The Community
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Zzzptm on November 25, 2020, 07:57:06 AM
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Ran an errand to the post office yesterday. Today, we're getting some doors replaced on our house. It's a chilly day, but we'll endure the open air for just one day, we can warm up at night.
I need to get a vehicle inspection done on the van, but I'll do that sometime next week.
What's the humdrum on your plate for today?
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Well deposited 50€ in a internet casino...got as far as 220€ but then came down...I had set a limit of 300€ for withdrawal.
Yesterday I got 1300€ out with a 75€ depo so that was a good day.
Now this year's casino deposits are done.
Was supposed to wash the summer wheels today, but it has rained all day and I also had to visit the store to get some cat food...
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Today is cloudy and will remain so into the night. High of about 45 F.
Going to do some work, have a couple of meetings (Teams meetings these days), then probably going to cut it short.
My Czech class was pushed ahead an hour, so I'll be doing that shortly.
Going to set some mouse traps in my utility room. I keep the door closed on that and since the cats (who are 20 and 19 but still deadly to mice) can't get in there, and the weather cooling off, evidence of field mouse activity is appearing.
This evening I'm going to drive into town, strip naked, and run down Main street yelling that the British are coming.
Pretty ho-hum.
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This evening I'm going to drive into town, strip naked, and run down Main street yelling that the British are coming.
That mental image ensures that this Brit will definitely NOT be coming!! :O
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Going to set some mouse traps in my utility room. I keep the door closed on that and since the cats (who are 20 and 19 but still deadly to mice) can't get in there, and the weather cooling off, evidence of field mouse activity is appearing.
Mice are shitheads.... My cousin just had his excavator's cabin destroyed by them...ate consoles, the chair, electrics, heater unit and god knows what else...atleast 5 grand worth of damage... little fuckers.
I've had a mouse trap on my warehouse and caught about a dozen of those bastards so far. 5 from the attic of the house. Crazy mouse year this year. And I have cats for christ's sake!
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Put an extended baffle on my garage door, just to keep the mice out of there.
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This evening I'm going to drive into town, strip naked, and run down Main street yelling that the British are coming.
That mental image ensures that this Brit will definitely NOT be coming!! :O
It would certainly aid any quarantine efforts as everyone would stay home to avoid the spectacle.
:banana: :banana:
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Well, the door guys had a late start and there's a little bit of work left to do, but they are all installed and secure and insulated. They look great and are definitely an improvement over the doors they replaced, which had lots of gaps around the edges.
Now I need to call the alarm company to send a guy out to recalibrate.
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Getting ready for winter...emptied and washed all the water barrels and flower pots...cleaned the summer wheels, and the lawn mower tractor....need to install the snowplow and chains to it later on...
Also put some more christmas lights up.
Happy Thanksgiving to all as well! Eat and be merry! Remember to eat the whole turkey so that it won't turn into a zombie turkey and gobble gobble gobble your eyes out when you're sleeping. It's a thing....or so I've heard.
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We're smoking our turkey this year, and it's delicious. We had a practice turkey last week. I took care of the laundry and the trash while my wife ran the kitchen.
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Got our Christmas decorations up over the last 2 days. Good thing, too, because it started raining a lot last night.
Need to get some flea medicine for the cats, though.
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13 hours of work lined up for me after taking a week off.
Thanks, project managers! Nothing makes me express gratitude for days off like getting slammed when I come back to work! >:(
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Put some more christmas lights up...Namely the annual Hell Tree...
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@Zzz...
I can recommend retirement, I wouldn't have time to work now!
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@Zzz...
I can recommend retirement, I wouldn't have time to work now!
Can't retire yet, so on I work. But I did get a working session cut short, which allows me to have a break of sorts for this hour.
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Gave the car a quick wash...
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50671877367_d73bc3ca93_c.jpg)
Also checked the mouse traps on the attic and found something rather interesting in the first one...just the head...an empty head I might add...even the brains had been eaten out...then moved on to the second trap and there was a half eaten mouse...and then on to the fourth one (third one was untouched) and there was a real nice fat mouse that had not been touched...so I guess he was a cannibal mouse. Brutal.
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I need to wash my car AND STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM CANNIBAL MICE.
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AND STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM CANNIBAL MICE.
No it's ok, if they eat you it's not cannibalism! ;)
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AND STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM CANNIBAL MICE.
No it's ok, if they eat you it's not cannibalism! ;)
But... am I a man or am I a mouse?
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AND STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM CANNIBAL MICE.
No it's ok, if they eat you it's not cannibalism! ;)
But... am I a man or am I a mouse?
Well there's an easy test. Step in the middle of a pack of cannibal mice...if they eat you you're a mouse, if they don't you're a man.
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What were you baiting your traps with Charger? Many years ago a building I worked in had a few mice and the pest control baited those traps with chocolate!
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What were you baiting your traps with Charger? Many years ago a building I worked in had a few mice and the pest control baited those traps with chocolate!
I use cheese...I know that's cheesy but it works...mice like some cheese.
Another thing that works really well is peanut butter. They love that stuff too...
Never heard of using chocolate though...would have to be softened somehow so you'd be able to stick in onto the trap so that it would work....
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I'm now dealing with some mice injuries. My mistake standing in a group of man-eating mice instead of cannibal mice. :smug:
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Last night, a drunk driver skidded to a stop in front of my house. He wasn't hurt - it was a one-car accident with a curb that left him without a front drivers' side wheel - but he was real drunk. I called emergency services and after the medics checked him over, the police took him to the station.
I live two blocks away from the fire station, so a quick response more than makes up for all the alarms we hear going off. :)
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When the topic of records comes up, I've been telling people for the last several years that I have some but don't buy them much anymore.
Going through my collection over the past couple of weeks, it seems I've accumulated a couple of hundred records since the time I stopped "collecting records". I was rather surprised at that revelation, further compounded by the fact that I just got one the other day and am expecting one to arrive in a day or so.
I don't know how this happens. It's like I was spinning so fast when I was in the collecting scene that I created a gravity-well that still manages to pull vinyl towards me.
:banana:
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The missus has two briskets and several chickens' worth of meat for ourselves and another brisket for a friend.
Time to get the smoker going today...
:ratpack:
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Started with my Christmas cleaning...
It is crazy how much dust my cd collection collects in just 6 months...It'll take me another full day to clean everything and then I also have to pack away my years worth of magazines and clean up the dust of those and under the bed...
And with my allergies I have to remember to pop pills every now and then so I won't get an allergy attack.
I know I know I probably should do a thorough clean up more often than just twice a year....
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What were you baiting your traps with Charger? Many years ago a building I worked in had a few mice and the pest control baited those traps with chocolate!
I use cheese...I know that's cheesy but it works...mice like some cheese.
Another thing that works really well is peanut butter. They love that stuff too...
I use peanut butter.
(https://i.postimg.cc/LX6VKQS4/mouse.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
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^ Peanut butter is great for luring vermin out of their lairs. I've used it to get squirrels out of my attic with great success.
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The missus and daughter did a great job straightening up in the garage yesterday, it looks really nice in there.
I added a few more access points to my home wireless mesh, really upped that coverage, getting much better reception in the back bedrooms now.
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I'm off work until the end of the month (but will start planning in a few weeks), so I've been cleaning and reorganising the house. Also been rainproofing my cats' outdoor space. We've copped a lot of rain recently and it's been hell on them, but I unfortunately can't keep them inside.
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Just paid off my property taxes. My joints are telling me that it'll rain in a few days... thanks, joints.
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Just paid off my property taxes. My joints are telling me that it'll rain in a few days... thanks, joints.
Maybe you should take advice from Thel and just smoke them joints before they start getting moist.
^^^
The year's worst joke has been made and it's just the 4th of Jan...
:ivan:
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I’m a bit of a sucker for Funko Pops(just the music and particular movie ones) so picked up the Black Sabbath one today. Also got the latest in the Black Sabbath etched glass series in a couple of months back to go with the others I previously posted somewhere on here. Hoping they do SBS and Sabotage related ones next.
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/aa333/DAMAGEDsINCe85/7AA3A921-3D64-4315-8DEB-9CA011B6B4D1.jpeg)
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Got called back to work on Monday, so that's been my thing for this week. A meeting and some stuff to plan tomorrow and I'm home free. Well.. working from home free. I'll see myself out.
Hey Scott, what kind of cats do you have, I'm a cat fancier myself, I have a British Short Haired cat.
You have a house for them outside? I never heard of a cat house.
Tabbies. Strays that made their home on our porch, couldn't bear to leave them on the street so we adopted them one by one. Yep, they live outside in an enclosed space. They're safe and have plenty of room to run around. Never expected to own cats again, but I love those guys.
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Wife put up some shelves in the garage, looking very nice and organized in there!
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Took the day off to watch the NFL Conference Championship playoff games today. The fact it’s going to be 40c here today and I work outdoors it made the decision an easy one.
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Took the day off to watch the NFL Conference Championship playoff games today. The fact it’s going to be 40c here today and I work outdoors it made the decision an easy one.
Absolutely, and you could do the same on 7 Feb, when it'll be even hotter!
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Getting a new breaker box installed today, so I'll have no electricity for 4-6 hours.
Fortunately, the weather is perfect for no AC today and I've already blocked out the day for doing documentation on my calendar. I may have no Internet, but I can still work on documentation in the spring air. :D
EDIT: there were issues and they had to reschedule for Monday the 17th. The breaker box would have to go in at a new location to be up to code, along with a few other complications. No worries, though, just a rescheduling of service.
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Going to the dentist today. Plan do get some groceries right after that.
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^^^
I had a dental check-up earlier, got the all clear for another 6 months!
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^^^
I had a dental check-up earlier, got the all clear for another 6 months!
Go you! This one is for my braces. I got them because they would help my teeth last longer. Teeth are like computers: you take care of the ones you want to keep. :)
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As if we haven’t been through enough here in Victoria we just had a magnitude 6.0 earthquake. Been damage to buildings but no reports of any deaths. Was quite freaky at the time. My house shook pretty hard for about 20 seconds and my dog was freaking out. Earthquakes are rare occurrences here let alone a magnitude 6.0. Lucky the epicentre was about 180kms north east of Melbourne in a county town at the foothills of the Victorian Alps otherwise the outcome would’ve been much worse.
We’ve also had some ugly protests going on in our city from unionist in the construction sector the last 2 days.
Melbourne was for years in a row voted the worlds most liveable city. Couldn’t be further away from that right now. We are now officially the worlds most lockdowned city with no end in sight.
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Wow... I didn't even know you got earthquakes there! I thought it was rather steady ground there.
Glad no damage happened to your house Jack! And that there was no deaths. 6 is a pretty big one after all...
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I just saw that earthquake news. Not the kind of excitement one wants to alleviate the boredom of lockdown...
Over here in Texas, it's cool enough for the doors to be open and I can hear the roofers working next door.
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Purchased this litho as a pre order off the official Sabbath site a few months back which was released to celebrate the Sabotage Super Deluxe box set and it finally arrived today. Was limited to 200 and sold out quick so very happy to have this.
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/aa333/DAMAGEDsINCe85/5C6530D6-22DC-4846-ADBA-82175E2254A5.jpeg?width=820&height=480&fit=bounds)
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I think I'll work on syncing up my music files across my PCs.
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Well I've been putting off cleaning my gutters for a few years now. This summer I noticed them overflowing during heavy rains, so yesterday I rented a lift-boom just for the day and got to work. Nice piece of equipment, but it has to be towed into position and set up each time. I found it much harder to set up than to actually go up and clean. Needless to say, last night I was pretty tired and sore (the good kind of sore), but got the job done.
(https://i.postimg.cc/FKgrWJLc/liftboom.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
My neighbor was checking out the machine and took this shot without my knowledge. Glad I did this because the gutters were loaded.
(https://i.postimg.cc/XJjVT7fP/Gene_Nifty_Lift_2.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
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Ugh, I'll need to be doing that, as well. Mine are only ground floor, but still. Well, that's motivation for me to do the job, at least!
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That lift-boom is pretty cool, I can see where it would require a lot of prep.
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Very cool!
Next time you should rent one that has it's own drive motors. It is much easier to maneuver into the right position.
I had one of those so that I could install my tv antenna...but because of my fear of hights I couldn't use it...I got up there alright but I couldn't do anything... :(
I also need to clean my gutters...thanks for reminding me.
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Got some branches that need to go to the curb for bulk trash pickup.
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Very cool!
Next time you should rent one that has it's own drive motors. It is much easier to maneuver into the right position.
The drivable one was nearly twice the money. $225 a day for this one, $425 for the other. I needed the workout anyways. :)
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Very cool!
Next time you should rent one that has it's own drive motors. It is much easier to maneuver into the right position.
The drivable one was nearly twice the money. $225 a day for this one, $425 for the other. I needed the workout anyways. :)
Yikes! That's a lot of extra price.
I had a loner from a neighbour for no charge...and then he came and installed the antenna too when I couldn't! :D
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Have had my eye on this Nixon Sentry Leather watch since it was released about 3 years ago and finally decided to pull the trigger on it with 30% off
(https://www.nixon.com/dw/image/v2/AAYF_PRD/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-masterCatalog_Nixon/default/dwae6fbe59/products/A105-3332-view1.jpg?sfrm=png)
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^^^
Is that an "actual" watch or a smart watch?
Isn't a strap that big bit awkward to wear already?
If it's an actual watch I like the very basic design of the face...however I do like my watches to have the date counter as well.
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It’s a classic watch not a smart watch. You can remove the wider leather strap and wear it as a normal wrist band, it just slips out, but I quite like the wider leather rocker type cuff with the black stainless steel. I’ve always loved white flying V’s too and the bullet points pop on the black, it also has bullet indices and embossed bullet crown. It’s a Metallica Seek & Destroy watch in case you didn’t know. They teamed up with Nixon and put out watch series about 3 years ago. I didn’t want one that said Metallica on the face, a pushead skull or something else that instantly tells you it’s a Metallica watch though, that’s kinda tacky to me.
Dunno, just always liked it since the first time I saw it and would've still bought it whether it was a Metallica watch or not, and Nixon make good quality watches as well.
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The Flying V is an awesome second hand.
Meanwhile, bulk trash pickup is next week, moved my trimmed branches to the curb.
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Cleaned out a storage unit this past weekend. Threw out stuff that never should have been stored, donated stuff that should have been stored by someone else, took the actual valuables home to where I now have room. Good times.
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Another Black Friday Week means a new phone from the sale..
So this year I went with One Plus and the Nord CE 5G.
I'm pretty happy with this. It was pretty cheap (222€ normal price 349€) and compared to the Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite that I had it's quite a bit faster and best of all bit smaller.
The downside is that the camera seems to be bit worse. The pictures tend to turn up pretty grainy and easily out of focus...which is a shame...not that I take a lot of pics but the ones I do I tend to take in a low lighting conditions quite often so it's an issue that I wish I had known...but still I'm pretty happy with it. The screen is miles better...and best of all this should NOT spy for the chinese governement...which was something the Xiaomi could have been programmed to do if they so desired.
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How big/heavy is it?
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The size isn't too bad for a modern phone...
Screen size is 6.43" and the phone measures at 159mm X 73mm X 7mm and weighs 170grams...not too bad.
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Niiiiiiiiiice! And at that price, as well!
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Yeah... I usually buy a new phone on Black Friday and I had kind of decided on One Plus...and was hoping for a good deal...glad I got one. :)
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...and best of all this should NOT spy for the chinese governement...which was something the Xiaomi could have been programmed to do if they so desired.
We'll get you yet, you Finnish fiend.
(https://static01.nyt.com/images/2013/08/20/world/JP-DOCUMENT/JP-DOCUMENT-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)
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I drove into the office today - I leave home at 0545. So it was still dark, but there was a full moon out and everything had that ghostly glow to it.
As I was preparing to leave, I noticed some movement in my yard. I stopped to try and see what was going on and was treated to a show, of sorts. A squirrel and a rabbit were chasing each other around. I don't know if they were "playing" or if they were serious (of course, neither are predatory, so my guess is they were having fun). They disappeared into the treeline after about 30 seconds.
I've seen rabbits chasing each other. I've seen squirrels chasing each other. That, however, was the first time I have ever seen a rabbit and a squirrel chasing each other around.
While Xi Jinping plots world domination, Rotterdam riots because of COVID lockdown, and the President of the United States puts the country further in the hole financially, that rabbit and squirrel couldn't be bothered to care at all.
That makes me happy.
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Taking the three days before Thanksgiving off, so I'm in my pajamas, watching curling. I totally get that rabbit and squirrel. :D
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Fear of economical distaster has it's toll on pysche of the squirrells and the rabbits!
Rabbits can be pretty vicious though. I have read that they can actually attack other animals too.
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^^^
I would never approach a feral rabbit without having the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.
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Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.
That is only applicable to European rabbits, though. North American rabbits are immune to pythons.
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That's it, I'm done with disposable razors.
I'm going with a proper shaver with replacement blades. Arrives tomorrow, so I'll hold off shaving until it shows up.
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Gillette Pro Glide is the way to go! ;)
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Gillette Pro Glide is the way to go! ;)
You have read my mind, that's the one I went with after reading reviews. Gotta have the smoove~!
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:diothumbsup:
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In other news, I need to re-mount my magnet display boards after two of them fell down. They held up for 2 years, so I just need to use more command strips on them.
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Back to the grind again tonight...too weeks off was more than plenty...already started suffering from insomnia again.
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Oof, insomnia is the worst.
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Yeah...which is why I chose to work nights. It helps a bit...but I do still get those under 3 hours of sleep nights every now and then...
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Helped my wife to find where she mislaid her purse. I'm the man of the hour, right now. :D
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I’d like to announce a new addition to my family.
A Snow White Jackson King V
https://www.jacksonguitars.com/en-AU/guitars/pro-series/pro-series-king-v-kvtmg/2914413576.html
Have always wanted a Jackson King V in Snow White since I was a teenager. Don’t often see one in Australian stores but saw one today and just had to have it, especially for the price I was given. So laid down a deposit on it and will pay it off :)
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Hey that's pretty cool!
Just as a collectible or are you gonna play it as well?
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Nah I play. Been getting back into playing the last few months so I can jam with my son. He’s becoming quite an amazing drummer.
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Nah I play. Been getting back into playing the last few months so I can jam with my son. He’s becoming quite an amazing drummer.
THAT is the way to go, dad! :)
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Very cool indeed.
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Got my AC inspected because I had questions about it... turns out, there were justifications for those questions. There are hot/cold spots in my house because the duct work is all messed up. Because the duct work is all messed up, the AC unit is getting less than half the airflow it needs to do its job. It's been that way for a long time, and the unit shows some bad wear and tear and there's bacterial growth beginning in the unit due to overcondensation, one of those things that happens with insufficient air flow.
Given that there's already a war and high inflation and supply chain issues, I went ahead and ordered the replacement now. It ain't cheap, but it's cheaper than the one that gets ordered only a few months from now...
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Still enjoying my Gillette shaver, very nice and I'm now on my first set of replacement blades.
Taking a day off tomorrow to have a day trip with the missus.
Booked business travel for the end of March.
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^^^
Where's the business trip too, anywhere interesting?
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Hopefully not to Finland...
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The HQ for the company I'm with is in Northern Virginia, which is where I'll be going. We'll be building out a lab environment for putting together customer solutions. We do work advising federal agencies on cybersecurity solutions.
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With the change in weather, my wooden front doors in a wooden frame are having humidity- and heat-related gyrations, had to remove the faceplates on the locks so they'd shut properly.
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My MP3 player became faulty on Sunday, I managed to copy the music files off onto the PC, it was about 23.5GB.
New player turned up today, put it on charge and started to copy the music files across... I was forgetting it takes longer to copy files to an MP3 player than it is to copy them off. It took about an hour to copy them off yesterday... it was suggesting it would take 8 hours to copy them back!! The estimate is dropping though after about 20 minutes it's down to 6½ hours. Phew!
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^ This is why I use a program, Resilio Sync, to keep my MP3s synced up across my laptop, a USB drive, and my mobile. If/when I change my mobile, I'll have a big wait to copy over all my music. 36K files, about 160GB.
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You all have a LOT of digital tunage!
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It's how I roll. :smug:
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Just to clarify the 23.5GB is just that which is on the MP3 player... my complete library is about 91GB. And just in case you're wondering most of it is Ripped from my 600-odd CDs.
Sadly the copying is truly slow... I still have about 2 hours to go so the 8 hour prediction is sadly correct.
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Sort of related...back when 56k modems came out I, of course, bought one. I was one of those people that paid for two phone lines so I could have uninterrupted internet once I found a provider that didn't charge by the minute.
So, armed with my high-speed modem, I managed to find a piece of software I wanted that I could download for free (this may or may not have been illegal...). It was 300 MB. I started downloading on a Friday night, it finished mid-day that Sunday. I fretted over that connection like a mother hen, and was thrilled when it completed without issue.
Turned out the version of that software I downloaded wouldn't work on my operating system, so I deleted it.
Hope your file transfer finished up successfully, Kilo!
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^^^
In the end! It finished about 23:40... about 8hrs 15mins after starting! The transfer speed was about 1mb per second! I think the player must be dreadfully slow for transferring files!
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56K modems... oh yeah, I had to dial in with the code to turn off call waiting and run my downloads overnight - "Don't anybody pick up the phone!"
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The new MP3 player it turns out is rather good (64GB for £30 and the sound is great). One problem is it doesn't remember where you were when you next switch it on. Minor gripe I know but it means you have to navigate back to where you were if you were halfway through an album or what ever.
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That is pretty annoying thing...I had an mp3 player back in the day (only ever owned two of those) that did the same thing...got rid of it fast and bought a Creative one which had last track memory...don't even remember what happened to that one...I might still have it somewhere...or I might have sold it...
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Last track memory is a must-have!
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Last track memory is a must-have!
Definitely!
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Over here, I changed the blades on my razor today. I'm also gearing up to take out a few certifications in the next few months.
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You need a certificate to change your razor blades? >:D
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You need a certificate to change your razor blades? >:D
Haha!
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Maaaaaaaaaaan!
(https://y.yarn.co/1a44d2d8-f240-4be5-b4b9-2d829d948efc_text.gif)
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Busy day at work, but I fixed the integration issue and people are now able to do other things that they'll complain about not working tomorrow. :D
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Pretty normal day for me..
I thought it would be a nice day the change summer tyres to the car...so I did...got the other side done fine then when I started with the left front tire the lock nut key said "snap crackle and pop" and broke in half...so a panic call to a parts dealer to see if they had one...well it seems that there are over 25 different kind of luck nuts on BMW's of this era so they don't have any on stock...and ofcourse I have no way of knowing which one I have since they only differ very slightly...can't take a bolt out to take to them as the damn key broke...and ofcourse this has to be the only damn part on a BMW that does NOT have a parts number on it for fucks sake! Even the singular buttons on the dash have individual parts numbers! But not on this damn lock nut key!
So the next option is to buy a tool that grips on the lock nut and forces it out...but ofcourse no one has one on stock because the size is so strange....so now I have to wait for a week to have one delivered...
So now I have a car with 19" summer tyres on the right and 18" winter tyres on the left! Lovely...and I can't do fuck all...
I wish there would be a week...just a simple one fuckin' week without something going belly up...but no...when it rains it pours and it fuckin' rains all the fuckin' time in the world of Charger....
*End rant*
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Pisser that an oversight on their part leads to a grinding halt on your part. And this is BMW! Shouldn't they have numbered *everything*?
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Well six hours of work today but finally got the bolt out...had to weld on it...didn't work...then I just had to drill the bolt out of the wheel...
What a pain in the ass...it had somehow locked itself to the wheel and that caused the whole problem...
But thankfully got it out without even damaging the wheel....so there's that...
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Well six hours of work today but finally got the bolt out...had to weld on it...didn't work...then I just had to drill the bolt out of the wheel...
What a pain in the ass...it had somehow locked itself to the wheel and that caused the whole problem...
But thankfully got it out without even damaging the wheel....so there's that...
Gah, what a complete pain in the ass. Glad you at least managed to get it done!
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Yeah, good for getting the job done! That's a win for you. `
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Yeh...that's pretty much the story of my life...after life takes a massive dump on me I manage to move a small little turd out so I can just barely breathe again...and that can be counted as a win.
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I wore a black shirt today so of course my big white cat had to jump up on my lap and roll around on it.
I now have a fuzzy white shirt. :D
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^^^
That's why I have a black cat...so you can't notice the difference! :D
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Lucky us, we have a beige sofa for the dark cats to fuzz up! :D
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Passed a certification exam today. :) I get to take the next one in the series tomorrow, feeling confident I'll do the job and get the passing score. :D
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Passed a certification exam today. :) I get to take the next one in the series tomorrow, feeling confident I'll do the job and get the passing score. :D
Congratulations! And pre-grats!
About ten years ago, I went and took a cert exam. Passed. What's notable is that I bought a book to review prior to taking the exam, and it turned out that the examples they had in the book were precisely, and in order, replicated ON THE EXAM. I had been told that it usually took a person about two hours to complete the exam. I was done in 20 minutes, so I jacked around for another half an hour before turning it in just because I felt ridiculous.
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About ten years ago, I went and took a cert exam. Passed. What's notable is that I bought a book to review prior to taking the exam, and it turned out that the examples they had in the book were precisely, and in order, replicated ON THE EXAM. I had been told that it usually took a person about two hours to complete the exam. I was done in 20 minutes, so I jacked around for another half an hour before turning it in just because I felt ridiculous.
Talk about lowering the bar. :lol:
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There are some vendors that are so desperate to get certified individuals, I'd believe more than one did a copy-paste of test materials to the "official curriculum."
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For sure. They didn't just lower the bar, they removed the bar for that one. I let it expire (I think it was good for three years).
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Well, I need to raise the bar on how I look at registration times. Thought I had the test at 2:30 yesterday afternoon. They had offered me a 2:30 slot, but I had naively assumed that was PM.
I've rescheduled today for 13:45.
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^^^
Sorry! So are you saying that they seriously thought you were going to do the test at 2:30 at night?
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LOL would not have even crossed my mind that a 2:30 time would be anything other than PM.
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Yep, they tossed a "slot available at 2:30am" into my lap. :doh:
And, no, it did not cross my mind that 230 meant anything other than a proper 2 hours and 30 minutes after noon, when the sun is overhead and normal business hours prevail. Live and learn and next time, read carefully! :D
Passed this exam, so now I am a Palo Alto Certified Network Security Administrator.
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Got everyone in my family over today for well-wishing to my son, who is getting married on Halloween. That boy has a lock on remembering his anniversary! :)
Cake, burgers, brisket, a whole big production. Watch a hockey game on the teevee and be happy to be together one more time.
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Congratulations and best wishes to your son & his soon-to-be wife!
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It is official, I'm +1 in the daughter count now. :D
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Congrats to your son! May there be many happy years ahead!
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Thank you! Happiness in a marriage definitely comes with a lot of learning and self-evaluation, as I've learned over the years. :) Hope I've been a good example to the young feller with the way I work with me missus. :D
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A long time ago, on a messageboard far, far away, there was a discussion of stereo equipment. I participated and discussed mine.
I've had this setup for years; I even did a "ten year" comparo write up for Stereophile about it. Not because it is "high-end", but because of how long I had the same crap and some of it blips into the edges of audiophile radar.
A shift in the Earth's magnetic sphere the other day impacted my thinking process and I replaced one of the components. This is a momentous occasion! Here is an action shot of the original setup taken last night, a few minutes prior to dismantling everything:
(https://www.ddever.net/img/old_setup.jpg)
From top to bottom:
Pro-ject RM-10 turntable w/isolation base
Simaudio Moon i3.3 integrated amplifier w/balanced inputs, DAC, and phono stage
Shunyata Research Hydra Model-4
Audiosource Model EQ-Fourteen Graphic Equalizer and Spectrum Analyzer
Denon DRM-740 Cassette Deck
Denon DRA-345R AM/FM Stereo integrated amplifier
The EQ and Denon devices are from the system I had from 1993-2009 (my old, old setup) and aren't even plugged in. Was moving stuff around one day and figured I'd just set them in there to fill out the rack. Kind of like a girl stuffing her bra, I guess.
And here's the new setup:
(https://www.ddever.net/img/new_setup.jpg)
The bra-stuffing has been removed, the turntable remains, and the Simaudio unit is gone. In its place is:
Technics SU-R1000 Stereo integrated amplifier
Technics SL-G700 Network/SACD player
I didn't change out my speakers.
The amp came with a calibration LP, so I got all of that setup. I played side one of 10cc's Bloody Tourists. It's sort of my go-to record for testing because it has a wide dynamic range and I know how it sounds. I actually heard sounds I had never heard before coming from it. I was floored.
For the network player, I setup the wi-fi connection, decided I didn't like the way I had done it, and reset that piece. I then opened up the drawer that contains my micro collection of CDs, and randomly pulled out Multi-Speed Stimulator by Dark Chunk. Not being as in-tune with CDs as I am vinyl, and not having owned a CD player except in my car, ever, I can only say that it sounded fantastic.
Today being Saturday and not having anything on my agenda, I'm going to have another go at setting up the network player, and run through the Martin era of Sabbath on the turntable.
Thanks for letting me nerd-out on stereo gear, I know it's a long post but I'm stoked :)
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That’s awesome Vyn. How much different or better does the the new set up sound compared to the old set up? What speakers you running?
I too have that Godmachine Sweet Leaf print btw :)
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Very cool setup indeed!
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Thanks gentlemen!
My speakers are a pair of Dynaudio Confidence C1s on stands. They're rated at 4 ohms and it takes a lot of watts to drive them. Which plays a large factor in my answer to how much different or better this new setup sounds.
My old setup worked fine and sounded great to my ears. However I did have to turn it up to really get those speakers to sing. Over the years, it was never anything I thought much about. For reference, it pushed 100 watts into 4 ohms, and was pretty much the minimum needed to get the job done.
This Technics box pushes out 300 watts into 4 ohms, and the difference in how those speakers function is striking. I can play it at non-house-shaking volumes and get the same level of resolution it took my Simaudio 50% volume to even start to achieve. With that extra umph behind them, I've noticed that previously thin sounding records (Shooting Star's debut, for example) actually sound good. I've read about this kind of thing, but it never really sunk in until now.
So far I've noticed two things other than the power bump that are better, to me anyway. First, playing records through the Simaudio always presented a tiny bit of noise even on the most pristine pressings. I always attributed that to surface noise on the disk - this was only noticeable to me on very quiet passages or on lead-ins/outs. I'm not talking about pops or clicks, but a very slight "humming" sort of noise. And even with that, it was miles away quieter than any system I had ever had before.
The same disks, on the same record player, but running through this Technics amp are dead quiet. Like, a thousand feet into a cave quiet. People who write about this kind of thing refer to it as "darkness", and this Technics is pitch black. That little bit of noise never bothered me, but what I didn't realize (because I was accustomed to it), is how much better the music sounds when that slight bit of noise is completely gone. I didn't know what I didn't know.
The second thing doesn't have anything to do with the sound. I like the aesthetics of it better lol. I appreciate the minimalist inspired design - and I've always liked amps with meters on them. Stupid, but what can I say. This thing has two knobs and one button: select an input source, adjust the volume, turn it on or off. That's it. The network unit looks practically overloaded with buttons in comparison. Speaking of which, there's a black cable in that picture that is a cat6 line connecting that device to my network. I just ran it and need to seat it properly - even though it will do wi-fi connectivity (and bluetooth), I like the idea of a solid wired connection. I'm actually playing some internet radio through it as I type this up.
Here's a link of a review of those speakers:
https://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/1107dyn/index.html (https://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/1107dyn/index.html)
Here's a picture of the opposite of minimalist design (although it's interesting, ultimately it just looks like a busy mess to me):
(https://www.stereophile.com/images/styles/600_wide/public/1122rose.promo_.jpg)
Here's a wide view shot w/my speakers:
(https://www.ddever.net/img/IMG_3114.jpg)
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Oh I do hope you wear that hat atleast occationally! ;D
POST #8000 baby!
:glitch:
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That hat usually hangs at work, but since we've moved our HQ I brought it home. Temporarily, it will probably go back next week as they have finally delivered all of the furniture.
And yeah, I wear it on occasion, but I'm not a hat-dude.
A couple of years ago, I strolled into work wearing it and about four days later I show up and everybody in the office was wearing a hat. Because mocking me is how my colleagues show they care. Right? lol
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So it that the usual spot for the speakers Vyn? I like to keep the speakers neat & tidy in corners or against the wall and cables and wires hidden.
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That's where they live.
I would rather not have speaker wires running all over like that, but those sound like muddied shit if they're too close to either a back wall or a side wall. I remember that guy from the old site -NowInDarkness - posted some pics of his setup and I liked the way it looked. His gear allowed him to have everything in a tidy package. My speakers are like drunks that come over and puke on my floor lol
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Yep, speakers do best when they have space between them and the wall.
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(https://i.imgur.com/lEDAXDn.png)
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GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAN
So, after Jesus is born and the shepherds start to disperse, the pediatrician shows up. He checks out Jesus, kid looks to be healthy, and he's filling out the birth certificate. "OK, that's the length... oh, and could you put my scale in the trough over there?"
"But why?"
"So we get a weigh in a manger!"
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For a second I thought I might get festive and spread that holiday spirit around by allowing a randomly selected spam bot to join the forum while I was cleaning all the requests...But then I thought fuck it I don't have a festive bone in my body nor do I have any holiday spirit so I kicked them all to the curb.
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And we thank you for kicking the spambots to the curb, good sir! :D
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I've got neuropathy and today I had to go in for a nerve conductivity test and an EMG. Very painful to endure and I'm still twitching where the electrodes were attached, even 7 hours after finishing with it. If I sit still in an overstuffed chair, it's OK. If I gotta move, ouch.
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Still dealing with those after-effects. Oof. Nerves are no fun when they go wrong and stuff has to get figured out about them.
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Yeah that sucks.
When I had my second hand surgery years ago they tried to numb the hand by using some sort of nerve numbing tehcnique...which didn't work at all and it also never fully healed properly after that and I'm still occationally having nerve issues on my right hand...
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Sorry to hear that one. But, yes, nerve tissue is where there are still lots of question marks in medical science.
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That's a tough row to hoe, Z! Hopefully 2023 is the year it gets fixed - and unlike Charger's horrid experience, fixed correctly!
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It'll be more like I hope the problem is identified. Fixing may have to give way to knowing how best to cope with symptoms.
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I need to fix up a table in my office... wobbly leg became loose leg when I tried to adjust it. Looks like I get to rebuild some IKEA to-day. :smug:
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IKEA - have never owned anything from IKEA. I tend to go for the cheap imitation stuff that promotes their wobbly legs as a feature, not a problem.
Oh, just ran across this quote I have to share. I love AC/DC, but tend to mock their decades-long "sameness". I've read and heard both Malcolm and Angus mention how they've released "the same record" over and over. But I had never come across this quote before, and I think it's awesome. From an interview with Malcolm Young, regarding his band's lack of musical "growth":
"most bands when they progress, progress right up their own asses".
Solid wisdom!
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Had to go to hospital because I was throwing up blood and I feel terrible.
Been sick for the last 2 days and I am still vomiting 🤢
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Thel, get better! I hope the doctors can assess your condition properly.
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Oh darn! Sorry to hear that again Thel!
Hope you'll feel better soon...and that finally you'd get some answers too.
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Thanks 😊
I am going to talk to my doctor in about 10 minutes from now.
Hopefully he will get to the bottom of my problem.
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I certainly hope they can get you fixed up with a proper diagnosis and speedy treatment - man that sucks!
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Hope things can be figured out and mended Thel. Is this the second time you’ve gone through something like this?
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Best wishes for a swift recovery Thel
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Thanks again and this is the third time this has happened to me
Still feel terrible but no blood anymore so I think that I am on the mend. What a fuckin pain in the ass!
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What did the doctor say? Any info on the cause?
Glad to hear you're doing better buddy!
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Not knowing what it is can be the worst of it, because the mind has to be kept from wandering into the darker corners of possibility.
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...the mind has to be kept from wandering into the darker corners of possibility.
The internet is such a massive enabler of that process. Oh, my toe hurts, let's look it up online. Eventually you become convinced you have some rare parasite growing in you and the pain in your toe stems from the little worm-like bugs starting to chow down.
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Yep. Although costly, those extra tests the doctor orders up are great for being able to really rule out/in possible conditions.
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The only thing that seemed to be the cause is Marijuana toxicity- something that I have heard before.
I personally don't think that was the case but I am no doctor.
D
Still feel very uncomfortable but I feel much better now.
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Oh sounds bad...maybe try leaving it out for a few weeks and see what happens. Might help right away...
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Yeah, I've given up on things for a while. When I see no real change, I go back to them. When I see a real change, I re-evaluate my choices in light of new evidence.
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It's been an interesting couple of days for nature around here. Wednesday morning, 0430, I'm wheeling my trash can out to the road. The sky is clear, it's about 25 F, the moon is bright. On my way back up to the house I see Venus about 2 inches above the horizon - except it is about the relative size of half of a dime. It had the four prongs shooting out of it like you would see in a painting. I've seen Venus countless times but it has always just been a slightly brighter looking star. Wednesday morning it was unlike anything I'd ever seen in the sky - magnificent.
Thursday, the area was supposed to wake up to rain. Instead, we woke up to five inches of slush and half-dollar sized snowflakes coming down. Roads weren't frozen, but a lot of places closed down because the resultant slush accumulation made driving hazardous.
THIS morning, 0730. I'm working from home. Looking out front and there's a bald eagle perched in one of the trees in my yard. I've seen bald eagles flying around this area before, it's rare but happens. And here that giant thing was hanging out in my yard. Pretty cool.
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Wow, that's a beautiful confluence of Venus and the eagle, so the slush that kept you home enabled that moment.
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I'll be doing the music for my church's Valentine's Day dinner/dance activity on Saturday. My guidelines were:
1. have a mix of music through all the decades, 50s-today
2. everything should be danceable
3. here's a list we came up with that we thought might work
I added another rule
4. Now is not the time to educate people about some truly choice deep cuts
And started on my list. Given that there are 8 decades under consideration, just 10 mins each would be an hour and 20 minutes, which is a bit over what we planned for how long the event will run.
What I learned:
50s music is as danceable as ever
60s Motown-style tunes are evergreen floor stompers
70s disco tracks really need to rein it in, those songs get LONG
80s pop has some pretty good dance tracks, then you play some Prince and then they all lose a big chunk of their shine
90s - the best dance tracks belong to the electronica genres, can't dance to grunge
00s - I see we've started to use the f-word more often... can't play those at a church dance! :P
10s - there are pop tunes, but the quality has really dropped off since the 60s-80s
20s - I found some pop tunes without swearing, but they're mostly from kids' movies...
My solution is to first work through the decades and once I've played the throwaway pop from Meghan Trainor, BTS, and Panic! at the Disco, break my rule 4 and play some amazing Northern Soul stompers that you can't not dance to.
I was talking about this with a friend who took her oldest to his first junior high dance and she said there wasn't anything played there after the 90s except for "Happy" by Pharrell Williams because there's such a minefield of swearing and suggestive dialogue that the school doesn't want to get angry phone calls about. Looks like that's a generalized conclusion about pop tracks in the early 21st Century.
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Seems like a spot-on assessment of pop music to me. Just straight up vulgarities are so prevalent I can see where trying to find music suitable for a church dance would entail much more research than simply grabbing some songs from the Billboard charts. "My fat-ass big bitches in the fucking club" just won't fly regardless of how good the beat is LOL.
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The Eagle spotting was very cool Vyn!
I have never seen an eagle...we've got two species here but I've never seen either...
Driving around at night has introduced me to several owls though...they're pretty cool. Saw a really big one last week...I think it was a Horned Owl (or Eurasian Eagle Owl / Bubo Bubo)...
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Just wondering now... was the eagle essentially trash-talking Vyn before the Super Bowl?
"You like seeing eagles? Just wait until Sunday, buddy, we'll be ALL OVER YOU!!! HAHAHAHA!!!"
^ Artist's conception of a bald eagle that's also a Philly fan. :D
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Interesting observation Z. Exploring that concept a little further, I would have to say that since Philly's namesake isn't a "bald" eagle, and the term "bald" generally meaning "no scalp" and the Chief's are, well, indians...perhaps that eagle was showing me that "the Eagles are going to get scalped by the Chiefs".
:)
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Driving around at night has introduced me to several owls though...they're pretty cool. Saw a really big one last week...I think it was a Horned Owl (or Eurasian Eagle Owl / Bubo Bubo)...
Owls are so cool. They're like the bear of the bird kingdom. We have them around here, but I think I've only ever seen two out in the wild. I do hear them a lot, though. We had one that either had a nest or a favorite place to hang out at night that happened to be in a tree near my bedroom...never did see it but ever night for about a month I'd get woken up in the middle of the night by that bastard lol.
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Interesting observation Z. Exploring that concept a little further, I would have to say that since Philly's namesake isn't a "bald" eagle, and the term "bald" generally meaning "no scalp" and the Chief's are, well, indians...perhaps that eagle was showing me that "the Eagles are going to get scalped by the Chiefs".
:)
In light of recent events, I'd say you've now got an "in" on hanging a shingle as an interpreter of auspicious natural events. I'll write a testimonial to get you going with good PR. Up to you to hawk your wares on the TikToks and the Instagrams and what-not. :)
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Driving around at night has introduced me to several owls though...they're pretty cool. Saw a really big one last week...I think it was a Horned Owl (or Eurasian Eagle Owl / Bubo Bubo)...
Owls are so cool. They're like the bear of the bird kingdom. We have them around here, but I think I've only ever seen two out in the wild. I do hear them a lot, though. We had one that either had a nest or a favorite place to hang out at night that happened to be in a tree near my bedroom...never did see it but ever night for about a month I'd get woken up in the middle of the night by that bastard lol.
Yeah they are cool indeed! And pretty rare to spot, but driving here on the country side at night is a good way to do just that. They can also be quite noisy indeed!
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Health wise I am doing well.
Now I am dealing with a mice invasion!
I can't win!
Darn little bastards 😒
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Great to hear your health is on the up!
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Good health, bad mice. Oof.
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Thel... you need a cat!!
Glad you're feeling better.
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Well not so normal but I started doing some renovations in the house...ripped off some wallpapers and sand it down and applied some filler and sand it down again...Now I just need to primer it and then pick out a color for the little piece of wall...
I'm thinking matching it with the kitchen cabinets and paint it faint grey but I'm not sure yet...gotta go see some samples tomorrow...
Haven't done much renovation work in years so it's kind of fun again...ofcourse until that inevitable moment when everything goes horribly wrong.
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Well, it's just removing wallpaper, right? That can't be all that bad... right? RIGHT?
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Oh I can screw up anything and everything.
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Just remember you don't have to tear out the actual wall, only the paper :)
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Do post pics if there's a disaster. :D
On my side of things, I get Monday off for a paid holiday. I did my oldies radio show today and subbed in for the rockabilly-punk show that comes on right after mine. Good times.
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Well sorry to say but no pictures will be posted as for some odd reason no major disasters occured.
Wall is now painted and part from two small pieces of debris that I missed left under the paint it turned out okay. Not great but okay.
Next month I think I'll tackle another wall then...
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Too bad there weren't any disasters... I mean, hey, great, no disasters! :D
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Cellphone spam calls. I get them on the regular. To the point where I don't even attempt to answer if it is a number I don't recognize - I figure if it is legit they'll leave a message and I'll get back to them.
Text message spam. All the time.
Email spam. Yep.
Spam via the postal service. Of course.
And that's just talking about attempts at cold-selling. Add in actual scam attempts to the spam and everyday, multiple times a day, and the fact that I'm not special and everyone gets hit up with them, and you end up with enough time, energy, and money spent on scamping people that could otherwise fuel, feed, and provide shelter for everyone on the entire planet. Twice.
Fuck those people behind such things, sideways, without lubrication.
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Fair enough in the last comment, but what with? Suggestions?
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Haha! Either a lengthy prison sentence or that sculpture from A Clockwork Orange :)
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I used to get cellphone spam calls more frequently, unless more callers aren't leaving messages these days. I still get text message spam fairly regularly. E-mail spam I've pretty much always gotten and continue to get more of than spam via any other means. I hardly get any spam via mail.
Ted
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Just got back from a quick trip to Austin with the missus to work out an issue with her birth certificate so we can renew her passport. Should be good to go in 7-10 business days.
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I used to get cellphone spam calls more frequently, unless more callers aren't leaving messages these days. I still get text message spam fairly regularly. E-mail spam I've pretty much always gotten and continue to get more of than spam via any other means. I hardly get any spam via mail.
Ted
Kind of same thing for me....although some magazine sellers still do spam by phone too...but I just ignore the calls instantly.
E-mail spam is daily and lots of it...but hotmail filters it out to the spam folder pretty effectively.
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Had a stomach bug yesterday, but enough sleep helped me to beat it. Feeling mostly normal right now.
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E-mail spam is daily and lots of it...but hotmail filters it out to the spam folder pretty effectively.
Yes, I hardly ever get any spam mail in my Inbox; almost all of it goes directly to my spam folder.
Ted
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I'm traveling all this week, Just popping in to say hi - in case I don't get more time to post this week. :)
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/waves
Enjoy the travellin' - although I suspect this is a work-related initiative.
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Ayup. I got to see some great metal...
... and concrete building interiors while visiting clients. Got another one today, in fact. :D
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Happy and safe travels mr. Travellerzzz
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Welcome to NATO, Charger :)
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Thank you. I feel safer already!
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In before Sweden! You guys did it!
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Yeeeey! Screw those swedes!
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:wootwoot: happy to have you as a member of NATO charger :yes:
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We even got a beer for it!
(https://cdn.s-cloud.fi/v1/w384_q75/product/ean/6430062342055_kuva1.jpg)
Otan ofcourse is the french word for Nato but also mean "have" in Finnish...like have a beer. Clever!
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^ Now THAT is a great play on words!
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Goddarnit! Feels like I got a spring flu on here...sore throat, some headache and bad cough...
Haven't been sick in almost 10 years...so I guess it was due time! :D
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Thing is, that could also be COVID-19's latest wee bastard variant. Best to get tested, since it started like allergies for me, as well.
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Well getting tested really doesn't make much difference anyways so I'll pass on the hassle of that...unless I have to if this drags on. Had some fever today, nothing too bad 38.4C...very well within normal cold ranges.
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Get better soon Charger.
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Hrm...Finland fast-tracks NATO membership, then Charger comes down with some weird viral infection. Good luck Charger, and stay away from windows!
:)
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;D
Well one cannot rule out foreign government tampering here....
Thanks guys!
Throat is really sore today, which is normal for me...when ever I get a cold the main symptom is always a very sore throat...which usually lasts a good while. Fever's gone down now...gonna drink some hot flu medicine with a touch of Vodka and lie down...and I think I'd finally get around to watching Angels & Demons as I think I saw it on some of my streaming services....
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I went to a funeral today. Rain was pouring, then the hail started as we drove to the grave site. Then the hail stopped as we commenced the graveside service. Rain was still hard. It was out in the country, so everyone was thankful for it.
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Rain and funerals kind of go together don't they?
I still got a bit of fever but nothing too bad..throat is still super super sore but the coughing has stopped so it seems to be going away...and the sore throat then will remain for a long long time as usual.
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Well buh bye fever!
And cough my old friend...you are here to stay with your weird uncle the sore throat!
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Bleh, that is always such a miserable combination. Sore throat and a nifty cough to make sure I don't forget my throat is raw.
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Indeed. Plus it is not a recipe for a good night sleep.... Last night I woke up 10 times atleast and spent good 5 minutes just coughing...
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Well looks like it was Covid after all as I can't taste anything anymore...or I guess it's more like everything tastes like dirt...Wonder how long this will last...?
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Ugh! So sorry! Loss of a sense is a hard thing, indeed. Hoping it's temporary with the disease.
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Makes eating seem like a chore...it's surprising (or not really to be honest) how big part TASTE is in the whole eating process...without it, or atleast in severely lacking form it loses a lot of it's fun factor.
The good thing is I might go and try out some new stuff like some vegetarian shit because why not? Atleast you can't taste just how bad it actually tastes!
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Sorry to hear that Charger, I believe Taste and Smell usually returns within a month.
Make sure you eat properly even if it is tasteless, you need to keep you strength up.
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Heh! Yeah... Like I'd ever go vegan even if I couldn't taste it! :D
Hopefully sooner than a month though...but I think I will keep away from everything that I truly enjoy as there's no real point in eating / drinking those now...I had a glass of good scotch last night and it tasted like...I don't even know like what but it sure as heck wasn't scotch!
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Time to eat good 'n' cheap, no need spending big money on fancy vittles until you can taste them!
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Well my taste buds are starting to get back on track again...Some tastes still go bit off but atleast now I can taste most things even if they aren't quite right.
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Well recovery of any sort is good news, I'll take it!
I have one friend who's had a debilitating stroke and another going through the aftermath of a cardiac arrest, so any news of progressing recovery is a blessing, indeed.
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Finally got around to putting some wall hooks up to hang my M1A. No magazine in it, but I have five, each holds 20 rounds of 7.62 x 51 mm NATO ammunition (that'd be .308 Winchester for all of us rednecks in the world). Oh, just as an aside, whenever you read about how powerful a 5.56 (AR-15 ammo) is, the ammo this thing shoots is twice as powerful - or more, depending on the load:
(https://www.ddever.net/img/rifle_wall.png)
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That bird must be getting nervous, being in the crosshairs like that!
Meanwhile, over here, my wife got a case of the shingles yesterday. It's true how it is 100% not fun.
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Have not had shingles - really hoping to completely avoid them. How long before they clear up? Hoping it's soon!
That robin is a watercolor - since mounting that rifle I believe it is now acrylic :)
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Could be a few weeks to a month in most cases, hoping for mild incidence with no long-term effects.
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I just returned home from lounging at the hospital. They had to do some work on my heart, but when they opened me up they discovered my heart is made of metal so sent me home.
Seriously though, the shit tried to sneak up and get me on my way to work Thursday morning. Saturday night I'm dancing on -its- grave. Notherfucker. <spits>
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Shit Vyn are you ok? Did you have a mild heart attack or something? Hope all is good now.
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Thanks Jack - I'm OK now, but Thursday morning sucked hairy balls. Ended up w/congestive heart failure - they dropped a stint in me and drained some fluid. Did a bunch of tests, and then tossed me out. Interestingly, they told me I had had a heart attack at some point in the past due to stuff they saw, but not this time. This time, it just got crushed into failure. The whole reason I pulled into a gas station and then called emergency services was due to not being able to breath. No pain, no headache, just felt like I was under water trying to breath. Thankfully everyone involved was in top form so other than a couple of days flat on my back in the OR, I came out better than before.
A little psychology in action - my daughter retrieved me from hospital and as we are driving down the road Poison's song "Talk Dirty to Me" came on. I hadn't heard that in decades, but I did see them on that tour back in the day. I told her about it, she humored me. But that song lit a fire in my ass like someone who just escaped death and I cranked it and sang along. She laughed. I didn't care, it was awesome. If they had Sabbath I would have climbed out and roof-surfed while singing it.
So yeah, it's all good now...probably going to take several days to not feel wiped out after doing anything for more than two minutes, but I'll get there.
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OMG sounds like you’re lucky to be here. I’m actually in a little shock.
Was there any indication leading up that something wasn’t right? Men always seem to ignore the warning signs in these type things before it’s too late. But sometimes there’s no warnings whatsoever which is always why we should go for regular checkups like women do.
Please rest up and take it easy for awhile.
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Was there any indication leading up that something wasn’t right? Men always seem to ignore the warning signs in these type things before it’s too late. But sometimes there’s no warnings whatsoever which is always why we should go for regular checkups like women do.
No warning - looking back it seems the two weeks or so leading up to it I would get winded quicker than usual, but nothing that made me think there was a problem other than just age and not getting enough cardio exercise. But other than that, nothing. It really was one second OK, next second ABANDON SHIP!
I imagine if I wasn't a hard-head I would have been getting regular checkups at the doctors and this would have been caught way before it became a life or death thing.
Please rest up and take it easy for awhile.
Thanks Jack, I fully intend on chilling out for a bit :)
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Hopefully you are feeling better vyn
Sounds like a scary ordeal.
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Yikes bub! Sounds like you dodged a bullet there!
Scary shit man!
Thankfully you're still here with us! Take it easy and rest up.
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Thank you gentlemen, scary for sure, but moreso looking back than in the moment. I discovered that it is impossible for me to fret when I am full-on focused, desperately so, on what to do to live. :)
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Oof, so it was only *mild* heart failure, from what I gather?
Well, you got the gift of another day, and I am glad for that for you. :)
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Indeed, Z. I never lost consciousness, so at no point was I "dead and brought back to life" or anything. It could have been a whole lot worse! My first thought when this came on was getting off the road and parked in case I did zonk out. Then I called 911 and was still hanging in there (albeit gasping like a fish out of water) then I felt a tad better about things. Then I called my wife while waiting for the EMTs and left a message (was too early for her to be up yet). That was the hardest call to make. But then I knew that A) people were on the way to help if I keeled over B) I wouldn't be killing anyone else with my car and C) my wife didn't know everything but knew where I was and would probably be going - hospital-wise.
The gift of another day - priceless for sure.
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So sorry to here this news Vyn, hope you make a swift recovery... it sorta puts my broken tooth into perspective! ;)
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Thanks KDC - broken teeth suck in their own, special way :)
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I've been feeling especially happy today. I was getting a drink at the convenience store and there was a dad with his kids, getting waters and snacks for the day. The kids were so nice and smiling, I asked if I could pay for their snacks. Dad said yes, but the kids had 30 seconds to get their snacks.
Dad's counting down, kids are trying to figure out what they want and scrambling and they got their chips on the counter with a few numbers left in the countdown and everybody there cheering them on.
Best $4.98 I ever spent. :)
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Best $4.98 I ever spent. :)
That's great stuff Z, love it :)
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The world's heart is lubricated with laughter and good, clean fun.
Wife is planning to go down to South Texas to be with a good friend at her birthday. She will likely come back with more houseplants. It is inevitable. :)
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Houseplants or cacti? I draw a distinction.
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Proper houseplants with leaves.
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This goes under the NOT Normal Goings on...
I bought a bicycle!
I haven't been on a bike since the 90s so this was a big step...I have been thinking about getting back on the saddle (literally) for a while now but haven't really done anything about it...well my cousin who is a hardcore cyclist has bought 3 new bikes in the past year or so said he'd get rid of one of his older more basic bikes that he bought new few years ago but has only ridden like under 200 miles....and we made a deal for 80€ on it.
So now I have a bike...and soon we can see if the old saying is right about it's like riding a bike...I have a feeling I'd need some training wheels but we shall see...
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It's not the balance I worry about, it's the seat! :D
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I've got an excercise bike, you can buy them with seats suitably sized for the larger bottom!
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I've got an excercise bike, you can buy them with seats suitably sized for the larger bottom!
That interests me greatly!
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Had a sick day yesterday.
Feeling better today.
Since my regular prescription is holding on my glasses, I went ahead and made this year's pair a computer set of lenses. That is to say, it's a normal progressive lens, but with no distance on it. That means more area for viewing and that means finer gradation between angles and that means WOW I can see things much more sharply. Specifying the amount of distance between me and my screens was important, and the optician nailed it on this pair. If you're like me and wear progressive lenses and work a lot with screens, consider a pair. You can't drive in them, but you can read much more clearly.
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Been trying to salvage a buddy's PS4 that died...had no luck, but I did change the harddrive and then managed to reinstall the operating system...seems to be working fine now...BUT I need to try to see if I can hook up the old harddrive as a USB drive into the PS4 and see if I can salvage some his in game videos...that might be an impossible task but I did just order an adapter for SATA -> USB so once that arrives I can try....
It's fun to dabble with these when there is no chance things could get any worse! ;D
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Looking at getting solar panels for the house. There are incentives to do so from the electric utility, given that Texas' grid is shite and anything we can do to offload demand is good for it. Given that demand is highest when the sun is brightest, it's a fairly straightforward proposition.
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^^^
But will you have enough sun to justify it? :P
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This is Texas.
We got sun for daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaays.
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Make sure you get a proper professional to install the panels though.
Some not so kosher companies have been selling those solar panels around here and using sub contractors to install them who don't know (or don't care) what they're doing and houses have been burned to the ground as a result. Another incident like that just occured this week. And the crazy part is they're charging an arm and a leg to do the install and then totally half ass it. With little to no insulation and one rainy day and boom! There goes the neighbourhood up in flames.
The truth with these solar panels however is that unless you have an electric (or hybrid) car that you charge at home those panels will NEVER pay you back. If you're lucky they will last for 15 years and you might just break even...but most likely they won't last that long...and they will start to lose effectiveness rather quickly in reality as well.
The technology has come a long way in the last few years but it isn't quite there yet...well not here anyways where most of the year they are totally useless...due to long long nights and dark cloudy days.
Texas the weather might be much more suitable though...so there you might be able actually get some use out of them for most of the year...and days are more evenly long as well...which works in their favour...
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These vendors I'm checking out are on the level and have 25-year guarantees on the panels. And, yes, with 200+ sunny days per year, we're in the sun belt of the USA. Prime solar location, right up there with Arizona and New Mexico. :D
With the government/utility subsidy, they become much better on their return on investment.
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The new collaboration between Egard and the living legend William Shatner has gone live and I was lucky enough to be among the first 20 to pledge.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/williamshatner/william-shatner-and-egard-limited-edition-timepiece?_kx=nYg3fkGVypFvJdiEZV4Mvl3-wqzfiaiP4o_C0JbOsrs%3D.P5CxSX (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/williamshatner/william-shatner-and-egard-limited-edition-timepiece?_kx=nYg3fkGVypFvJdiEZV4Mvl3-wqzfiaiP4o_C0JbOsrs%3D.P5CxSX)
The watch is really cool looking and it contains some actual meteor dust on the dial as well.
I have the first Passages watch and it's one of my most valued possessions so this well fit nicely with that one.
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Looking it over, that is one elegant design there. Beautiful timepiece.
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Indeed...with any luck I should get it by christmas so this is my present then.
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Not been around much the last few days, not been well and spent 4 days in hospital with cellulitis in a leg! Back at home now munching my way through anti-biotics.
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I hope that you heal quickly Kilo.
I know of a lot of people that have been sick these past few months.
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Sorry to hear that KDC - It does sound like they at least have it under control since you're back home. Hopefully you'll get better fast!
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Not been around much the last few days, not been well and spent 4 days in hospital with cellulitis in a leg! Back at home now munching my way through anti-biotics.
Sorry to hear that buddy! I hope you're getting better.
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Not been around much the last few days, not been well and spent 4 days in hospital with cellulitis in a leg! Back at home now munching my way through anti-biotics.
sorry to hear that KDC ! I hope everything returns to normal as quickly as possible. 8)
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Always better to be home from the hospital, heal well, KDC!
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Thanks guys, I can always trust you guys for support. Feeling better, but still often tired.
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Well I was out cutting some trees that a recent little storm brought down and managed to (once again) hurt my back pretty bad. Again from below the shoulder blades...hurts like a motherfucker every time I breathe heavily! Second time this happens this year. I'm assuming something is off somewhere in that area...might be that the last time I pulled it it never really healed up and thus pulled again...
Well taking few painkillers and later a beer or three...luckily I don't have to go to work tonight.
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Old injuries can haunt a body! I have an elbow injury from 2021 that sometimes locks my joint there and I can't fully extend it when I'm carrying a load. To set the load down, I either have to bend and kneel or transfer it to the other hand.
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First log in to the forum with the new computer...seems to work.
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Hey cool! What are the specs on the new PC?
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AMD Ryzen 5500
ASUS Tuf Gaming B550-Plus
GeForce GTX 1660S
16 GB RAM
Nothing special but good enough for me I think...
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That is indeed a nice rig. :)
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When it rains it pours....
My water heater just broke...rusted through and is dripping a LOT of water...so it's done. Well I called my trusty plumber and he said they're busy till the end of the year! So now I gotta find someone new to change it or just not wash up for 3 weeks....granted that wouldn't change my natural "charm" in any way but I still think not taking a shower for that long might not work for me...
What a fucking timing with this shit again....
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Oh my, and a cold shower is one thing in Texas, but quite another in Finland!
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Indeed! If I had a bathtub I could warm the water for that on the stove but I don't have one... :(
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Gah, that sucks. It makes me cold just thinking about it.
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You could always screw up royally at work and get into hot water that way! :D
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Well today has been pretty much searching for solutions...
I have ordered a new water heater...it SHOULD arrive on monday.
The FIFTH plumber that I called was able to reschedule something else and was able to come to install it next week! 3 others said January at the EARLIEST and one I couldn't get a hold of...
But I lucked out on this guy...and he should even be somewhat competent...hopefully....we shall see...
But ofcourse now IF something goes wrong with the delivery of the new one and it won't get here on Monday then I'm totally screwed as then rescheduling the plumber wouldn't be possible before 2025...
So either I'll get to take a shower on tuesday evening or in 2025....
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Ahem... 2024!
If you don't get a shower before 2025 NATO will be able to use you as a chemical weapon against Putin!
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Hahhah! Well goddamn! There was some talks about what'll happen with Nato in 2025 after Trump gets re-elected so that's why I kind of jumped a year there! But yeah I would be rather ripe by 2025 indeed!
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Ahem... 2024!
If you don't get a shower before 2025 NATO will be able to use you as a chemical weapon against Putin!
HAHAHAHAHA!!!
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In somewhat related news, I have an eventual appointment in 2024 with a plumber, who also happens to be Finnish.
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No wonder Charger can't get a plumber, they're all flying to the US for house calls!
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So that's where they all went! Goddamnit!
Well I got some cabinets surrounding the water heater now demolished so the old one can get out... The plumber should arrive tomorrow at 8am...which means ofcourse as I come home at around 4:30am I won't be sleeping...but that's okay...I can do two nights without sleep with ease...
The new water heater arrived today as planned which was good...now all I need to do is hope and pray and sacrifice few neighbours to ancient gods that all goes well with the install and there will be no issues as the plumber has exactly tomorrow to do it no time to spare...so if something goes wrong I am fucked.
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Well plumber came and plumber went and water heater should be up and running...ofcourse won't know if everything works as it should until tomorrow morning as it's warmed up but no leaks and it fit nicely so I am cautiously hopeful.
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That is good to know.
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And I am happy to inform everything works and I have showered...so the public hazard notice level around me has gone down to only 92%.
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All this shower talk got me thinking of this...
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:rofl:
Oh man! Classic Seinfeld! Gotta love it!
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Next up will be the low-flow shower episode, should you get one of those black market Serbian fixtures...
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My company has just completed a refresh of some network gear. Combined with a bunch of old laptops, we had a rather sizeable collection of electronics that were slated to go to the recycler.
However, I decided to give the laptops away to staff who wanted one. Even went so far as to mail them to folks in other offices.
Then there was this one gal who noted that we had a bunch of other stuff, and complained that we should give that stuff away as well. So I had to explain to her that the wifi access points (about twenty of them), along with ten switches, two firewalls, a management device, an email processing device and an analysis device were all made by a company called Fortinet. And Fortinet requires a paid license to use their stuff. And that all of those units were sunsetted by Fortinet, meaning they are no longer going to provide software updates to them. The upshot being they were all malware attacks waiting to happen.
She was not put off. So I asked her what she wanted. She was interested in a device called a FortiMail (all of Fortinet's devices have names with "Forti" in them. It's fucking annoying...FortiMail, FOrtiGate, FortiAP, FortiSwitch, etc.). I asked her why (keep in mind she is just some random accounting clerk). She said she wanted to make sure her email at home was safe.
Long story short - we had a discussion for an hour about how that thing would not do what she thinks it would do. I think she finally "got it", but more than anything I think she was scared off by the fact that a license for the FortiMail was a few thousand dollars per year. But for a while she was trying real hard to make me feel like I was screwing over the staff by not passing those things out. Wasn't good enough that I just gave out a pallet worth of laptops - I was now responsible for any malicious email she received at home.
Funny thing is, if she would have been interested in learning some of that kind of thing, or had a family member that was trying to learn that stuff, I would have loaded her car up with all of it :)
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^ When I was learning networking, I got some devices off of eBay. Most had been scrubbed clean, but I got one that had been part of a telecom's switch closet and still had its config on it. Before I reset it, I got in via ROMMON and read the config... passwords everywhere, along with SNMPv2 community strings. That told me the company didn't do its due diligence before letting employees walk home with their decommed gear.
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That's awesome - probably a case of the people who knew wtf was up with a switch weren't the same people who handled the inventory. "It's a stupid switch Bob, it doesn't have any information on it, just go ahead and get rid of it."
Gotta go set out some milk and cookies for the fat guy who talks to flying reindeer!
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We had all the family over yesterday, nice time together. Today we will watch a friend's kids because she has to work at the Amazon delivery center.
My wife and I have resolved to do all we can to buy locally. We've been cutting back on Amazon as we watch that company grind away at our friend, but this is too much. Frankly, it'll be nice to have less cardboard passing through the house.
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My Discord account got hacked because my nephew's Discord account got hacked and I fell for the first half of a Discord scam... no bank details went out, but I have to start over with a new Discord account and use it to warn people on servers I was a member of...
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That blows. Especially since you're tied into so much stuff.
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Fortunately, Discord is only Discord and my YouTube channel, and that was easily contained.
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Ugh...that's always a drag. There's been couple of attempts to hack my facebook lately with odd messages from people that never send me messages so I've been able to sniff them out and not even open them.
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Cut some Sorbuses down from the yard as they had gotten bit too big for their locations...caught between two of my sheds the cutting down wasn't quite as easy as normal...Some rope and bad luck was needed to bring them all down... One did fall on the roof and cracked few tiles... luckily I had spares.
But no major damage and eventhough I was using the chainsaw up on a ladder: A) I did not fall down and B) I did NOT cut my arm or leg or head off...granted the last one might have been an improvement though.
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Congrats on not massacring yourself, Charger! :)
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Yes! It's the small victories in life that really matter!
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Bit of renovation for this week... Going to paint all the doors inside. One down 5 to go.
Picked what I thought was kind of an off white bit gray bit beige color and it turns out to be pretty standard white. Goddamnit. Oh well....nothing ever goes the way it should when I do renovation.
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Had a little bit of a cold yesterday and Sunday, doing better now.
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Got to the airport and realized I had forgotten my wallet.
I had my passport, though, along with my mobile phone. Passport got me through security, phone got me my boarding pass. Had my wife send me images of credit cards and my Driver's License, which I needed to confirm last 4 digits at points of purchase for pre-arranged things like rental car and hotel. Rental place accepted an image of my DL instead of the real thing.
I'm going to rely on internet order and delivery for getting eats, think I'll make it through the week just fine without cards or cash on my person. Do I prefer this way? No. Can I make it work? Yes. Yes I can.
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Nice save from what could have been a much more painful experience!
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I don't use any paying software on my phone so I'd be royally screwed if I'd forget my wallet!
Finished painting all the doors....and no major screw ups or epic fails which was nice.
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Got back home safe and sound and all the wiser for my adventures.
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Date and Time: 30 March, 2024 @ 0530
Location: A small town 56km north of Kansas City, Missouri, USA
The Players: Myself and a 12 year old dog named Lola
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Since this is already online - here's me. Modern professional photography makes me look better than reality:
(https://www.ddever.net/img/ddever.png)
Here's Lola. This picture was taken two days ago. The bushes above her that run along the fence, and the concrete just in front of them, as well as the spot she is standing at are where the action took place.
(https://www.ddever.net/img/lola_28mar2024.png)
Here's some baby rabbits - picture taken from the interwebz, but they were the same size
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qbSWoSUlKVc/TZ9PyGqqviI/AAAAAAAAAC0/QtxnXcNk6cU/s1600/040811-bil-baby-rabbits.jpg)
So, it was pitch black outside when Lola started going nuts wanting outside this morning. I let her out, and she took off like a shot in the direction of those bushes. Our other dog, Rocco, went out as well, but at a more leisurely pace.
Rocco came back in after a few minutes. Twenty minutes later, still no sign of Lola, so I went out back. I could hear her rustling around in those bushes.
Shining a light on the area, I discovered two baby rabbit corpses on the concrete, both eviscerated...steam rising from them in the cold of the pre-dawn. Then out of the bushes popped Lola, with a still living baby rabbit in her mouth. I knew it was still alive because it was making baby rabbit squeaking sounds. I managed to get it out of Lola's mouth and held it in my hand...it looked up at me and squeaked several times so I placed it on the concrete next to its siblings. It didn't move...obviously Lola had already injured it beyond repair. Much like I am fucking unable to fix my wife's cancer, I was not going to be able to fix that rabbit's broken spine, so I let Lola have it, knowing I'd have to kill it myself otherwise...and Lola finished it off in short order, dropping that one where she was standing in that picture.
I corralled her back into the house, put on some gloves, tossed the dead bodies over the fence for whatever hungry predator might happen upon them, and went back inside to get cleaned up.
Murder and mayhem in the morning...my dog would have made a fine Hun.
What is interesting is that Lola could hear those rabbits from inside the house, knew exactly what and where they were. We have hawks, vultures, coyotes, and owls in the area, but that little dog beat them all to that nest of baby rabbits cuddling together in their down-covered home that their mother made for them. Lola gave them a seriously rude awakening!
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I hope you gave Lola some treats (or atleast some gentle scratching behind the ears) for getting rid of those pests....as cute as they are as babies they sure grow up to become quite the evil marauders! And those bugger do breed like...well...rabbits!
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Lola got a piece of ham and a dog cookie!
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Speaking of rabbit-holes, I had a request on my show today for "Farmer John" by The Premiers, from 1964. I'll play it next week.
I later played a song, "Hey! Baby" by Bruce Channel. It was a one-hit wonder for him, but he was able to tour England on the strength of it and that's where he and his band (featuring Texas' own Delbert McClinton on harmonica) met and befriended The Beatles. Well, "Hey! Baby" sounds a lot like The Beatles' "I Should Have Known Better." It's not like The Beatles ripped off Bruce Channel's tune or anything, it's just heavily influenced by that tune. I got a friend who does a Beatles YouTube channel, so I wanted to share that with her.
Anyway, I read more about the Beatles' tune and though it did fair in the US market, it went to the top of the Swedish charts, the Toppenlist. Swedish charts? :D
Being as I'm researching charts every week for 1946-1979, I had to check out that Swedish chart action. And, in 1965, that's where I saw "Farmer John", but by The Hep Stars. And who was in The Hep Stars, but the second B in ABBA, Benny Anderssen... since I do a bit called "Rock and Roll Football" where I pit two versions of a song against each other and pick a winner, I'm thinking of an international version where I put the Americans against the Swedes. And I can do that, courtesy of the two rabbit holes I was on merging into one just west of Stockholm... :D
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Sweden is a home of some extra odd-ball bands for sure! Didn't even know Benny had been in an other band before Abba...but then again that's bit outside of my musical tastes anyways!
Tonight (at 3am) the idiotic daylights fuckyou time hits once again. The most ridiculous relic of all relics. What's really crazy about it is that the EU already agreed back in 2019 to drop the whole moving the clock thing but the morons at the parlament didn't agree on whether to stay in the normal time or the summer time so the whole goddamn thing crashed epically. Which was about as ridiclous as the whole daylight savings time is. But what can you expect from an institution as dysfunctional as the EU.
So bye bye one hour of my life again that I'll never get back.
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They just need to move it a half hour and leave it there. We'll all align, eventually.
Except the USA, which will go back to sundials out of spite or something like that.
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"Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care? About time?"
The Changing of the Clocks should have been relegated to the past a hundred years ago.
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Everyone thought there would not be a single post today.
APRIL FOOLS, SUCKERS HAHAHAHA!
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I was all stuffy-headed yesterday, glad I only got the one April Fool prank and that it was a very kind one. :)
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Finally on the home stretch in building my 8 picture LP frame. Been a long project and things haven't gone quite the way I've wanted....it's far from perfect but I think it'll do the job...if not then I'll just scrap it and think of something else.
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It'll be grand - looking forward to some pictures!
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Hoping that Z wasn't impacted by the storms that hit Houston, Texas - not sure exactly whereabouts he is domiciled, but the damage sounds extensive.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/houston-area-grapples-with-heat-power-cuts-after-major-storms/ar-BB1mCTPu?ocid=BingNewsSerp (https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/houston-area-grapples-with-heat-power-cuts-after-major-storms/ar-BB1mCTPu?ocid=BingNewsSerp)
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Dallas, Texas here. No flooding in my area, but I have a cousin in Houston whose power is going to be out for days and whose fence got destroyed by falling trees.
The power will be out because the high voltage line pylons were bent over by the wind. This is not a "we need to put in a new transformer to restore service" situation. It's "we need some new infrastructure to restore service" situation.
(https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/05/18/ap24138711331336-295029b48d2895b4ba6e62ecbf8b927cf41242df.jpg?s=800&c=85&f=jpeg)
Temps there will be over 90F soon and the humidity will place weather conditions into health- and life-threatening categories.
https://www.npr.org/2024/05/18/1252303537/power-outages-from-deadly-houston-storm-raise-new-risk-hot-weather
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Gah, THAT is some wind damage!
"Think we blew a fuse?"
"Nah, I think the Earth's crust was ripped from its mantle and jettisoned into outer space, along with our electricity."
Hope those that can are able to get something in place for those who can't handle that high temp.
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Wow. That's a proper storm! I don't think there's ever been such damage to a main high voltage line around here. Not that I remember anyways.
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Meanwhile, I saw the neurologist today for my checkup and he had a suggestion for using alpha lipoic acid supplements for myelin regeneration. I'm upbeat about the possibilities of improved nerve health, should it happen.
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I don't know what any of that is, but "improved nerve health" always sounds like a good thing!
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Well I might have messed up my Achilles tendon last night...started hurting like crazy just out of the blue...I thought it might get better today but no...still hurts.
Got a doctor's appointment for Friday to see what's up... Luckily I only have 4 days of work and then two weeks off...well lucky for the employer anyways as I don't need any sick days! :D
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We had a small power outage last night, only lasted an hour or so.
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Z with the silent m will appreciate this:
We had an executive from a very small company in Ecuador stop by work today. She was invited as part of a "knowledge exchange" program run by an org my company belongs to, wherein people from smaller companies can spend a day or two learning about how a bigger company does things.
She displayed a command of English that was almost fluent - so when it came my turn to show her around it went well, until I introduced her to our infosec folks. After the standard introductions were made, I asked what they happened to be engaged in at the moment. One guy stated they had just finished testing a set of BOFs they had been working on, and they were a success. Then another guy follows up with, in a very-well executed Southern drawl, "we ain't just obfuscatin', we be obfufunin'". His play on words was pronounced, "ob-few-funin'".
OMG. There were a few chuckles, our guest had the expression of someone who had no idea what was going on but felt compelled to act like they did, and I deftly got her and I out of there.
She asked what an "ob-few-whatever" was. I explained that they had tried - poorly - to make a joke. She nodded and indicated that she has never been able to understand "dork humor". Which elicited a genuine laugh from me.
I eventually handed her off to the HR folks, and spent the rest of the day referring to those guys in infosec as the dork squad. Sitting here recounting the tale, it may just be a permanent label :)
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lol dork squad :D
Meanwhile, we drove today to St. Louis and we will see the friggin' arch tomorrow am. Other destinations include National Transport Museum, City Museum, and Cahokia Mounds before we head back to Dallas by way of Little Rock.
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If it's still running and you have time, ride the egg-car up to the top of the arch. Awesome views from way up there! I call it the egg-car because it's an ovoid-shaped elevator that is built inside of one leg of the arch.
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Oh yeah, we did the ride to the top, along with the riverboat ride. Lots of fun and good pics. We had fried raviolis for lunch.
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Looks like a CrowdStrike update succeeded where the Y2K bug could not.
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Yeah! Pretty ridiculous in this day and age that something THAT stupid can happen at THAT scale. Someone hired an idiot!
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It's more likely worse than that. Idiocy may be built into their processes.
Security tools need to be updated quickly to deal with emerging threats, so frequent updates are common and expected. So fast, that we're now to the point where we pretty much update code directly to production. Software development goes faster and faster and may have even been automated in order to make updates to security files on that CrowdStrike agent running on Windows. So fast that somebody likely determined that there's no need to test every update, just the major revisions.
And that's where we get tripped up - the idiocy comes down from the top as a means of cutting costs, streamlining processes, and a whole lot of other stuff that works really well until it suddenly doesn't.
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I wonder how many checks those folks are going to be writing in the near future to disgruntled customers.
I mean, imagine being a help desk person at CrowdStrike earlier:
"Hello, may I help you?"
"Hi, yeah, this is Australia, and our government is broken because of your shit software. Can you help please?"
...
"Hello, may I help you?"
"Yeah, this is the British Stock Market, we are down and trading has stopped. Can you please fix. Now."
...
And on and on. DesCartes was down (a transportation software provider), among the many, many orgs that don't get their names on the news.
The sums of money lost, when they tally it all up, are going to be huge.
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This is one of those prime examples of what goes wrong when one company becomes too big for their own good. Here one huge fuck up from one single company caused a world wide disaster.
Never put all your eggs in one basket. With the ever increasing globalization these things will keep on happening more and more. Trust more in your local smaller businesses...might end up saving your bacon! :)
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It all goes back to everyone that ignored the Anderson report from 1972 because they wanted dolla dolla bills and couldn't slow down to actually build out a secure operating system:
https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD0758206.pdf
It is a fascinating and important read, and I'm going to re-read it during the week.
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I peruse LinkedIn about once a week or so, and today happened to be that time. What a cesspool! As a brief aside, I get that it is a powerful professional networking tool, when used accordingly. Back on topic - Some of the posts and a lot of the comments concerning the CrowdStrike issue were embarrassingly unprofessional. It's like a bunch of frustrated teenage boys all created LinkedIn accounts, many with pro headshots, extensive education backgrounds, and apparently executive roles. Arguing at posts, among each other, name calling, and half of them exhibiting a level of ignorance that I still find stunning.
Which intersects with James Anderson's report right at the "hey, we can make technology ignore human machinations if we'd only just try real hard" part. As long as there are people in this world like the supposedly well-educated professionals I encountered today on LinkedIn, there will never be "turn it on and forget about it" security. In anything.
Fucking bunghole lickers.
;)
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And on the government side, the issue of people "not uniformly cleared" with access to sensitive information has only gotten more pervasive since 1972.
At the time he wrote that, most systems were closed off and getting the data involved either having someone working on the inside or being able to pick up keystrokes and data beeps from radio gear set up in an inconspicuous car, tree, or nearby apartment building. Stuff like that. Enough RF shielding, locks on doors, and counterintelligence could provide reasonable security. Anderson's call was about the growing number of asks to network those formerly separate systems.
Equally foresighted is how he calls out manufacturers not considering security because normal users won't be trying to break things. This is especially prevalent in operational technology, the stuff that controls the power grid and manufacturing lines. To the manufacturer, security is someone else's problem.
And that's why we live in a bolt-on world.
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Local Pets Impacted by Heat Wave
Reporter: "Here we have local dog Lola. What are you doing out here in the heat, Lola?"
Lola: "I'm a dog, I can't talk. Dumbass."
(https://www.ddever.net/img/tunes/lola_lounging.png)
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Tested positive for COVID-19 today. Explains why I felt like crud since Sunday... I thought Sunday's illness was just a normal cold, so I traveled for work. By yesterday, I was down and out and still thinking not COVID because my symptoms were different this time around.
Today, I had that damn little nagging cough. Put the mask on, flew home, took a test, aced it. Now I get to live in the guest room until I'm done being contagious. :(
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Oh that sucks Z, hoping for a quick recovery from that nasty bug.
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koff koff
Thanks
koff koff
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Get well soon...
The trouble with living in the guest room is that the missus might find it overall a more appealing situation! ;)
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no worries here, I travel enough to where we don't want separations to last long. :)
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Get well bud! These covid things nowadays aren't much to write home about anyways! :)
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Feeling a little bummed out... there's a new weekly activity report we need to fill out that, in my current situation, is going to be half-blank because I'm not involved in sales activities. Makes me feel like an appendage to the operation, and this is some writing on the wall I need to read over carefully. Not worried about being able to get another job - I'm in cybersecurity - but I'd rather not be in an environment where it feels like I'm having my desk moved closer to the door as a bit of a hint.
The territory I'm supposed to be working has had one official account rep last year for about 6 months and another rep picked it up unofficially for about 5 months this year. So I'm not sure that my company really *wants* to cover the territory, and I haven't been attached to any other account rep, so... yeah... looking at other jobs in my field so I'll be ready if and when.
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Gah, sorry to hear that Z. Given your industry, you're right about not having a problem landing another gig.
But having to deal with the song and dance is an annoying PIA.
What kind of role would you be looking for? I can keep my ear open. At least, when it's not being filled with BLACK SABBATH ;)
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Prefer 100% remote (travel to office for meetings is OK), cybersecurity, 0-40% travel is fine, do not have USG security clearance, *do* have OT experience. :)
No direct experience with CI/CD pipeline security, but am familiar with products in that space. Same for data security. I'm stronger in network, endpoint, operational technology, and cryptography (including post-quantum crypto) security.
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Prefer 100% remote (travel to office for meetings is OK), cybersecurity, 0-40% travel is fine, do not have USG security clearance, *do* have OT experience. :)
No direct experience with CI/CD pipeline security, but am familiar with products in that space. Same for data security. I'm stronger in network, endpoint, operational technology, and cryptography (including post-quantum crypto) security.
Gotcha, thanks!
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Prefer 100% remote (travel to office for meetings is OK), cybersecurity, 0-40% travel is fine, do not have USG security clearance, *do* have OT experience. :)
No direct experience with CI/CD pipeline security, but am familiar with products in that space. Same for data security. I'm stronger in network, endpoint, operational technology, and cryptography (including post-quantum crypto) security.
Lazy Sod....working from home...hardly working... ;D
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It's a cybersecurity job market heat map of the United States!
https://www.cyberseek.org/heatmap.html (https://www.cyberseek.org/heatmap.html)
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Prefer 100% remote (travel to office for meetings is OK), cybersecurity, 0-40% travel is fine, do not have USG security clearance, *do* have OT experience. :)
No direct experience with CI/CD pipeline security, but am familiar with products in that space. Same for data security. I'm stronger in network, endpoint, operational technology, and cryptography (including post-quantum crypto) security.
Lazy Sod....working from home...hardly working... ;D
Not gonna lie, with no commute, I can get a little more sleep in the morning, makes a big difference some days.
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It's a cybersecurity job market heat map of the United States!
https://www.cyberseek.org/heatmap.html (https://www.cyberseek.org/heatmap.html)
Virginia has a huge number because of government contractor demand over thataway. Lucky me, I'm in Texas. :smug:
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My Samsung Fold 4 phone has crumbled like a house of cards coming down. It was great fun when the inner screen was new and shiny, but last January's cold snap got the screen to deform somewhat in the center and I think the design of the product is such that it's prone to having shorts or cuts in the central wiring, which has resulted in my inner screen blacking out in a way that the outer screen doesn't come back up unless I plug/unplug it from a power outlet. I can keep the outer screen working if I reboot the phone and NEVER OPEN IT TO THE MIDDLE.
Going to the eye doctor for a checkup this morning and then to the phone store this afternoon to discuss repairs and/or replacements.
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Sorry to hear that...Samsung has had some of those screen problems. Especially here where it's actually cold.
I've been very careful now with my Motorola Razr 40 ultra and it's still working great. During last winter I tried to keep it as warm as possible and avoided opening it in the cold. No issues with the screen. The only thing is you can notice a bit of wear on the screen protector film at the hinge.
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^ Which is why I plan to go back to a flat phone for phone work and get either an 8" tablet or Kindle Paperwhite for reading while traveling. If I want to do video and/or games, then an Android Tablet would be what I'd want, even though the battery life and screen glare are beat down totally by the Kindle.
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I tried Microsoft's Visual Studio Code for the first time today. This is not the full-blown "Software-as-Lifestyle" Visual Studio, it just happens to come from the same team that makes it. I have used Sublime Text for years and years, and the Code program used to be advertised as an alternative to it.
Anyway, at home I have a small network with a handful of devices running on it, a couple of which are headless GNU/Linux boxes. I spend a lot of time in SSH sessions lol. To cut a long story short, a current project is what prompted me to look at the aforementioned Code program.
I had always dismissed it out of hand. I'm now asking its forgiveness. For one reason: I can connect to a remote machine over SSH, open folders in a "tree-view", drag and drop files, obviously edit them in Code's editor, AND it has an integrated terminal where I can do all of the usual terminal-based stuff. Write a small bit of code, assign it a priority level, check the kernel's min/max policy and adjust, compile the program, test it using whatever toolchain local or remote is in place, and on and on.
And it is super fast.
The best part? It's free.
These are the things I get excited about haha!
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So the tool you cooked up will do SSH stuff as if it was in a GUI?
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yeah, it's the shiznit
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I am in the presence of greatness.
100% serious about that.
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As much as I'd like to take that compliment, I think...I think there has been a misunderstanding. I didn't create this tool, haha, it has been extant for a while, I just now decided to try it out and discovered -it's- greatness :)
https://code.visualstudio.com/ (https://code.visualstudio.com/)
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I am in the presence of the presence of greatness? I guess that's my update. :D
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Greatness by proxy!
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Does the proxy provide SD-WAN and WAF capabilities?
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And I don't even know what you guys are talking about so I guess I am the opposite of greatness.
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And I don't even know what you guys are talking about so I guess I am the opposite of greatness.
That, or our manager. :smug:
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Well, I got laid off today. About a month before they were supposed to pay out the year-end bonuses, too.
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Well, that blows! I know you had mentioned things were looking fucked at that place - that's a real jackhole move on their part. I hope they cut you some kind of farewell check, at least. Jeez.
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Sorry to hear about you being let go from your job
I hope you can find something that is even better than the last job
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Thankfully, I did get a severance payment of about a month's salary. So that's something. And I did respond to one recruiter a few days ago out of some interest in an offer and I have an interview on Monday to chat about it.
Thanks for the kind words and, yes, Thel, I do hope I find better. It's out there. :)
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Sorry to hear about your job zzz...
But you're in a great place if you have an interview waiting already! Hope you'll get the job!
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Applying for unemployment benefits is my next to-do and the other two fired the same day as me will be meeting before we sign anything, as the employer may not have done due diligence in letting us go. There were no negative performance appraisals or improvement plans and they're hiring other people to the team at the same time as letting us go, so it's not a reduction in force. Myself and one of the other people are over 50 and I've got a disability and they want to handle federal contracts, so that jackwagon move might cost them more than a month of severance.
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Shove it up their ass sideways, Z!
Er, I mean, that sounds like a case with merit and I wish you and your compatriots the best as you pursue justice for the wrongdoing that has been laid upon you.
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I'm not an attorney, but my recent experience with Texas employment laws, from the perspective of an employer, is that if you don't treat your people right the state will make you pay for it. We haven't had to go down that road but our legal counsel has made it clear that Texas does not fool around when it comes to wrongful termination suits, and not in the favor of employers. We've had to terminate three people in the past few years, each time for cause, and even then we made certain it was done not only by the book but in the spirit of the book.
All that to say: even though Texas is an "at will" state, booting someone out for no reason is risky. Doing so while at the same time hiring new people seems to me to be extra-bonus risky. And doing all of that when the people involved are part of a protected class...seems like they want their bottom line to take a massive hit.
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They work on federal software sales as part of various contract vehicles, so the OFCCP would likely come down on them if we filed complaints. That could get them debarred from participating in contracts, which would shut them down entirely.
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Late to the "party" again! Sorry to hear about your woes there Zs.
Likewise not an employment law expert (even assuming there's some similarity between the US and UK). But issuing redundancies and employing others to do the same job would not be allowed here.
Remember to install a script which changes all the admin passwords in - say - 2 weeks!
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They work on federal software sales as part of various contract vehicles, so the OFCCP would likely come down on them if we filed complaints. That could get them debarred from participating in contracts, which would shut them down entirely.
They have to follow FIPS and all that kinda thing?
I'm dumbfounded that no one at that company considered the ramifications of their actions with regards to you. And to have done it to at least one other person who is 40+ sounds like a pattern. Even worse! (I think age discrimination kicks in at 40).
In any event, given this plot twist, it seems prudent to no longer discuss on the interwebz.
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They work on federal software sales as part of various contract vehicles, so the OFCCP would likely come down on them if we filed complaints. That could get them debarred from participating in contracts, which would shut them down entirely.
They have to follow FIPS and all that kinda thing?
I'm dumbfounded that no one at that company considered the ramifications of their actions with regards to you. And to have done it to at least one other person who is 40+ sounds like a pattern. Even worse! (I think age discrimination kicks in at 40).
In any event, given this plot twist, it seems prudent to no longer discuss on the interwebz.
Indeed. :smug:
I'm at a point where any lawyer I pick up would advise that I speak to a lawyer about further details.
And, yes, age discrimination can start at 40.
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Today is election day here in the US of A.
At some point soon, we'll know who our new prez will be.
More importantly, my cell phone will stop getting spammed with texts and calls from political jackholes wanting me to vote for their person.
And for that, I am grateful!
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Be grateful you have a vote... and that it counts.... *cough* Russia *cough* North Korea *cough* I could go on!
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As the polls close, the political ads will end. It is according to the prophecy!
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The election shit has even dominated the media here! It's crazy!
But non the less...congratulations to Donald Trump for the win!
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He won by a large margin, and joins Grover Cleveland as a President serving two non-consecutive terms.
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I think it cost the dems a lot to finagle Harris for the candidacy. Had they done it the proper way with a primary and found an actually competent candidate things could have been different.
But on the other hand it was clear that Biden lost the plot on so many things and made so many things so much worse that maybe the people just got fed up with that...even some of the dems...and just wanted a change of ways.
Well either way...it sure is gonna be an interesting 4 years.
:drama:
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Filed my complaint with the OFCCP and just sent in a follow-up response per their request. We shall see where this goes...
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To paraphrase Henry V: INTO THE BREACH, GENTLEMEN!
Edited to add the actual passage from Billy Shakes:
Act 3 Scene 1, Henry speaking:
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour’d rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o’erwhelm it
As fearfully as doth a galled rock
O’erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill’d with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
To his full height. On, on, you noblest English.
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!
Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,
Have in these parts from morn till even fought
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:
Dishonour not your mothers; now attest
That those whom you call’d fathers did beget you.
Be copy now to men of grosser blood,
And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman,
Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
The mettle of your pasture; let us swear
That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;
For there is none of you so mean and base,
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game’s afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry ‘God for Harry, England, and Saint George!’
Good luck, Z! I hope your efforts result in meaningful action.
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Aw, you got my fave Henry V soliloquy! :)
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Well, food poisoning is alive and well and cleaning out my insides.
I'm thankful that I didn't have it coming out of both directions at the same time... I take what I can get.
Sipping on Powerade right now, taking it easy.
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Ughhh... Food poisoning ain't no joke man... I've had it couple of times and it is draining!
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Gah, that sucks. Or, I guess more accurately, blows.
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Oh yeah, we've switched from suck to blow around here. :smug:
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It's definitely the time of year for things like the Norovirus.
Hope you feel better soon!
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If it is, then we picked it up on our trip to Burnet, Texas last week or something like that.
But I'm not having other symptoms, might just be food poisoning.
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It is Thanksgiving in the USA today. I'll have family and friends over today where we take stock of the year and share our gratitude for the good we have.
And then we ruin the mood by watching the Dallas Cowboys play the NY Giants in a football game that *SOMEBODY* has to win!
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Canada post is striking and I have some checks that are trapped in the system
I support the rights of workers but they have chosen the worst time to strike :doh:
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Indeed. Happy Thanksgiving Z - we are having everyone over as well, but doing that tomorrow. Today is the calm before the storm :)
Thel - that's terrible!
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Canada post is striking and I have some checks that are trapped in the system
I support the rights of workers but they have chosen the worst time to strike :doh:
Well that sucks ass. Strikes usually only complicate the lives of people not involved with the striking at all...which is why I do not support any kind of strikes.
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Yeah I'm finding it hard to support this situation
Right around the holidays and black Friday
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Egg Bowl today: Ole Miss vs Mississippi State in a college football classic. Iron Bowl - Alabama vs Auburn - and the University of Texas vs Texas A&M are tomorrow. College rivalry games are so much fun to watch!
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Canada post is striking and I have some checks that are trapped in the system
I support the rights of workers but they have chosen the worst time to strike :doh:
Well that sucks ass. Strikes usually only complicate the lives of people not involved with the striking at all...which is why I do not support any kind of strikes.
I am in Canada and so am also affected by the strike. I agree with both of you re. your sentiments about the strike and strikes in general.
Ted
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Canada post is striking and I have some checks that are trapped in the system
I support the rights of workers but they have chosen the worst time to strike :doh:
Well that sucks ass. Strikes usually only complicate the lives of people not involved with the striking at all...which is why I do not support any kind of strikes.
I am in Canada and so am also affected by the strike. I agree with both of you re. your sentiments about the strike and strikes in general.
Ted
Yeah, I don't fault anyone for doing what they can to improve their circumstance. But when it hurts other people, I have a problem with it. I don't know about Canada, but in the US a lot of people get their medications sent via the US Postal Service. So a strike by those folks would, in addition to causing general nonsense, cause people like Thel to not get checks they are waiting on, and people like my wife who gets her oral cancer meds through the mail, to not get them.
So, as much as I support Joe Blow getting another five bucks an hour or two extra days off per year, if it is going to risk my wife's life, Mr. Blow can go blow a donkey.
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I'd like it to be where the bosses in charge were more like, "holy geez, we're not paying people enough for the work they're doing! I feel awful about gouging profits through payroll reductions! No, time to *make things right!*"
Having been fired just before bonuses went out may be coloring my comments somewhat. But not much. :smug:
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So my right arm has been rather sore for the past month or so...had to stop working out 5 weeks ago...anyways...last week things got considerably worse and I could barely lift anything anymore and couldn't straighten the arm at all...so went to the doctor today... Tennis elbow was the verdict. Sick leave for the rest of the year...and meeting with a physiotherapist next week...
Didn't know it was this painful.
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Ouch! But I trust in the physical therapy, I've seen it do wonders.
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Sorry to hear that Charger; I've had that once and it is no fun at all.
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Yeah...no fun pretty much sums it up!
It's funny this morning when I woke up it didn't hurt at all and I though well...shit...did I just got sick leave for nothing...well 3 hours later and it hurt like hell and I was like...okay...that's more like it! :D
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Had a good interview today, second one with HackerOne. They are a great outfit. Claroty I interviewed with on Tuesday, should know for sure about them sometime next week.
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Had a good interview today, second one with HackerOne. They are a great outfit. Claroty I interviewed with on Tuesday, should know for sure about them sometime next week.
Nice way to round out the year
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Well, Claroty gave me a "thanks but no" email. So it's HackerOne where I've gone the furthest in the interview process and still have an opening. Hoping that one works out. :)
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Well, yesterday our Senior Security Analyst put in his two weeks notice, Dec. 27th will be his last day. We had been full remote until this past June, when we went to a three-day in-office requirement, and he has been bent out of shape ever since. I knew it was just a matter of time - but, and I told him this, I'm glad to see he scooped up something that makes him happy. I mean, we're an international freight company, so even though we do fork out the cash for an infosec role (a rarity in the industry) the pay scale is in the middle and now it is in-office.
The man had been with us for six and a half years. He really fell in love with working from home, because he had no problem being in five days a week before, now three is too much :)
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This is why sales-related roles appeal to me. I may have to be on the road more, but when I'm not on the road, I'm at home.
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Well got back from the physical therapist and he gave me some stretches to do with my arm and also told me to buy an elbow strap to wear as well as some kinetic tape.
The tape he put on is already helping...
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The tape he put on is already helping...
Good deal! Hopefully it all heals up soon.
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Well got back from the physical therapist and he gave me some stretches to do with my arm and also told me to buy an elbow strap to wear as well as some kinetic tape.
The tape he put on is already helping...
This is good news to hear! Hope the progress continues.
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Well yesterday I did somexmas cleaning and that did not sit well with the arm....hurts again...so step forward, step backwards.
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You gotta lay off the arm! :) It took me eight months to get mine to heal up because I was a hard head and would tell myself shit like, "Well, it has been doing great lately, I'll just go do some stuff that needs doing. It's not a big deal." And my arm would be like, "haha, watch this, bitch!" and promptly hurt like hell in order to remind me to lay off of it. And then added another week and a half recovery time.
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Yeah....I'm much like you in that regard...very hard to just do nothing with the arm...but that's what it needs...total rest.
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I spread some christmas joy by deleting over 600 spammer requests!
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:D
Over here, HackerOne moved with another candidate, so it's on to the next firm. Fortunately, I have an interview with them on Thursday.
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Well hopefully that one will be the one!
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HOPEFULLY :D
If not, early January is when people are winding up for the new year, I expect more opportunities then.
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Agreed - things should ramp up significantly.
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Well got myself a new Internet connection...
Upgrade from 4G to 5G with bandwidth specially signed for me so dips in speed should be minimal.
from 40mb/s to 300mb/s which is nice...now if it'll actually work with that speed steadily and without problems I'll be happy.
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Awesome investigative work by this dude. I've never used Honey, thankfully!
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I have used honey, but appropriately and without influencer influence. :smug:
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I've only used Honey in Tea...and that's pretty rare as I don't drink tea...So I think I should be safe.
Well the tennis elbow hasn't gotten more than a very tiny bit better...so on the recommendation of the physical therapist I bought a Massage Gun...Let's see if that works... I tried it a bit and damn it's a funny feeling thing.
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Massage Gun sounds like a device used in a last-ditch effort to threaten the body part. "Start working right or it's all over for ya!"
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Hah! Indeed...
But not sure if it's the thretening part or using the gun part but it does actually help!
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Was wondering which thread I was discussing my job situation on... searched for "jackwagon", found it immediately. :D
I did well in my Qualys interview yesterday and was told to expect an offer letter in the next few days. Relief is the word I'm looking for, here. :smug:
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Fantastic news!
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Well done!
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Well good news there buddy!
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Thanks for the well-wishes! Work is a drag until you don't have any to do!
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Just got back from a doc appt.
He hooked me up with some meds, drew some blood, and out the door I went. Clean bill of health, I will continue to exist and annoy the world, for a while longer at least.
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I also went to the doctor the past week and got yet some more sick leave for this blasted tennis elbow...
It is getting better but the doctor said it would be smart to play it safe and give it some more rest...so another 10 days off then.
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I hope that you'll get it a good rest so it comes back better. I get a mess in my right hand/arm from time to time. Mostly when a new game releases and I'm clicking the hell out of it. Civ 7 just released, as it happens.
I have an elbow sleeve with metal wire supports (very small wires, very comfy sleeve), an elbow band that puts pressure on the muscle just past the elbow, heading towards the hand, and a hand sleeve with wrist velcro so I can apply pressure there. I wear that for a few days, and the pain of overclicking goes away.
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Well, I went to a beer festival today, while heding for the bus home I managed to trip over ... alcohol consumption may have had a part to play in that... the right thigh is now very tender, while I'm not convinced I've broken my thigh I suspect I've done something which may need some R&R to get over it!
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Myself, getting over a cold today. Planning on a nap in a bit.
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There's beer festivals!? Well goddamn! If I'd be an out going person that'd be a festival I'd like to go! Even with a chance of an injury! ;D
Hope you didn't break anything KDC!
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Well, I went to a beer festival today, while heding for the bus home I managed to trip over ... alcohol consumption may have had a part to play in that... the right thigh is now very tender, while I'm not convinced I've broken my thigh I suspect I've done something which may need some R&R to get over it!
Sorry that happened; hope you recover fully asap. I once fell down after attending a Beer/Alcohol Fest. due to a combination of alcohol consumption and fatigue/tiredness. Not a good experience.
Ted
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There's beer festivals!? Well goddamn! If I'd be an out going person that'd be a festival I'd like to go! Even with a chance of an injury! ;D
I've been to more than 100 Beer Fests; I've been attending them since 2007. I've had so many awesome experiences at them.
Ted
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There's beer festivals!? Well goddamn! If I'd be an out going person that'd be a festival I'd like to go! Even with a chance of an injury! ;D
I've been to more than 100 Beer Fests; I've been attending them since 2007. I've had so many awesome experiences at them.
Ted
Wow....okay I've never even heard of a beer festival prior to this....not counting October Fest obviously...
Seems I've been missing out...or should I say Finland has been missing out...but then again we practically still have prohibition!
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There's beer festivals!? Well goddamn! If I'd be an out going person that'd be a festival I'd like to go! Even with a chance of an injury! ;D
I've been to more than 100 Beer Fests; I've been attending them since 2007. I've had so many awesome experiences at them.
Ted
Wow....okay I've never even heard of a beer festival prior to this....not counting October Fest obviously...
Seems I've been missing out...or should I say Finland has been missing out...but then again we practically still have prohibition!
I've been going to them since the mid-90s, I only do 1 a year at the moment down on the 2-3 on previous years. The best one stopped because of COVID and hasn't restarted since. :(
@Charger, have you googled them? You might be surprised and find you do have them near you.
Oh, and the leg is much better... definitely not broken!!
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Oh, and the leg is much better... definitely not broken!!
Whew, good deal!
And yeah, around here beer fests are pretty common. I haven't been to one in several years but used to go a few times a year. Good places to try fresh draws of interesting brews.
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Hmm...so I did do some googling...
There isn't a major beer festival in Finland but there are a few smaller ones that are hosted by a group of small independent breweries...I could find one in Helsinki and one in Vaasa which also had a small international element to it.
So there have been some...but just no fuss made about them...mainly probably because alchol advertising is forbidden in Finland.
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...alchol advertising is forbidden in Finland.
Alcohol is advertised in the USA like it is one of the food groups required for a healthy life.
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...alchol advertising is forbidden in Finland.
Alcohol is advertised in the USA like it is one of the food groups required for a healthy life.
Vyn and I could run ya ragged with all the beer commercial jingles and tag lines we've memorized over the years.
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Had LOTS going on in the last three days, culminating in my wife heading to a business conference yesterday, with me providing much taxi service over those days, among other things. She comes back on Thursday, and I'll be happy for that. For some reason, I can sleep in hotel beds just fine on my own, but when she's out, I have a terrible time falling asleep in my own bed on maybe half the nights she's out. Darndest thing.
Looks like I need to find some critter and plant videos for the thread to catch up on. :smug:
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I can relate to your sleeping idiosyncrasy, except I never sleep worth a crap in hotel beds.
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Some are better than others. Hotels with ceiling fans are a slice of heaven, I tell ya.
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I and some friends are heading off to Gibraltar for few days next week (Mon to Thurs). I do feel that 4 days may be more than enough time to see its sites!
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Happy travels... I do think the sight seeing tour woul be over in 4 HOURS! ;D
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We might be able to stretch it out to a full day if we insert some pub visits!
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Meanwhile, a Chicago man just got a new Italian hat!
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I believe Trump threatened the Vatican City with 145% tarrifs if they didn't appoint a Yankee pope! >:D
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I believe Trump threatened the Vatican City with 145% tarrifs if they didn't appoint a Yankee pope! >:D
Yowch! And they are a big exporter of creeds and the such-like. They've got a huge section of the Nicene Creed market, as well as the Athanasian Creed sector. They need the US market to survive!
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I was bit surprised by that one indeed!
But congrats to the US for getting their first dude in a glass box!
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Enjoy KDC! I've never been to Gibraltar, but when I was growing up we had a rock the size of a softball that looked just like the famed Rock of Gibraltar. haha
Ah yes, a new pope! The world can rest easy and peacefully now.
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Meanwhile in Dallas, I started work a little early today. I think it may have had something to do with the fact that I woke up a little early today, as well... :think:
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It's about 1:15 in the morning here... I have about 2 hours to wait for the taxi to take me and my friends off to Gatwick Airport for our flight to Gibraltar.
I can't sleep at the moment, so hopefully I'll get a little sleep on the plane.
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Safe Travels my friend! Hope you have a good trip!
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I hope you have a wonderful vacation kilo
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I'm here. Several of the gang have been here before... and know where things are, I wouldn't have a clue! For a place with only 35,000 inhabitants it is really busy.
Been dolphin watching and done the cable car up the Rock.and seen some Barbary Apes. O and we've drunk some beers!
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Oh...and you're taking time to update us!
That's mighty nice of you!
Ever since I saw Living Daylights Gibraltar has been on my list, but I'm never gonna get there obviously....So if you can share some pics!
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I have a couple of hours before we go to find food.
I'll be honest... I'm not much for taking sight seeing photos!
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Travel to DC today for me, then I fly back home tomorrow.
Sales meetings be like that.
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Have fun!
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My oldest daughter just left DC two days ago. On a driving vacation with her husband, they live in FL, drove up the coast to NYC, then down to DC, over to Philadelphia where they are now.
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Hope you got to set on Abe's lap!
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Fun was not in the cards...
5+ hour delay on my original flight got me to switch to another flight on standby due to it leaving earlier than my now-delayed-no-longer-early-flight.
Had to walk around construction to get to the shuttle bus for the airport parking, great fun in the heat and humidity, even at 10PM. Dallas is a hard town in the summer.
Then, once I got to my car, I thought all was going to be well. I get to the parking exit and it tells me "wrong parking lot" and won't let me out. Had to call in help to get the computer to figure out that I was in the correct lot and needed to go home.
Made great time until I got to where the freeway was closed for construction, right at my home exit. A 25-minute drive home turned into a 45-minute slog.
But I slept in my own bed, so I'm good now. :)
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I've always found the best part of a trip is getting back home.
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That's one of the reasons I don't do trips!
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Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans!
Always remember, this holiday was made possible by citizens with guns. :)
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We're having our family over today, with sausages and hamburgers on the grill, getting a nice mesquite smoking. Potato salad, ice cold root beer, homemade ice cream, all the fixin's. It's like Thanksgiving, but with different colored-decorations!
There's a threat of rain this afternoon, which means either we have a downpour or we deal with 100% humidity if we do things outside. So, we'll all be inside and enjoy the comfiness. :)
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... and speaking of reasons to stay indoors in Texas...
Just saw an article that there will be a release of millions of flies over Texas to eradicate the flesh-eating maggot issues we've been having of late. The Screwworm Flies are back after about 50 years of being wiped out in the region. So, we're using the same method as before to deal with the latest outbreak. The original program ran from 1962 to 1975. No outdoor surgeries for me for the next decade, I reckon! :D
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Happy Birthday US of A!
Have a few beers and barbeque some ribs!
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Happy 4th of July to all our American friends and family
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Happy 4th July guys!
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Fireworks I have a mixed set of feelings for.
In a proper show, they are great fun with the pops and colors and clever timings.
In a neighbor's yard at 4AM after a night of irregular pops, snaps, and periodic quiet times after they've been yelled at to shut up, it gets tiresome. I've lived through too many of these to know that anything other than letting them just finish their load of powdered junk poppers won't work.
I'll try and stay chipper to-day when dealing with folks, but I'm a bit raw from the commotions last night.
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Wooooooo!
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A friend of ours had an excess of tomato production and brought in 3 boxes of the lovely fruits to church today. I have to travel this week and couldn't take much off her hands. She said, "That's all right, I will bring even more next week!"
I love summer for that most excellent of reasons.
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Got a nice job offer from some old buddies that came back to a former employer after it got good again. Verbal offer was yesterday, written offer should show up in my inbox today.
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Congratulations!
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Well congrats there bud!
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Thanks, friends!
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I lose track, were you looking for a job? I thought that was Vyn?
Congrats all the same!
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I was looking, I'll let Vyn speak for Vyn. :)
And thanks all the same!
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^^^^^^
I didn't realize you was looking for work either. Hope it is interesting and enjoyable work.
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Thanks for the good wishes, Typhon.
It's the "and enjoyable" part that I think this role will deliver on. My current position involves way too much sales for my liking. I enjoy demonstrating value and maintaining relationships, but do not like the parts about working with SalesForce and doing business projections. I'm much more technical, and the role I'm going to fits that bill. I've done it before, and I'm very happy to do it again.
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Written offer got held up but arrived today. Signed it, sent in my resignation and now I have 2 more weeks where I'm at and start the new role on the 24th. 3 days of work and then Thanksgiving. Nice, easy start. :smug:
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Great way to end out the year Z, that's awesome!
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Congrats! :beerbang:
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Yes, thanks!
Just in time for Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday. :)
It's my favorite because I can make the days before and after it my own as I take inventory and give thanks for good times with good friends and good experiences that helped me through times that weren't good.
I consider the folks here on the Community to be good times with good friends.
It'll be 8 years of this board, coming up soon.
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Yeee! Congrats ZZ!!
8 years indeed in Feb...that's something to be thankful about for sure eventhough our numbers have diminished over the years, the core of the core is still here!
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I'm pretty sure someone in our little group has this poster, not sure if it is signed or not, but for anyone who needs an autographed copy of it a thousand bucks can get you one!
https://rockaway.com/collections/memorabillia/products/black-sabbath-the-dio-years (https://rockaway.com/collections/memorabillia/products/black-sabbath-the-dio-years)
(https://rockaway.com/cdn/shop/files/37414_1.jpg?v=1758304575&width=1280)
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Wow! That would be awesome but I think 1000$ is bit much...even for signed one...but I do LOVE that art!
And no I didn't even know there was a poster of this...it's the art inside the Dio Years booklet.
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...it's the art inside the Dio Years booklet.
That may be what I'm thinking of seeing; someone posted a picture of it and I conflated that with this poster.
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Because double posting is awesome - another poster they have for sale is one hyping a Rolling Stones concert that was ultimately cancelled. No signatures or anything like that, but it has a really cool dragon in front of a castle. I'm too lazy to post a link, but the dragon has the iconic Stones' tongue logo as it's mouth, I would love to have that poster.
They want $3,500 for it. HAHAHAHAHA nope.
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I went along and checked out other posters and prints and stuff they have...insane prices for all...
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On the topic of AI music, movies, literature...I found this on the Youtube just now.
Alien Food!
An AI-created psychedelic nostalgia noodle of early 1970's guitar wankery. Hawkwind meets Toe Fat in a back alley and both get jumped by Space Goat.
Unreal...for real!
*Note: I didn't put this in a more music-focused topic/thread because it is AI and not music as a product of human creativity, but a product of human AI-LLM prompt crafting.
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Did my errands this morning, enjoyed a nice lunch, gonna have a haircut in about 30 mins. Takin' it easy this week.
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After a couple of decades using most as my terminal pager of choice, I have officially moved into the modern age and replaced it with moar in my workflow. More to the point, though, I actually use bat, but I can now replace its underlying pager call from less to moar and get all the groovy benefits contained therein. ROCK ON!
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Got my oldies show ready for tomorrow. :)
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Well I ALMOST managed to avoid all the Black Friday deals....but I did go for a new stove...the old one is 35 years old!
Got the Induction plate one...as it heats so much faster and uses much less electricity than the ceramic one...and most certainly less than my old ceramic one! :D
But will this new one last 35 years? I seriously doubt it...but hell I'm not planning on lasting another 35 years!
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Finally had a day where the temperature was more than 10o above freezing. So I spent most of the morning and afternoon splitting wood with my wood splitter. Only got about a quarter of the wood done from that huge tree that fell. Guess I'll continue on the next decent day.
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A rather mundane, normal thing: The SSL certificate for this website has been renewed for two years and is installed. Stay safe!
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A rather mundane, normal thing: The SSL certificate for this website has been renewed for two years and is installed. Stay safe!
So mundane, you would think that every corporation with 50 or more employees would have a process for tracking and renewing SSL certificates...
:fail3:
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So mundane, you would think that every corporation with 50 or more employees would have a process for tracking and renewing SSL certificates...
haha, no doubt!
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It's that quiet time at work when not a lot is going on because almost everyone else took the days off.
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Traveling for business has me in Phoenix, Arizona - I fly back tomorrow and should be back to normal on Thursday. :)
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Bit of a vacation here...Just 2 weeks off...
Gonna go on a minicruise to Sweden today...and no I will NOT be stepping on swedish soil.
But I'll buy some scotch from the boat!
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Livin' that duty-free life! :)
Enjoy the bracing sea air and have a fun time relaxing, Charger!
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@Charger
Are you part of an invading force?! :)
Have fun... will you be "off grid?"
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Not sure I'd want to invade Sweden even if I could! :D
Thanks guys....
I shall be off the grid for the duration...will be back on Friday though for sure.
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Meanwhile, I just debloated and blocked AI installations on my Windows.
https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat
https://github.com/zoicware/RemoveWindowsAI
They have commands to copy and paste into PowerShell being run as Admin and they will rip out the crappy stuff. I ran the first in interactive mode so I could pick and choose - I kept a few basic things but blew away all the stoopid apps. Both require a reboot to take full effect.
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Bon voyage, Charger!
@Z That's some great info!
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My PC is actually silent right now. I had thought that the constant low whisper of fans was because I had an awesome video card that needed care and feeding or something like that. Turns out, no. It was the bloatware running in the background, doing me no good at all.
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Boat did NOT sink so I'm back...
Found a bottle of Dewar's 16 yo Double Agent and a bottle of SOUTH AFRICAN (???) Single Grain 15 yo. I don't really know what to expect from that! Never even heard of South African whiskey. Bain's it's called.
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That Bain's is supposed to be "a nice sipper", according to reviews.
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Bain's was Elmer Bernstein's go-to drink! Maybe.
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I hope you had a great time charger
Enjoy the whiskey :yes:
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Bain's was Elmer Bernstein's go-to drink! Maybe.
I see what you did there. :D
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I hope you had a great time charger
Enjoy the whiskey :yes:
Yes I had a good time bud!
And Bain's will be opened tonight! But more on that later on.