News headline, October 2078

Google finds users are covering their ears and closing their eyes; releases nanobots to force eyes open and lock hands behind back.

Don't be afraid of spices. Use more than you think is necessary. Onion and garlic can make a meal 100x better.

I once worked as a direct support specialist to support people with mental illness in the community. A hard job because a lot of clients would test how "loyal" you are to them (spoiler alert: I'm gonna support you 'til the end!)

I was just starting out and learning the ropes from these 2 people that had been helping out clients for a while. Some of the things they were saying they did with clients didn't seem to add up (not anything too alarming, but situations where I thought the client would need support and the DSS decided not to assist). But I was still learning so I didn't press the matter or report them.

But then after about a month I found I was the only DSS left. Turns out the 2 people I was learning from were taking part in all sorts of horrible abuse with the clients. Stuff like turning on the car's AC and radio full blast because it's "their car" (the client had paranoid schizophrenia, PTSD, and major trust issues before this happened).

So if you ever have family or friends who are working with DSS's, go ahead and let them help, but be mindful of anything that sounds "off." Talk to the organization about it. The right DSS will be glad you investigated.

Thankfully, my supervisor hired on 2 new DSS's who were absolute legends and whom I was able to learn from.

IME one of my all-time favorite shows. While, yeah, there were some questionable artistic choices sometimes (let's face it...every show has 'em) all around the show creators seemed to know their audience was intelligent and could handle a complex political drama. I never felt like the plot was spoon-fed to me. All the characters had depth, which allowed for rich interpersonal conflicts to drive the plot.

I also like how they weren't afraid to go dark, to add twists that were so gut-wretchingly tragic you didn't know how they'd go on.

But, of course, I also loved how BSG was mainly a mirror about us...from the birds-eye view, the Cylons were a lot more ethical and moral than humans.

A show way ahead of its time. TBF I think it would be way ahead of its time if it was released today, too. Haha.

They basically want more data points on people to sell to advertisers.

It's big tech. That's how big tech works.

Was it ever for jobs?

Been an active user for well over 5 years and not one interaction has resulted in a job.

A bunch of people acting like they were hiring, sure.

As a (as of yet) nonprofessional photographer I take a "yes, and" approach.

99.98% of people will just take a picture of the thing and move on.

0.001% of people will say, "What's the point? I can just look up the picture on Wikipedia."

What do I like to do? I like to take a picture of the thing, but tell a story surrounding it. Is there a mom with a cell phone grinning seeing her kids run around the statue? Take a picture of the moment. Is there a couple with their arms wrapped around each other? Such a precious photo.

This can also help show scale. When I visited a volcano in my area that's a tourist trap, most people stand at the viewpoint, and take a picture of the gray and brown bump on the horizon with steam coming out. But I purposefully tried to get people in the shot. The result showed how impressive the volcano truly was.

While proponents of the new method have theorized it would be painless, opponents have likened it to human experimentation.

Isn't that how we're doing the death penalty anyway? We're trying to find a "painless" way to kill someone, but is there ever really a painless way to do this? I'd imagine even if I'm sitting in a massage chair with classical music playing it wouldn't matter if I knew that half an hour from now I wouldn't be leaving the room.

And we can't really ask doctors because doctors have taken an oath to "do no harm."

The death penalty is just a punishment no one wants to do (well, okay, I'm sure there are plenty of people that have no problem with it), but we've told ourselves that we have to do it.

I wear a kilt. It really is more comfortable than pants.

I actually remember seeing a blog post, too, showing a fashion line of skirts for men. Not for cross dressers either (but no judgement if that's you). It was marketed as a style that still made the men appear masculine. I forget the brand name, but I was intrigued.

Yeah, just been looking for sustainable business opportunities for about the past 2-3 years. I think I might be able to leverage my network this week to give me a bit more breathing room. Most folks don't want to hire me because I come across as a freelancer since that's what I've had to do the past couple of years for survival.

I've been working on digging myself out of a "life hole." I was making strides during covid, but when everyone went back to "normal" I found I haven't been able to adjust to what 90% of people feel is normal. Contracts fell through, my network failed me, and I was left to fend for myself. Makes me feel left out and alone. I want to get married and live where I want. It's like everything says I should be able to, I believe in myself and my abilities, but the season I'm in now makes me feel stuck. Not only that, but it feels like all the progress I made during covid has been lost.

But I keep taking it one day at a time. Some days I feel like waking up is an accomplishment.

That is so awesome you're excited about your life, Middle. I hope it continues to head that way for you. Do you mind if I join you on the mountaintop soon? 😝

Good on you for quitting.

I would HIGHLY advise though, ensuring you have another job lined up before quitting. Lined up as in, you have the paperwork signed. It's common these days to go months without any work. I've been at it for a few years myself, and I'm a tech lead.

How has me working here financially impacted the company? What can I do to help the company become more profitable?

Already had one power outage, another is on the way.

I actually kinda like power outages. They're sort of an adventure.

The only gut-punch is that I've been looking for work for a while now. Hoping on a miraculous break-through soon. But I had to ask for money from friends for non-perishables.

They state very plainly that they sell your data to advertisers.

I post there weekly (often blog articles I publish to provide value for people), I have thousands of connections (a lot of CEOs) over the past 7 years I've been on there and I have yet to make a connection that ends in even meager work. The paranoid of me thinks that it's keeping me in a bubble because it's cheaper to keep me in need.

I've often tried to foster the idea with others of starting a programmer's union. What do folks think of that?

Like, just imagine of even 1% of FAANG workers unionized.

As a man (straight) I consider it my duty to pay for a date, but if the woman wants to pay or go Dutch I'm not going to raise a fuss.

I'll usually tell her straight up I do this as well. I figure if someone isn't comfortable with me communicating something as simple as who's going to pay for a date, how comfortable are they going to be with me communicating about other things as well?

Yeah, but I've had plans of moving from my state for my entire life. I was making strides during COVID and then seemingly lost all the progress I had made when the "normal" returned for most people. I thought I had broken through, but I think I was randomly just lucky during that time, since I've been unable to adjust to what people consider normal (this was the case before COVID, too). So even walks feel like a prison since they remind me of where I live and my failures. Of course, I do try to focus on positives, like kitties that like me enough to say hi, chatting with neighbors (I've found most people in my area are coldly aloof and it takes a lot to get through someone's wall). I realize I'm not defined by my failures, too.

https://jmp.chat - cell phone number without the need for ID verification.

Yup, BandCamp all the way. Once you buy a song you own it, you can play it anywhere you darn well please. Even if BandCamp goes under, no worries, still got my music.

Same with DVDs. Yeah, I've definitely gotten movies I regret purchasing, but I think long-term it's more economical.

Sweet! I've of course heard of D&D but never played. What's going on with the board?