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Thread: Questions you need the answer to.

  1. #851
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    HERE'S another one about SLEEP.

    This is not working out, taking about a three hour nap, then making up for it with five hours of sleep before waking up at 0200.

    I think I know the answer to this: basically it sucks.

    However the urge to sleep is irresistible, and powering through with coffee or willpower is a terrible idea.

    I think my solution is the least worst solution.

    ADJACENT FOOD QUESTION I think the best solution is to eat the most dense-in-calories food, so as to make room for water and other liquids in the stomach.

    I believe that's the best solution to having a pretty small stomach, and yet requiring the stomach to consume water in copious quantities.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 13 Jul 2018 at 10:40 PM.

  2. #852
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    Ah, question solved.

    Eat more potatoes. They're loaded with potassium, as well as vitamin C and other nutrients found in vegetables.

    IIRC. They're certainly nutrient-laden, and I don't eat very much of them.

  3. #853
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    It's been a few years since I had some cards (as in, personal "business cards") printed up.

    QUESTION: I prefer a simpler design, just because I'm not good at visual stuff. But I think a subtle visual bit of "flair" IME adds a bit. Do you people think it's worth paying fifty or a hundred bucks to some guy or girl to make up a subtle design?

    Yeah, I know how to do it in GIMP or one of the Adobe software products, it just would take me a hundred hours to design, and I need something more current-looking than just an old-style "business card" thing with name, contact, and all that.

    And, no, I don't mean some cheesy card with piano keys printed on the side (I haven't seen a single music job in my town recently that will even pay gas money for the band, much less the labor for moving equipment), just a generic design.

    Recs?

  4. #854
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    It's been a few years since I had some cards (as in, personal "business cards") printed up.

    QUESTION: I prefer a simpler design, just because I'm not good at visual stuff. But I think a subtle visual bit of "flair" IME adds a bit. Do you people think it's worth paying fifty or a hundred bucks to some guy or girl to make up a subtle design?

    Yeah, I know how to do it in GIMP or one of the Adobe software products, it just would take me a hundred hours to design, and I need something more current-looking than just an old-style "business card" thing with name, contact, and all that.

    And, no, I don't mean some cheesy card with piano keys printed on the side (I haven't seen a single music job in my town recently that will even pay gas money for the band, much less the labor for moving equipment), just a generic design.

    Recs?

  5. #855
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    Quote Originally posted by Jizzelbin View post
    QUESTION

    Is this not one of the highest purposes of a high-lumen tactical LED flashlight?

    Some jackass is riding your ass on the highway, so you just click it on and point it straight back.

    On the narrowest possible beam.

    And hope they die in a miserable fashion.

    I think there's articulable plausible deniability.

    ANOTHER QUESTION

    Is this normal for automatic tranny cars? Everytime I try to do a "brake check" (lift up the E-brake with the button depressed), some leakage occurs and my car actually slows down a bit.

    Yes, I'm aware that's horribly unsafe, even on a stick, because of possible mechanical irregularities.

    But the only other auto-transmsissions I've driven have had the e-brake as a pedal IIRC -- this one is a regular standard-style lever at your right hand.


    Ad (i) this is not correct. There is some significant diffusion of light. Put it down to the curved rear windows and windshields. The optics will not achieve the result desired. ETA Probably annoy the offender, but if they are reasonably competent at operating heavy machinery, it's not worth the effort of raising your hand to employ the flashlight.

    Ad (ii) no, the E-brake on any auto-tranny is not going to work like on a standard transmission car. Confirmed. Why? I'm not sure, but it just doesn't work like that. Can you do a "J-turn" in a Ness-style car? Sure, why not. But, IME, you can't "brake-check" a tailgater in an auto transmission. Just my experience.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 20 Jul 2018 at 06:53 PM.

  6. #856
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    HOW would I go about trying to create a collective-bargaining corporation, i.e., a union?

    I think a lot of workers are getting screwed — not in my particular unit of employment — but, still, solidarity for others who aren't as lucky at the same company.

    I think the best way is to ally oneself with an existing union-corporation with collective bargaining power.

    It's a problem, though — my particular company has adapted itself to dealing with rapid turnover, so I suspect they'd just as soon say "go screw" and get some rummies off the street.

    Not real strategy masters, my company. They just go for bulk. Good for them, bad for workers.

    ETA Actually, it is bad for the company. Their pandering to rules-disobeying contract drivers within their distribution centers causes many hundreds of person-hours to be lost every hour. The contract-delivery is fine with me, but it's almost as though nobody considered the consequences.

    Rule concluded: don't buy Amazon stock. They have severe difficulties, and labor is the least of it. They don't have the operations people trained in basic algorithm analysis, or even just advanced-UG math: just soft-skilled grocery-store clerk/administators. Not a good buy, assuming one were stupid enough to directly trade hard stock.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 21 Jul 2018 at 09:19 PM.

  7. #857
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    WHY is it that my Android-based phone overrides, at points I can't predict, settings like "Volume == SILENT."

    Very strange.

    Yeah, yeah, I know Android is always trying to phone home to the mothership, for updates, despite my instructions, but I cannot understand the pattern wherein the alerts (Gmail, texts, etc.) suddenly become amplified, when the instruction has been given to silence (or, apparently, "silence") the device.

    A tentative guess is that ambient humidity affects the touch screen in unpredictable ways (certainly true, as anyone who's carried such a device in a sweat-soaked pocket will verify).

    However, that's not enough.

    Although it does remind me how good an idea it was to ditch the iPhone — at least with Android there's the illusion of control. But it is an apparent fiction. An illusion.

  8. #858
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    Quote Originally posted by Jizzelbin View post
    HOW would I go about trying to create a collective-bargaining corporation, i.e., a union?....
    Start here, or contact an existing union in your field of work: https://www.nlrb.gov/rights-we-prote...ght-form-union

  9. #859
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    Thanks for the above, EH. Yeah, I think the only way to go is to form a formal alliance with an existing union. The nice thing is that these days you don't have to go around pasting shit to telephone poles or passing leaflets or clipboard-mounted faldarol around. OTOH, defective anti-social nerds like Bezos or Musk can easily discover "subversive" "red" activity, should they want to. Actually what I struck-through is wrong, I believe. The only way is the old-fashioned petitioning of employees, with pen and paper, AFAICT. That's good, because social media is a terribly "sticky" way of associating people to one cause or another. I'd never sign anything electronically on FB or whatever, and I'd suppose anyone reasonable would do the same. Pen and paper.

    NEW question. You know, this wasn't answered in the usual encylopedić of insects.

    I wonder if bedbugs preferentially bite your dick when you get a hard on while asleep.

    You'd think they would. And yet it's not been the case for me (yet).


    Sleep well!

    ETA Also good question for ladies to ask themselves! Sleep tight, sweethearts!
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 29 Jul 2018 at 10:31 PM.

  10. #860
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    Quote Originally posted by Jizzelbin View post
    ETA Also good question for ladies to ask themselves! Sleep tight, sweethearts!
    Holy shit.

    That might be the worst thing I've ever said or thought.

    Because, you know, blood flow.

    Shit.

    That is a horrible thought.

    No wonder women tend to be fastidious about keeping house.

    Cause there are goddamned bugs who want to crawl up their snappers!

    Actually, IIRC, Camille Paglia said something similar about the desires of women to keep stray matter from entering their wombs. Paglia's a nut, but she's very ... fluent, I would say. At some things.

    No, that's the worst thing I've ever said; and yet, it has some explanatory power.

    ETA To get that horrifying image of bugs eating your woman from the inside out out of everyone's head, I've concluded that if I have to go out in this "job," I'm going full-on Eugene Debs. At least that's something, and this isn't a real job. This will be like a new hobby for me. Circulating discrete 3x5 cards, collecting them, and trying to reach >30% support. I suspect I'd have to go all Boss Tweed and ply my coworkers with booze or something, but it's possible. I'll get fired, 100%, but at least it won't be for talking lewdly about yoga pants and such on the job.

    EETA Ah. I can print on index cards from home, and provide a convenient place for signatures and printed names. I don't think the size of the workforce is available to me, though. I don't think signed approvals from one single distribution center are sufficient for a union, since the company itself is rather large. I'm certainly not going to travel to all the locations within my metropolitan area, much less try to cover a larger area.

    Well, it was a good idea, but I don't think the geographical spread allows for even a reasonable attempt.

    Oh well.

    I'm still going to start "sand-bagging" or working less-intensely during the shifts.

    Better for productivity, morale, and self-preservation. I'm tired of being known as "that sweaty guy who curses a lot." Fuck that.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 30 Jul 2018 at 08:24 AM.

  11. #861
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    Why would a woman < 5'5" wear shoes without the typical "boot-athletic-style" shoes, especially in a warehouse?

    IME wearing flat-soled shoes is painful, after walking more than a few miles.

    Does she want to appear short, and just accepts the pain? She's not that short, just like regular woman-sized short. And maybe there's some fashion thing or something. She's kind of got the punk-rock thing going on. Maybe she's trying to do a "lady Ramone" kind of thing.

    Or perhaps she has some great insole inserts.

    I should probably ask her, but she's not all that socially accessible, except when she seeks me out, I presume, because of my generous and warm vibe.

    Oh, let's face it. She wants me. Obviously.

  12. #862
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    What would you do if an online correspondent whom one believed to be a female college student turned out to not belong to one's cohort of peers in age, roughly?

    I'd be extremely cautious.

    As in Bourbaki "dangerous bend" cautious. As in Dijkstra, "GOTO Considered Harmful" cautious.

    In fact, I'd be changing my trousers from shorts to khaki pants, right now.

    I'd also be grateful that narrative fiction, after the Woolsey/Ulysses case, is granted a fair amount of clemency.

  13. #863
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    Well, this is good, I guess. I can't work six days a week: it's really messing me up not having two days to just not do any physical labor, and allow the muscle tissues time to heal.

    What is the deal with observing, as I did yesterday morning, the blue coloration (I forgot if those are veins or arteries, or what color blood turns when it's oxygenated) through the skin of the chest just above the heart. Not healthy, in fact, probably on my way to a cardiac event if I don't modify my intense habits at work, as well as improving my diet.

    I'm in to see my regular GP in a few weeks, but I suspect my blood pressure is going to bury the needle. Well, at least we'll have something to talk about. And I can amuse him by showing him the odd callouses the first knuckles of both hands — that's not a concern, but he'd probably find it amusing, as a man of science and curiosities.

    I think if I can just abstain from alcohol for a few days prior, a lot of water weight is going to disappear, so at least I'll get a good reading from the balance (which I suspect is not calibrated perfectly, from past experience, but I neither have a working scale at home nor a blood-pressure device, nor even a thermometer to check my body temperature; I do have a glucose meter, but I think my test strips are fouled, so that's no good either. No, I'm not diabetic or even close, but I find it's a good thing to track when calibrating one's diet).

  14. #864
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    Quote Originally posted by Jizzelbin View post
    But, IME, you can't "brake-check" a tailgater in an auto transmission. Just my experience.
    I emend this statement: not exactly true.

    You can depress the e-brake "button" on the lever, but unless you want to lay serious rubber on the pavement, you just can't lift the brake lever all the way up.

    That seems to be where severe brake leakage occurs, yes, even with the release button fully depressed.

    It's hard for me to check just by myself exactly when the brake lights come on, but I find a partial (I don't remember the rotational omega-notation from physics to measure rotational force [aka "torque," sort of] but maybe 60-70% from "flat" to "fully engaged") engagement does not cause stoppage or even slowage of the vehicle.

    Still a terrible practice, but it seems to be somewhat effective against tailgaters on a much-abused major interstate highway (not a freeway, just a pretty major highway in my town).
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 02 Aug 2018 at 06:23 PM.

  15. #865
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    HOW TO MAKE AN ARITHMETIC MEAN WHEN NOTHING IS KNOWN

    I think I'm going to start using my chronometer to measure how many person-seconds are lost each time one of the "Operations" "people" makes one of their usual thrice-hourly mistakes at coordinating contractor-drivers.

    Obviously, I'll have to make a meticulous record using pencil and paper.

    That's easy enough.

    And record all extraordinary incidents, to the best of my purview.

    HOWEVER, without access to the raw bulk numbers, my observations can, at best, be of a hobbyist-level of interest.

    And, that's not a hobby I'd care to take up.

    In addition, without an appropriately simplified recording scheme, any values I record will affect any numbers I record.

    CHECK ME IF I'M WRONG, but aren't there supposed to be people who have high-school-level arithmetic "skills" at a supposedly "high-tech" company?

    NO. If there are such people, they forgot how to read and write at Hamburger U. or wherever the Amazon Operations "elite team" came from. They probably are good at something, like coaching Warner Football or cleaning up spills, but I haven't seen it.

  16. #866
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    I think I'm not being unreasonable in being extremely displeased by this regular fixture at my usual after-work watering hole.

    I call him "Crazy Larry," but that's an insult to the equally-uncool Peter Fonda.

    WTF, dude? You're on the wrong side of fifty, you have a stupid Rip Van Winkel beard, and you're fucking loud. And yet, you're what, like best pals with every bartender there? Obviously insane or demented, so you're not the manager. Head custodian? If so, STFU. Friends with the owners, I guess, is the reason he's tolerated.

    Which wouldn't be a problem, except he fucking dares to talk to me in a disrespectful tone.

    And I'm there, like, thirty minutes or forty-five most days.

    I believe I should kick his ass the next time he opens his stupid mouth.

    And he's a shitty pool player who thinks eight-ball with the stupid made-up rules is the end. F____t.

    Q: Should I kick his ass?

    ALL RIGHT, HERE'S A REAL QUESTION

    I find it amazing, illogical, unproductive, and worthy of rebellion that a "management" team from Hamburger U. aka Amazon treats a fifteen-minute break for employees as a perk or a reward, rather than a tool for resource management, or, perhaps more importantly a safety issue, when employees are required to work in an otherwise well-regulated environment which nonetheless has all the hazards and requirements of attention to detail of similar environments.

    Therefore, I conclude that the correct procedure is to work no quicker than is required in that to ensure no accumulated fatigue or sweat is expended, in order that the hazards be mitigated.

    I am correct.

    Do you agree?

    Also the manager is fat, half-breed dyke
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 10 Aug 2018 at 08:55 AM.

  17. #867
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    ALSO:

    Why doesn't "management" just use the data from the external door RFID scans to ensure some teenage rascals don't "steal" an extra two minutes or whatever of "break time"?

    AND:

    Why is the "company clock" keyed to what seems to be a manually-set seed time, rather than a standard NTS calibrated to a similar server used by the timeclocks? The obvious correction when some Hamburger U graduate points out the time to make a polite correction; however, this is clearly a part of the design made by Mayor McCheese, or whatever fuckstain came out of Bezos's shit-stained dick.

    AND:

    Why am I bothered so much?

    Well, I can answer that one: it's stupid, manipulative, cowardly, and should be punished.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 10 Aug 2018 at 10:45 AM.

  18. #868
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    WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO ENCODE by writing in Sharpie on the back of my safety vest:

    "Natasha is and has only ass-baby."

    I guess UTF-8 or ASCII, printed left to right.

    Probably in hexadecimal, because nobody likes reading binary.

    I suppose I could just do in attic Greek, and find some way of saying "Natasha."

    No. Pretend each letter of ASCII is eight bits (it's really seven, but that doesn't matter), then encode in hexadecimal.

    At least people who notice it will be able to understand, probably after looking up the values in a table.

    It'll be a long sentence of hex digits, though.

    But I think it's worth it.

    Much better than scrawling in the men's room "Natasha sucks Mickey Rourke's semen off truck stop heads' floors."

    ETA Oh yes, I should also add, if there's room, "And Denise sucks the fetuses out of normal, non-grotesque women."

    OK, fine, I'll put it in French, so the n00bs don't crack my code too easily. But still hexadecimal-encoded ASCII or UTF-8 (haven't decided yet).

    That's my plan for today.

    EETA Fuck UTF-8. ASCII is fine.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 11 Aug 2018 at 02:20 PM.

  19. #869
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    BEDBUG Q

    I think, since they are apparently ineradicable, the best, most practical solution, is to buy one of those purpose-built mattress covers, and put back my bed and box "spring" back up on a Hollywood-style frame, and forget about it. They can probably climb their disgusting little selves up the legs up the frame, but perhaps some kind of arrangement with some kind of metal cups underneath each "leg" of the bed, perhaps filled with liquid of some kind. I don't know, a small amount of bleach or pesticide of some kind.

    Like little "moats" filled with hazardous (to bedbugs) liquid.

    At least then one has done what one can. It's out of the question to remove all other items from my bedroom and do a thorough, wall-to-wall vacuuming.

    Quote Originally posted by JT
    Probably in hexadecimal, because nobody likes reading binary.
    Yes, well, computers aren't people, not even robot machines. That's why one uses base-16 (hex) generally, except when needed to "go deep."
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 12 Aug 2018 at 02:48 AM.

  20. #870
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    Quote Originally posted by Jizzelbin View post
    some kind of metal cups underneath each "leg" of the bed, perhaps filled with liquid of some kind. I don't know, a small amount of bleach or pesticide of some kind.

    Like little "moats" filled with hazardous (to bedbugs) liquid.
    Of course not bleach. Because of exposure to light, and, I can't remember the formula, but it basically turns into salt water after a short while.

    A Borax solution is a thought, but there's so much crap information on the web about bedbugs. I doubt that would do much. It might slow them down, but I have doubts that Borax is such a miracle "bug cure"

    I conclude: pools of human blood within each "cup."

    Or, possible simply greasing the poles of each bed post such that the beasts find it impossible to climb.

    Yes, that is the only "pole greasing" I shall allow in my bedroom. Or, rather, that seems to be the case.

    /////////////

    ETA That isn't such a bad idea.

    You know how people trap yellowjacket wasps with a kind of sugar water.

    Maybe human blood traps could work.

    I mean, I don't think more than a few hundred mature bedbugs are likely.

    And rinse and repeat for the instars.

    I don't think that's such a crazy idea.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 13 Aug 2018 at 06:43 AM.

  21. #871
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    QUESTION

    Is it possible to buy sealed bags of human blood, for whatever reason?

    Failing that, is there a good, safe way to draw at least a pint of one's own blood?

    You can understand I'm less than sanguine about the second option — doesn't seem the kind of thing you want to do at home.

    ETA OK, acquire a menstruating woman, and have her sit on a bucket for a few days. She'd have to be a good woman to do that, though.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 15 Aug 2018 at 04:34 AM.

  22. #872
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    You've gotta be kidding me, though.

    I don't believe WareGirl is all that much younger me, but apparently there are people who don't know what ASCII is.

    For those who aren't hip, that's the regular seven-bit (padded to 8-bits, aka a "byte," you know, like the Apple logo) which assigns numeric values (up to the limits of the bits) to alpha-numeric characters and some other stuff.

    Not knowing about UTF-8 or UTF-16 is understandable.

    And kids who only do phones or tablets...well, they probably can be excuse. They're just watching TV on their devices.

    It had never occurred to me that someone who presumably knows how to use a computer wouldn't know what ASCII is.

    I don't have the table committed to memory, but still.

    Question: what do these people been born in a bar?

  23. #873
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    Question: I've noticed my chub lady friend, after me confiding in her about my loins of fire for Morgan, is a little bit "cooler" in enthusiasm for chatting with me.

    However, I enjoy going out after work with some company, rather than stag.

    I'm afraid she might get the wrong idea if I asked her out for a game of pool and a beer (or whatever women drink). I don't want to lead her on, but she's pretty cool as a person, and her being a relative newcomer to the warehouse, maybe she'd like to talk about her observations in general.

    Not sure if that's a good idea.

    Nah. Fuck it, she can come play with me....in a PG-rated sort of way. I can't discriminate.

    However, I can't predict if she has some vindictive or passive-aggressive side which would not be happy, even if she comes out with me.

    Hell, I invited a gayboy associate out for a beer, so it's not, to me, a big deal to just have a beer and chat.

    OTOH, she could be a good ally in my struggle for completion with the other one. All of the other women I chat with have no problem cheering me on.

    Viewers at home: What would you do?

  24. #874
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    Those "cups" surrounding bed-frame legs are apparently called "interceptors" — like the cop cars, I guess.

    It would seem diatomaceous earth or a chemical called IIRC "Chimex" or something, or even just talc is OK.

    The word seems to be inconclusive about using double-sided carpet tape along the sides of the bed-frame legs, as well as Vaseline.

    However, it appears those "in" the "bedbug" community are crazy-ass motherfuckers who seem to be somewhere between outright nutters, professional shills, and paranoid freaks.

    Fucking A, just cover your mattress, raise it off the ground, and don't fucking worry about it. Wash your shit when indicated.

    Think about it: Uncle Jessie from Full House was a pest exterminator, as well as a guitarist. I wouldn't trust him around my pile of soiled underwear, let alone anything of importance.

  25. #875
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    Oh. So this nice older woman — geez, she must be like in her mid-70s. I don't know how she stands it, other than working extremely slowly.

    Oh yeah, so anyway she says she has an extra plane ticket to Atlanta and asked if I wanted it. We're kind of friendly, but I tried to tell her delicately that there is no fucking way I'd be going to goddamned Atlanta in late August, unless I were forced to.

    And then I was reminded of semi-recent debacles about people being held captive in +100 deg F heat for at least an hour on a runway.

    It occurs to me that people are fucking stupid if they don't bring about a dozen airline-sized bottles of bourbon, some fresh mint, and some ice in their carry-on.

    And also call anyone who questions your regulation (TSA and airline)-abiding carry-on contents a cocksucker.

    Meh, I could spend a few hours on a stopped plane sipping mint juleps out of my own supplies and reading a book, while observing the frantic mob.

    Bunch of pantywaists.

  26. #876
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    NO, I REALLY WANT TO KNOW

    Do turd commercial sites like cracked.com and others expect people to "contribute" to their shareholders or directly to their individuals?

    Yeah, I can see some turd site like wikipedia.com or the guardian UK newspaper or the US NPR holding fundraisers — maybe you get a tote bag or something. Or the pride of whatever.

    And, yes, I'm well aware that legitimate publications like, for example, National Geographic, have little annoying cards that fall out every so often into your tomato bisque.

    For a web-based "publication" funded and staffed by a corporation which supposedly supports the efforts of their web arm, and monetized by advertising funds, in addition to free or nominally-compensated "contributors" of content, I find it to be amusing.

    YOU, the viewer at home, will decide.

  27. #877
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    THIS IS THE WORST QUESTION NEED ANSWER FAST

    I can ask IRL, just in conversation.

    But when and where is it appropriate to ask a woman about her hairstyle?

    Yeah, there's no doubt I can do the do about the do.

    I wonder, however, if it might be getting a bit too personal. For , there's some girl with a similar thing going on — half-pony-tail, half French-twist.

    And, no, don't get started: the pianist in the video might be fourteen years old for all I know. Just an example.

    So, I don't think it's odd at all to just, in an idle moment, ask my woman, "Hey, how do you call that kind of thing you do with your hair, sort of half-ponytail,.... etc <deleted obscene content>?"

    Seems fine to me — we know each other as coworkers.

    However, IIRC women can get a little protective about their hygiene habits and grooming and stuff.

    On the one hand, it could bring us closer as people.

    On the other hand, it could signal an alert/strike/hiss/avoid response in her, which I don't want.

    SO, which is it, you bunch of geniuses?

    //////////

    ETA OK, I've narrowed it down.

    Should I:

    (i) Hey, that seems like a cool way to put your hair up so it doesn't get caught in the conveyer belt

    (ii) Hey, I kind of like the way you figured out how to do your hair — it looks practical.

    UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE::::!!!!! "I like your hair, can I touch it?"
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 20 Aug 2018 at 12:23 AM.

  28. #878
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    HEY!!!!

    Here's a pretty good question.

    I don't feel like putting in an order to a print-shop for new "business" cards — for starters, I'm unhappy with designing such things from scratch (I didn't like my old ones), and for seconders, that's a lot of effort.

    WHAT about just putting an un-lined, blank, 3x5 (inches) card in my printer, and just next time I see Morgan say, "Hey, if you feel like going for a short walk sometime, why don't you give me a call?"

    On the one hand, that's a little skeevy.

    On the other hand, this isn't from some person on the street — I know she likes to walk/hike and birdwatch (shuddup), so it doesn't seem so strange to me. We're friendly IRL.

    And it's a little smoother than fumbling around for a pen and paper and a matchbook or a napkin to write somebody's info down.

    There's no problem with me asking for her digits, but there isn't a lot of time during work to just fumble around with pencil and paper.

    And, anyway, I kind of like giving the woman some control — she doesn't have to deal with some drunken Jizz calling her up, she can just do what she wants.

    I think it's excellent.

    /////////////

    ETA

    I've just decided that's creepy and weird.

    I'll just jot down my info on a post-it note (pink, preferably) and give her my line, spur of the moment.

    SO forget I said anything.

    EETA And of course pink is the best color. Ladies love it, the men crave it. There's no downside.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 23 Aug 2018 at 05:04 PM.

  29. #879
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    QUESTION

    It's pretty cool to make a clicking noise with your mouth and say "Hey, kiddo!" to a woman you've propositioned.

    I vote yes, it's fine.

    For the reason that its how one addresses other coworkers, male or female.

    Therefore, deviation from the norm is unacceptable.

  30. #880
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    If it's just the same as with everybody else, sure.

    Not everyone can get away with "Hey, kiddo" to anyone, of course.

  31. #881
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    Perhaps not. I guess the phrase is kind of burned into my brain, along with "Thank you, darling!" or "Sounds good, honey!" to random people.

    This is not so much a question as an observation: I think I sort of screwed myself by writing out my name and digits and giving it to Morgan.

    Now, I have no option to push for the hard-sell. I mean, I could, but that would be too much jiggery-pokery.

    So now I just wait around the phone like a teenage girl.

    Oh well. It was the right tactic, including to make her feel not pressured and for me to come off as a cool, Fonzie-esque dude, but I didn't consider the side effect.

    And it's only been one day.

    I bet she's observing me more closely and considering things, and also not wanting to seem uncool by immediately texting me.

    ETA FASHION QUESTION. Provided it's allowed per the dress code, wearing a black wifebeater (sorry, wives — I didn't invent the name) is better than wearing a .... what do they call them? Those like sleeveless T-shirt things. The five pounds of sweat I extract in a few hours of hard labor is getting to be an embarrassment. Natch I use a pit stick and don't have much unsightly growths on my upper body. And going shirtless is, I'm 100% sure, prohibited.

    Although, I'd be all in favor of skins vs. sportsbras in the battle of the warehouse goons. Women should have their modesty preserved!
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 29 Aug 2018 at 06:03 PM.

  32. #882
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    tank top.

    That's what the non-undershirt kind of sleeveless shirt is called.

    I don't see why HR would disallow a ribbed (for her pleasure) wifebeater and allow the similar tank top. Well, that'll be a question for the bosses.

    If I have to go with tank top, it'd have to be one with the logo from Kurt Russell's from Big Trouble in Little China, or that guy from Revenge of the Nerds, á la "Stress Kills."

    But, still the thicker cotton of a T-shirt isn't so good for me. I prefer lighter-weight shirts, whether hiking-specific "sportswear" or just repurposed "dress shirts," just roll the sleeves up mid-bicep and badabing you're in like Flynn.

    Just to prove I only have a kindergarten-level of language.

    ETA And, yes, "hey kiddo" should not be said to the octogenarian in any circumstance. They want like respect or some shit.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 29 Aug 2018 at 06:35 PM.

  33. #883
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    Oh, can SOMEONE please explain to me why groping a woman's ass is "sexual" assault?

    Last time I checked, you don't have sex with your buttocks.

    I'm not defending the practice — clearly an assault.

    Just not a sexual assault.

  34. #884
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    Oh, HERE'S a good one: what is the deal with women over fifty wearing hideous eye makeup or whatever it's called?

    Maybe it's just a fashion thing.

    I suppose if I start "going gray" I'll seem the same way having jet-black Herbie Hancock hair color.

    I suppose some people just ease into their late middle-age, and some people just have terrible taste.

    Long, fake eyelashes with plenty of mascara?

    Well, maybe it's a girl thing — especially divorcées. I'll never know, but these seem to be reasonable people. '

    Henh. Dunno.

    ETA No, I'm not talking about WareGirl, just people I chat with at work. It could be that WareGirl dyes her hair, but she's no older than me, IMO. Hell, my paternal grandfather went gray before he was thirty.

    ANOTHER question: what's up with the new-ish style of women in their twenties dying their hair gray or platinum? It doesn't bother me, but I think it's a peculiar fad.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 01 Sep 2018 at 10:46 PM.

  35. #885
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    Here's a question someone might actually be able to answer, about BBS/BOARD/VBB software.

    I suspect there's a way to hack together some kind of python-->javascript (my preferred order, since nobody who isn't insane would waste time writing extensions directly in js) "solution," but, I often enjoy trading PMs and having conversations on the back-channel.

    However, while one can export certain data, like text content and all that, in, say, just XML, and, probably, with enough digging, find the appropriate style sheet, I really don't enjoy web programming, nor, obviously, have any special knowledge of "it."

    So, short question is, is there a way to display or offload private conversations in a "threaded" format, like you might see at slashdot or even just gmail or the generic text message "app" on your average phone?

    I'm not complaining: really just curious if this is some option I've ignored, or if there's an easy hack, like some JS greasemonkey script somebody already put together.

    I'd look into it more myself, but it's just way down the list of things to figure out re the applied sciences of computation.

  36. #886
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    Question about beer cans:

    So, the keg or something "went out" at my usual after-work place this morning, and unbidden the bartender gave me a tallboy (16 oz.) of PBR, poured most of it in a pint glass and asked if that was acceptable.

    Shit yeah!

    Am I the only person in the world who knew that "pint" (US) glasses are, apparently about a few ounces short of 16 oz? I swear I was able to fit about three or four extra ounces into the same pint glass, and that's with me pouring it carefully, getting almost no head of foam.

    Apparently they weren't teaching this in bartending school when I was doing that during college.

    What a Tony Roma.

    I'm considering just asking for tall-boy cans and a pint glass from now on. I mean, hell, if I wanted to drink beer from a can I'd just do it at home. OTOH, I don't really like pouring my own beer.

  37. #887
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    "Pint" glass seems to have no particular meaning, but I thought they were at least 16 U.S. oz. Huh.

  38. #888
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    And then there's the whole thing that, in the US, a "pint" of liquor measures like a bit more than 12 oz. A "pint" of 80 proof liquor contains 8.5 units of alcohol/ethanol, so it's not so surprising a reasonably adept drinker can put one of those down the hatch pretty quickly and not feel much impaired. A little over a bottle and a half of wine, say.

    Still, I think it's worth getting shorted a few ounces to have a friendly bartender pour the beer from the tap and serve it to me. Especially if she's a good woman and fills it to the brim with no head — sorry, Pabst Blue Ribbon does not improve with the amount of nasty-smelling foam on top.

    It makes me feel like a little lord, or a captain of a merchant vessel, or ... I don't know ... it's just better. Plus cleavage.

    Weird things from the spirit world.

    ETA
    Quote Originally posted by JT
    or that guy from Revenge of the Nerds, á la "Stress Kills."
    That's been bothering me. I don't have a copy of the movie, but I'm pretty sure .... what was his name? Booger? Something like that. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that shirt said "High on Stress!" in some 1980s-style angular graphics, like an Ibanez electric guitar. Anyway, I looked into it a few years ago and indeed replicas of the shirt are on sale at your friendly neighborhood online place. That's the kind of shirt worth breaking my subdued "fashion" sense" for. That and the Kurt Russell Big Trouble/Little China shirt worn in the movie. Still more a fan of using XOR encryption to write my own extremely offensive messages on my safety vest. ALTHOUGH, I did see a T-shirt I liked with just "hjkl" on the front — those are the old-school "arrow keys" on computers from the 1970s and still today, since I use them every day.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 14 Sep 2018 at 01:44 PM.

  39. #889
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    Draft beer is just more fun. It is known.

  40. #890
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    Quote Originally posted by Jizzelbin View post
    QUESTION

    It's pretty cool to make a clicking noise with your mouth and say "Hey, kiddo!" to a woman you've propositioned.

    I vote yes, it's fine.
    I change my vote.

    That is a negative, ghost rider.

    Now that I've grown a pair and asked her on a real date, and asked for her digits, that's not a phrase I can use for "her."

    I can still say "Hello," or "Good Morning," which I've done today, but anything more is going to either (i) confuse or (ii) enrage or (iii) ragefuse her.

    Meh, that's her problem. We're both adults, therefore I conclude there shouldn't be any problem.

    What does she think I'm going to cry myself to sleep?

    Possibly: she may not have that much experience with non-neckbeards.

    Yeah, yeah. I know I talk a lot here, but IRL I'm just an average guy who doesn't much care.

    Of course I care, but she's neither some notch on my belt, or some idealized woman. It's not a problem.

    But QUESTION, how come when I said "Morning!" (in a regular, just same as everybody else whose names I know or recognize) to her she seemed shy.

    I infer she was (i) scared of me (ii) fearful of unintended consequences (iii) I don't know, PMSing or something.

    ETA And, yes, it is known that draft beer is more fun. It does attract some "interesting" people, with whom one probably should avoid socializing, but a good bar/tavern and a pint from the tap is much better than opening a can or bottle of supermarket beer at home. Plus, pool tables, and occasionally some mediocre conversation.

    Kind of like a message board.

    EETA Oh, durr. "Morning!" idiomatic German "Morgen!" Hmmm. Not sure about that. Certainly not "Good day,madam," but her name invites confusion.

    NB I don't really speak German except for simple conversations and reading a lot in German.

    Hmmm.

    I'd like to know her parentage, viz., if she is a Mischlinge.

    Hmmmm.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 14 Sep 2018 at 02:57 PM.

  41. #891
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    HEY here's a question about music performance: raised by this coworker during a "down-time." I like her, she's nice, we get along.

    BUT, her first question is "So you been playing any gigs lately?"

    First of all, lady (she's not even thirty, so not really a person), people don't call them "gigs" unless you're a total square.

    Second of all, lady, have you noticed that there are basically zero jobs for musicians that will pay cash even for gas for me, and the one or two of my bandmates.

    Sorry, hon.

    I don't play for scrip in exchange for beer.

    Goddamned civilians.

  42. #892
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    HEY!!!!!

    I'm trying to use my search-fu (I even went bi, and used both Bing and Google) to find citations from a US Roman Catholic bishop or archbishop (same thing), who apparently inveighed some harsh criticism against the Amazon of "Jeff" Bezos.

    It's difficult to strip out references to the rainforests of central-South America, and, obviously, all the stuff about fucking and stuff.

    Where can I find this shit?

    VERY recently.

  43. #893
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    Quote Originally posted by Jizzelbin View post
    HEY!!!!!

    I'm trying to use my search-fu (I even went bi, and used both Bing and Google) to find citations from a US Roman Catholic bishop or archbishop (same thing), who apparently inveighed some harsh criticism against the Amazon of "Jeff" Bezos.

    It's difficult to strip out references to the rainforests of central-South America, and, obviously, all the stuff about fucking and stuff.

    Where can I find this shit?

    VERY recently.
    Like this? Archbishop of Canterbury, not U.S, but still...

    https://nationalpost.com/news/world/...n-ancient-evil

  44. #894
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    Quote Originally posted by Rube E. Tewesday View post
    Quote Originally posted by Jizzelbin View post
    HEY!!!!!

    I'm trying to use my search-fu (I even went bi, and used both Bing and Google) to find citations from a US Roman Catholic bishop or archbishop (same thing), who apparently inveighed some harsh criticism against the Amazon of "Jeff" Bezos.

    It's difficult to strip out references to the rainforests of central-South America, and, obviously, all the stuff about fucking and stuff.

    Where can I find this shit?

    VERY recently.
    Like this? Archbishop of Canterbury, not U.S, but still...

    https://nationalpost.com/news/world/...n-ancient-evil
    THANK YOU!!!

    I think my RL source might have been confused, but certainly one doesn't get much more "vested" in the bishopric (?) as that guy.

    Well, I'll have to read his statement, but in advance, I sort of approve.

    A shit ton of WTF is going on at Amazon.

    Says the guy who just today placed orders from both Amazon and Walmart online.

    THANK YOU!!!!

    It was a goddamned Methodist-raised person who related that info to me originally.....CoE != RCC! Bleh!

    Still, the CoE/Episc are kind of a little on the leading edge.

    I just didn't realize they had a history of political statements similar to what comes out of the Vatican.

    Not that it matters where it comes from, but I approve. Without having read the statement. I still approve.

  45. #895
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    Quote Originally posted by Rube E. Tewesday View post
    "Pint" glass seems to have no particular meaning, but I thought they were at least 16 U.S. oz. Huh.
    I was wrong. Same deal, the tap was "out," and you can actually fit a 16 oz. can of beer into a pint glass if you pour it into a pint glass with NO foam, and that sort of surface tension on the top making a slightly convex shape. There's a word for the that, like the opposite of a meniscus, but I don't know that.

    So, all is well in the world of beer.

  46. #896
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    That's good to hear, anyway.

  47. #897
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    Yeah, it is good. Although very few bartenders actually give you the full amount. They either think (i) Everybody likes a little head or (ii) I'll save the bar-owner a nickel for every draft beer by shorting the chump "patron" a tiny bit.

    To be fair, there's kind of an art to pouring a draft beer, and it takes time that a busy bartender may not have.

    /////////

    QUESTION: do you people in far-flung cities or wherever have a multitude of these odd little electric scooter devices around town? They almost look like those Razor (sp?) "skateboard-with-a-handle," but definitely powered probably by battery.

    Actually, if I were wearing dress shoes and business-type clothes, it's not a bad idea — walking a few miles in leather shoes (non-sneakers) I find is kind of rough on the feet.

  48. #898
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    Nah, not here. They seemed to be huge in San Diego if we're talking about the same thing.

  49. #899
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    Probably is the same thing — not the kind of scooters that, like, delivery people or other people who navigate city traffic use, but use a dinky little skateboard-esque scooter.

    And now everyone knows why I do not like being called "Scooter," even as a joke from elders.

    NEW question: its a bit out of season, but I bought some Carharrt shorts. Seem to be of very high quality, durable, all that. HOWEVER, honestly, I could have gone a waist-size up. I think they use the actual waist size, rather than the vanity-sizing a lot of pants-makers use.

    I think I'm going to keep them, rather than return/exchange. I'm getting a bit too much in the gut to be healthy, so it's a good incentive.

    OR is that a ridiculous idea, and I should just exchange for a size up? I'm not too disciplined about eating/drinking with these weird hours at work, but I certainly could be — in fact, it's kind of a hobby of mine, trying to exercise discipline in most areas of day-to-day life.

  50. #900
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    I’d keep them and try to lose the weight. Anything that gives focus will help with that.

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