness, yeah. More like disdain. I’m sick of subsidizing sports with my taxes. Be it local school football fields to making pickleball courts for the local fire guys to play on while on the clock.
I don’t care if people want to play or watch a game. But I get rather pissy when they insist I pay for their stadium and subsidize their TV broadcasts. I’m not asking them to pay for me to wreck Sloopy’s car.
1. Tribalism sublimated into ceremonial competition
2. The pleasure of watching a largely unscripted drama unfold
3. A shared emotional high (or low) with others
4. The pleasure of watching exceptionally talented people perform wonders.
I agree with the anger at being forced to subsidize sports, and I have largely opted out of the tribalism/fandom, but there is no difference between looking on sports fans with disdain and the hipster sneering at a band for becoming popular. You are not better or worse than someone else based on liking or disliking a popular thing.
Past high school sports, few of them are locals.
On the MAHA tho g o think rather than regulation as a way to go is to get rid of the regulations and government push for things like crop subsidies and the Food Pyramid.
If they outright banned canola in the food supply would I cry foul?
No.
That shit is poison.
At the very least stop subsidizing it.
Stop restricting ranchers by jerking them around on land leases, let them buy the land they currently lease. The feds shouldn’t own or control it anyway.
How Jeep Plans To Squeeze 324 HP From a 2.0L Turbo Without Wrecking Reliability
Is it a diesel?
I’d buy that for torque out of a diesel, but for diesel HP that’s a big ask at that displacement.
Pum!
That the sound of an oil pan rupturing when a piston ring fails and pressure builds in the block where it shouldn’t be.
BMW laughs at your puny horsepower numbers
1.5 liter, ~1000- hp in qualifying trim.
Longevity was not its strong suit.
And it’s really cool to see the company that’s most known for archaic V8s meaningfully advance small-displacement engine technology.
I, uhhhh….
Yes, Honda has put out a few small displacements duds, but really?
You will note that GM decided it needed almost another liter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_L3B_engine
They also learned their lesson with big displacement 4s and that motor has a balance shaft.
Keep
It
Simple
Stupid!
Grokipedia is up and working again.
https://grokipedia.com/
Keep
It
Simple
Stupid!
Oh, come on. What’s a little added complexity when you’re wringing that last .0000000001% of performance out of the engine?
That’s spelled CAFE.