This made me laugh so hard:
When you lied on your CV about having previous sheepdog experience. pic.twitter.com/fecGfhE9YD
— Paul Bronks (@BoringEnormous) September 25, 2017
Have you ever tried to fake your way through a job for which you were ill-qualified?
I did once. There was this military airplane refurbishment outfit that paid pretty well by the standards of the area I was living in at the time. The job specifically said not to apply if you were afraid of heights.
Well, like a dummy, I applied anyway, even though I can’t even stand next to a window on the second floor without getting nauseated and dizzy. I passed all the tests, filled out all the paperwork, aced my interview.
Then they took us on a tour of the facility. There was a C-130 transport plane parked near one of the hangers with a movable stairway next to it leading up to the wing. The man who was conducting the tour made us go up the stairway in pairs and walk on the wing, from the fuselage to the tip and back to the stairs.
Somehow I managed to do it, even though I wanted to run away screaming. I probably had the same look on my face as that dog in the sheep mosh pit!
Anyhoo, tell us your “fake it til you make it” story — or discuss whatever: open thread!
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
I can’t say I’ve had to do that, and hopefully never will. Did you end getting that job?
DesertFriar
If there is one thread where Benedict Donald could post on BJ, it’s this one.
O. Felix Culpa
That poor doggie. I felt like that at work sometimes. And I was qualified for my job, in my own mind at least.
JCJ
I like the depiction of Drumpf in this cartoon. The flies are a nice touch.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/cartoon/20133
Roger Moore
I’ve never tried to fake my way through an interview, probably because I’m the incredibly lucky person who has managed to stick with one job for a long time. I interviewed once when I got out of college, got the job, and am still with the same employer >20 years later. I have no clue what I would do if I had to look for another job.
Sab
Betty, Is that dog okay?
Mary G
And the dog looks so happy! When I was in college I typed papers for people, so when my uninsured car got totalled I decided to apply for a secretarial job. You had to know shorthand, so I read the first chapters of a book to try to learn enough to fake it. For some reason, they tested typing but not shorthand, so I got the job. Hilarity ensued, but my boss liked me enough that he bought a dictaphone.
jl
I’ll have to pass. My whole life story is too long for a blog comment.
Sab
Betty, Is that dog okay?@Mary G: That’s dog doesn’t look happy. That dog looks seriously concerned about breathing and trompling.
Roger Moore
@Mary G:
Too bad more companies these days don’t take that attitude. They’re unwilling to settle for anything less than the perfect candidate, even if that means leaving positions unfilled.
efgoldman
Granddaughter is coming tomorrow!
[Oh, and her parents are, too]
Daughter is taking SIL on a fall tour of New England, where he’s never been. Meanwhile, somebody has to spend time with the kid.
[Back of wrist to forehead in "woe is me" gesture]jl
@jl: Though, Trump’s latest gig makes me look much better. So, I’m with Dub in giving Trump some small thanks for that little boost to my self esteem.
Major Major Major Major
I highly recommend this interview.
misterpuff
@Sab: Looks like my old lab’s happy face (Rest His Soul).
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
I actually am a sheepdog, so I’d say I’ve faked it pretty well.
Gin & Tonic
@efgoldman: No fake gestures. You’re dying for the opportunity to spend time with the grandkid.
Gin & Tonic
Bloomberg News headline: “Zuckerberg Visits Philly, Orders Cheesesteak Like a Local”
NARRATOR: No, he went to Pat’s.
ruemara
I’ve lied and dumbed down my resume to try to get a job, does that count? Most people didn’t believe I had the work experience I did or the tech skills. To be fair, I’ve had a job since I was 12. It took me well into adulthood to realize that most people presume you lie as both a minority & female, then because they themselves have more limited ranges, so it makes them feel better.
Edited to reflect that, that’s a happy dog and I wouldn’t mind a cuddle puddle of sheep or dogs.
khead
When I was unemployed after being RIF’ed by WR Grace and waiting to go to grad school – back in ’94 – I used to fulfill my unemployment requirement in MD by applying to be a manager at fast food joints and restaurants. I have no idea why some folks wanted to interview a biochemical engineer to run their Taco Bell, but it kept the checks coming until I started grad school. Got my first check in March after being laid off in February and my last check the day I started school. Best summer of my life.
Major Major Major Major
@efgoldman: stop trying to make sarcasm font happen.
rikyrah
And, this is why his voters will NEVER be forgiven.
THIS should NEVER have been our reality.
PHUCK THEM TODAY
PHUCK THEM TOMORROW
PHUCK THEM UNTIL JESUS RETURNS
Why Trump Is Exhausting Our Outrage Meters
by Nancy LeTourneau
September 25, 2017
This is one of those days when we are faced with the challenge of deciding which Trump outrage deserves our attention. Here are your choices:
The administration is slow-walking aid to Puerto Rico as the situation there is desperate,
The administration is working on ways to take health insurance away from millions of Americans,
The administration thinks it benefits them to ignite racism in the form of the president’s attempt to deny free speech to NFL athletes, or
The president might have ignited a war with North Korea because of his ignorant name-calling and threats.
TenguPhule
@Roger Moore:
Actually, they do that so they can fill it with an H1-B visa holder.
Cheaper and less human rights to worry about.
delk
I live around the corner from Historic Route 66. Yesterday we saw about 30-40 really cool Borgward’s driving down the street. This is what a Borgward looks like.
It was a European coast-to-coast club that arranged to have their cars shipped to NY earlier this month. As they drove by we reminded them about Winona. :-)
TenguPhule
@khead:
I would have thought the reason was obvious.
Fleeting Expletive
No, but I have one good work story. My first job out of college, customer service at a middling size bank. It scared me because telephone-answering scared me. After 2 years I gave my 2 weeks notice and on the last day, this happened. A man who was multi-wealthy locally, owned networks of auto dealerships, came in to object to a late charge on his credit card statement, which did in fact reflect late payment on the account. No biggie except he did the whole do-you-know-who-I-am number and I snapped–I didn’t need that bank no more.
I refused the charge-back, politely explaining that the bank wants to treat all its clients fairly and equally. He blew up at me and I gathered my purse and got up and left.
It was a silly and pointless thing to do, but I was 22 and I did enjoy it.
TenguPhule
@ruemara:
You’ve obviously not spent a lot of time around sheep.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@rikyrah:
Easily the last one.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
I’m frazzled today because I’m doing author things instead of writer things, and I can’t remember if I told you all that I made my first post on my shiny new blog. It’s about how studying engineers and writing fantasy are totally the same. If I said this already, I apologize.
schrodingers_cat
That lab is me trying to work with high school age teens this summer.
bystander
Never faked myself into a job but the first day of my freshman high school year I was mistakenly put in the senior boys class. That day was swim class. So when the gym teacher called for all the boys who couldn’t swim to go to the end of the pool, I decided to fake knowing how to swim. For six laps.
Slowest score and drank half that chlorinated pool, but got to put off being laughed at to another day.
catclub
@ruemara:
well… I hope it is happy. Aren’t there submission poses which look like smiles to us.
OTOH, if that dog can get one paw up, it will be standing on top of the pack of sheep.
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: I have previously pointed out that threatening someone who has had their own half-brother assassinated with chemical weapons is not a bright idea.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Fleeting Expletive: That is an awesome story.
efgoldman
@Major Major Major Major:
Hey, it took me two years until i figured it out
Sab
@TenguPhule: How is that dog in the picture. He looks stressed. I suppose a bunch of ankle bites could save him eventually.
trollhattan
@catclub:
Yup, that scene was left on the cutting room floor. OTOH that looks like my dog’s face when he shoves under my leg trying to get attention when I’m on the sofa. “DO YOU SEE ME HERE, NOW? HOW ABOUT NOW?“
Patricia Kayden
@misterpuff: Looks exactly like my Boxer/Great Dane mix.
Never lied to get a job. Would be terrified that if I got the job, I’d be promptly fired.
OzarkHillbilly
My first time in Lechuguilla I felt that way. On rope, off rope, on rope, off rope, on rope… A lot more vertical work than I was used to and some of it very technical. At one point I was rerigging a traverse over a 200′ pit, I’m hanging on by the fingertips with one hand and trying to tie a figure 8 follow thru with the other hand and the whole time I keep telling myself, “I can’t fuck up and die here, I have 2 sons. I can’t fuck up and die here, I have 2 sons. I can’t fuck up and die here…” It is a very warm cave, which for this Misery caver was very different. Had to constantly remind myself to keep drinking water. Spending 4 days underground, getting my internal clock totally screwed up because there was no sun. Waking up in the middle of sleep to stare at the ceiling in the absolute blackness and almost swear I could see it while knowing that just wasn’t possible. And to top it all off, Lech is one of the most beautiful caves in the world with wonders of the world around every corner, within inches of my elbow/knee/toe/helmet/cave pack/ ad nauseum and I just knew that at any moment I could forget myself and turn the wrong way destroying some world famous wonder of nature that would make my name Mudd in the world of cavers, forever to be shunned no matter where I went:
“Oh, so you’re the guy who knocked down the 3 chandeliers in the Chandelier Ballroom.”
I spent most of that week scared shitless, which wasn’t all bad because that meant I only had to carry out half the fecal matter I normally would have.
efgoldman
@Roger Moore:
I sort-of little-white-lied my way into my first radio job, which allowed me to use a connection to get my full-time gig
jl
Hey, Cracker never finished the story. Did Lady Cracker manage to gut out the job even with her fear of heights, or not?
NotMax
No.
Certainly have been a few jobs was more than happy to see the back of in the rear view mirror, though.
Patricia Kayden
@rikyrah:
He advocated that ESPN fire Jamielle Hill for calling him a White Supremacist so it’s not just about denying free speech to NFL athletes. It’s about denying free speech to Blacks who criticize him. It’s shutting up the Black people he hates and wouldn’t give housing to and challenged as legitimate in holding the office of Presidency.
Ohio Mom
@Sab: Or a couple of well-placed kicks? I am under the impression that sheep are relatively easy to scare. Get one running and they all follow. They are sheep after all.
I have never been a dog owner but he looks petrified to me. You have to assume the photographer helped out.
Felonius Monk
You are looking at this picture incorrectly. It is a cold day – that dog has just found a unique way to put on a wool sweater.
SFAW
@Fleeting Expletive:
Rich asshole: “You haven’t seen the last of me!!!!”
You: “No, but the first of you TURNS MY STOMACH!”
[stoled from Firesign Theater.]
ruemara
@catclub: Sheepdogs are pretty good at walking on the backs of sheep.
I do have a good faking it job story! I got an interview with a fancy furniture catalog when I was still recovering from DVT and I couldn’t really walk much without a cane. I knew being a black and female was enough to overcome, so me hobbling in with a cane was gonna torpedo me. My then partner helped me get to the door, held my cane and then I walked in using all my focus to walk normal. Um, the interview was up a very large spiral glass staircase. But I made it up there, did my thing and made it out after a little over an hour. Collapsed on the partner but I did it!
I’d like to thank the Ben Gesserit & the Laran Keepers for the focusing exercises for faking having two working legs and bypassing pain centers.
Yes, all my stories are like this.
No Drought No More
A columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle (whose name escapes me) once wrote that her sister was hired as a guard at San Quentin after getting head’s up from a friend, who had already been interviewed for the job but had given the wrong answer to a simple question and wasn’t hired. Forewarned, when the columnist’s sister was asked what she would do if she saw a prisoner escaping, she instantly replied, “I’d shoot him”. Her friend had instead recited a litany of escalating warning cries she would first have shouted out (with a warning tossed in for good measure, if I recall right).
dexwood
While in college decades ago, I applied for a summer job in a lumber yard. The manager interviewing me asked what I knew about wood that qualified me for the position. Without missing a beat, I said, it burns. He looked at me for a second, burst out laughing and said you’re hired.
NotMax
@ruemara
Hell is having an adherent of the Bene Gesserit as a mother.
EAT YOUR SPINACH!
CLEAN YOUR ROOM!
SCRAPE MY CALLUSES!
:)
schrodingers_cat
@Major Major Major Major: From the interview you linked
Hyperbole much?
germy
question for the hive mind:
What are the safest plumbing fixtures? Contractor told me he’d use brass fittings but I seem to recall they leach lead into the water?
A Ghost to Most
My only hope in a job interview is to impress them with my technical skills. I once lost a job when I used the term “Hell Week” in the interview to describe my biggest IT challenge. Glad I lost it, too.
Eta I’m hoping that is behind me now.
That dog pick is priceless; thanks Betty.
Sab
@Ohio Mom: I have had several sheep related breeds, but like this dog mine didn’t actually have shepherding experience. My German Shepherd could have handled it easily because she was as big as a sheep and much bossier. My lab/shepherd would have been squashed like this dog. My great pyrrennees couldn’t be squashed because she is so tall but she might be intimidated. My tiny rottweiler mix might have nipped a few ankles before she fainted.
Or is that dog just a camera hog?
Mandarama
I lied to get my first job–I was 15 and I was legally supposed to be 16. It was at my town’s McDonald’s. I’ve worn many hats over the years, but that job is still the one with the weirdest stories.
I have constant imposter syndrome in my actual grownup job, because I’m an adjunct professor. The implication of the whole system = I am lesser than people who got “real” academic jobs. And I should be grateful to have the job at all and not wish for more money or less grading or a union.
I’m avoiding grading a stack of essays at this very moment. It’s possible I might get paid more at the local McDonald’s and I am in denial.
Mary G
Since it’s an open thread and there are so many things to worry about, I really enjoyed reading the WaPo’s pan of Megyn Kelly’s new show on NBC.
jl
I had one job I was overqualified for and underqualified for. Spent a nice hot summer week during college working a ranch cleaning up after a big sheep die-off. Searched for carcasses, loaded em up and carted them off.
Underqualification was my overactive gag reflex.
Edit: If Cracker doesn’t come back and tell what happened on her high airplane job, I’ll comment again with some details.
O. Felix Culpa
@Major Major Major Major: And then there’s this: Russian operatives used Facebook ads to exploit divisions over black political activism and Muslims.
As rikyrah would say, Uh huh. Uh huh.
ruemara
@germy: I thought it was copper that was best.
Jay S
@schrodingers_cat: Careful, that sort of thing can get you arrested.
The Lodger
@jl: Resorting to threats, are we?
NotMax
FYI.
lollipopguild
@TenguPhule: “Better Tacos thru Chemistry!”
Sab
@jl: What do you think happened to that unqualified Dog? Got a job in a right wing think tank?
Ruckus
@Fleeting Expletive:
No it wasn’t. As you said he was in fact late. He was trying to bully you into correcting his mistake.
He didn’t get a charge for depositing $1000 cash at 10am, using a debt card at 6pm and having a $35 overcharge because the bank would not count deposits till midnight, although they could charge your account within 2 or 3 seconds of using the card. Or any of the other tricks that the big banks pull on customers.
ruemara
@NotMax: I guess that tramp stamp for my birthday is out.
debbie
If anyone ever feels unqualified for anything, become a politician! They’re clearly idiots.
I just faxed this to Senator Portman:
Humdog
@schrodingers_cat: Ha! Did you look as happy as the lab when you worked with teens?
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@NotMax:
Thanks! You finally gave me a good excuse to not get a tattoo
schrodingers_cat
@Humdog: Even less happy.
Robert Sneddon
I got an interview via an agency at a major multinational for some tech contract work. I think the agency had put me forward based on someone else’s CV as I gave the worst interview on record, being unable to answer any of the tech-specific questions. I crawled out under the door afterwards. Drove home that night (about 500 miles), fell into bed at about 7 in the morning. 9:30, the agency phoned me.
“So how did the interview go?”
“Terrible. I was no kind of fit for that job.”
“Yeah but they still want to hire you, same hourly rate but for a different position doing testing. Interested?” Best paid contract I ever had, lasted eighteen months, interesting and enjoyable work solving intricate problems with lots of nice kit to play with.
Humdog
@schrodingers_cat: The dog knows he could nip at the sheep to get them to do what he wanted. They seem to frown upon nipping teenagers, however.
Patricia Kayden
@debbie: Good for you but I doubt Republicans give a dang about disabled citizens or any other citizens beyond the extremely wealthy. The whole point of their repeal efforts is to give a huge tax cuts to their wealthy buddies. Average Americans, disabled or not, can go jump off the nearest bridge for all they care.
Thankfully, Graham-Cassidy stinks so strongly that it may die the death it deserves this Wednesday, thus ending Trump’s attempt to destroy healthcare for millions of Americans for the remainder of this year.
A Ghost to Most
@Felonius Monk: That was my take. That looks like happy dog to me, but I am no expert.
Older
@germy: When they talk about the metal in the fixtures, they are talking about the finish on the part that you see. You could have stainless steel (shiny), or pewter (grey, but not shiny), or brass (yellowish and looks “old fashioned”, which is in right now). On the inside, they are all brass, because it’s the best metal for the job (and, incidentally, has germicidal action) (no offense).
MomSense
I’m so tired today but I powered through. Left a message for Collins and just sent a ridiculously long fax.
Gorsuch is campaigning with McConnell. Like mother like son. Corrupt, unprincipled assholes. I swear that the ability to simply remember shit is what separates Democrats from idiots.
Schlemazel
@Comrade Colette Collaboratrice:
On the Internet nobody knows your a sheepdog
Humdog
I lied about having a job to get a place to rent. Moved to a new area and places wouldn’t rent unless you had a job but wouldn’t give you a job until you had an address and phone. I looked at a newspaper announcement that a new doctor’s practice was opening and faked a letter of employment from them to a potential landlord. Nearly got caught as the landlord called the doc to get a reference but the doctor message said they wouldn’t open the office until the following month. I still kinda felt guilty about it until the landlord tried to choke me when I asked for my deposit back after I moved out two years later. Guess I should have gotten a reference on the landlord!!
debbie
@Patricia Kayden:
I’m sure you’re right, but Portman has always had this self-sense of compassion and it ticks me off.
debbie
@MomSense:
Do your arms still hurt?
Cermet
LOL; I once accepted to train as a fighter pilot (really; long story but an ANG unit; started in the T-37 trainer – that of course, is no longer used and dates me.) While I had soloed a plane, I had a huge fear of heights (ladders are something I can’t do.) In a small plane I could handle it but unusual altitudes where a big no (OK; stupid is really an understatement here. They flew F-4’s at the time and I hated unusual altitudes – beyond stupid.) Well, flying jets was horrible but I managed (for twenty two or three flight hours – even handle landings very well.) Then spin training …that ended it. When up at 25 -27, 000 feet and then had to enter a spin where the damn plane would roll over on its back (bubble canopy!) before falling into the spin. That was too much and I admitted I wasn’t someone with the right stuff (funnier still, almost couldn’t stop that first spin – my boot got caught in such a manner under the panel that I couldn’t release the rudder – almost didn’t break the spin in time … would have been an ugly hole in the ground with me in it (of course, the instructor would have bailed – he was none too happy when I didn’t break the spin. Of course, I finally got it free and am here to tell the story. The instructor said afterwards, one more rotation and he’d had ejected …I almost cost Uncle Sam me and a lot of money.)
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@MomSense:
Huh? Why is a Supreme Court justice openly campaigning with an elected partisan politician? Isn’t that a big, unwritten no-no?
NotMax
@germy
When you say plumbing fixtures, presume you mean faucets.
My (limited) understanding is that such metal plumbing fixtures are usually coated on the inside to ameliorate leaching. Too, a faucet spends most of its time for all intents and purposes dry. Not enough standing water to speak of left inside to be a concern, IMHO.
The drawback with solid brass (again, IMHO) is that it is gonna be much more expensive.
rikyrah
@O. Felix Culpa:
Lips pursed ?
Major Major Major Major
@schrodingers_cat: I didn’t say I agreed with all of it, and I do think the author overstates the influence of Facebook as a universal quality. However, for many, what they said, including that statement, isn’t all that hyperbolic.
Major Major Major Major
@ruemara: so far tattoo ink has a much better track record than plastic packaging in terms of health outcomes.
MomSense
@debbie:
YES!!!!!
Schlemazel
@NotMax:
#1 son got tats while in the army. I found out much later (he felt I would be disappointed. I was but I didn’t tell him that). He explained to me that he studied to shops & noticed some returned used ink to the pots which is a good way to spread blood-born pathogens. Apparently the ink is expensive. I think it is interesting that the ink itself poses a danger
jl
@Sab: That dog in the pic looks like it has things thoroughly under control. It is smiling and happy, and has everything on lock down. Clearly obvious.
I want to know whether Betty carried through with her airplane job.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: There are no norms anymore.
Schlemazel
@Schlemazel:
you’re
arg
ruemara
@Major Major Major Major: So yes to the tramp stamp? No to the plastic boobs?
NotMax
As it’s an Open Thread –
Can’t say for sure what that was watched for an hour on CBS last night, but it sure as shootin’ didn’t qualify as Star Trek.
What a hot mess.
Geez Louise, they even felt it necessary to fiddle, to its detriment, with the classic Trek font.
Marcopolo
Collins just came out as a NO! I am breathing a temporary sigh of relief until October 1 is actually here.
KS in MA
@Fleeting Expletive: Good for you!!!
Schlemazel
Never lied to get a job but I got a job with NASA that I was listed as ‘unqualified’ for. I was installing and maintaining network routers in the late 80s, long before most people even knew there was such a thing. I had a telephone interview & they were very excited to have someone with my skills because they couldn’t find them anywhere. The last question was “What is your degree in?” I had to tell them I didn’t have one & they said there was no way they would hire me. I had 3 more interviews & they all ended the same way. They finally offered me the job because they couldn’t find anyone with my skill set.
The story of the offer & my final acceptance of it is a better story but very long so, some other time.
ruemara
@Marcopolo: Took that vacillating drama queen long enough. Sick of her fuckshit.
Marcopolo
@NotMax: I actually declined to watch as I saw no point in spending time watching the first show of a series that would then move to a pay walled platform for the rest of the season. Glad to hear I didn’t miss much.
Major Major Major Major
@ruemara: YOLO.
zhena gogolia
@bystander:
And I graduated without ever learning to swim, despite daily swimming classes.
NotMax
@ruemara
Godfrey Cambridge on … breasts.
Schlemazel
@NotMax:
Have you seen “Orville”? I was sure it would be a dog but watched the first episode & was hooked. It is way better than Star Trek because the characters are too human. McFarland can’t act (well, better than Shatner but still can’t act) but there are a lot of little human touches & the ending to the third episode was more realistic than anything ST has ever done.
debbie
@NotMax:
It can’t be worse than Seth McFarland’s rip-off, “The Orville.”
FlipYrWhig
@MomSense: That seems SUPER shady. I didn’t find much news coverage, though–where did you see this?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
the better angels of my nature are very happy that the Graham-Cassidy-Michael Meyers bill is, for now*, dead, again
the lesser ones are especially happy that Lindsey Graham is being forced to eat a steaming bowl of shit, served to him by his best friend John McCain
* I suspect it’s real this time as Cruz and maybe Lee seem to want to jump on the Rand Paul “It wasn’t conservative enough!” mini-bandwagon.
debbie
@Schlemazel:
McFarland ruined it for me. He should stick to Stewie.
Marcopolo
@ruemara: Though I mostly agree w/ your sentiment, look on the bright side—maybe it chewed up some time and energy the Rs would have instead spent on their awful tax plan.
Now I need to change my Senate calls to “stop Price and the Trump admin a$$holes from sabotaging the ACA.”
bystander
@zhena gogolia: Can’t say I ever did either.
Glad to see Collins finally did the right thing.
Frankensteinbeck
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Has Rand Paul stated specifically that GC 2.0 did not change his mind?
Lurking Canadian
@jl: Trump had exactly the opposite effect on me. I had sort of accepted that I have impostor syndrome, assuming that’s a real thing. I feel like the dumbest person in the room at all times, but on paper I look OK, and people keep not firing me, so…yep, must be a perception problem. Fake it till you make it, right?
And then there’s Donald J Fucking Trump, living existence proof that a person can be a worthless sack of shit and still (appear to) succeed. Suppose Trump worries that he might be unqualified for his job, or that he might be the dumbest person in the room. Does he have “impostor syndrome”? No, he’s fucking Donald Trump: he IS the dumbest person in the room and he IS manifestly unqualified for his job. So if it’s not always impostor syndrome…
Major Major Major Major
@debbie: I like American Dad if I had to pick one of his shows.
@Marcopolo: woohoo! Agree with @ruemara.
NotMax
@Marcopolo
Piss poor decision to design the interior of the ship (a ship on which people are expected to live onboard for years) entirely in black – a LOT of black – and gray and have it lit by what ended up looking on screen like a single 25 watt bulb.
A Ghost to Most
@jl:
I got the impression she was never going back, job offer or not.
jl
@Marcopolo:
” Collins just came out as a NO! I am breathing a temporary sigh of relief until October 1 is actually here. ”
McConnell caved, once again as in previous bills, to vicious ultra-reactionary wingnut demands from House and likes of Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. So now Collins has no plausible deniability that she was told to go to hell, once again as in previous bills, on her concerns. She was really forced into it.
I agree with ruemara. Amazing what these GOP supposed moderates will put up with. I read this morning that Lamar Alexander, another supposed moderate, is wandering around eating bowls of shit, lying that his bipartisan bill was killed because of no progress. Some Dem Senators are calling him out on his lies, but Alexander seems oblivious to that, since he is eager to eat bowls of shit in front of the whole country, and lie about his own defunct bipartisan bill.
A commenter said the situation is similar to stuff Wyden worked on wrt health. But I think different. Once thing to have work on bill killed in favor of another bill of comparable worth. Another thing to have it killed for the sake of fraudulent BS.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Frankensteinbeck: as far as you can trust him. I think he read the wind and got on the winning– er, not losing– side a bit ahead of some others.
that first one’s a pretty clear “oh, fuck off” to Lindsey, and I suspect the sort-of isolationist and the demented neocon hate each from the last picture, as my grandma used to say
randy khan
@ruemara:
I’d like it better if she’d made it clear her vote wasn’t available from the start, I suppose, but the spectacle of the attempt to rewrite a bill to pick up both the Collins/Murkowski and the Paul/Cruz wings was pretty funny. And I suppose if she’d said no earlier they would have tried to tailor a bill to McCain or somesuch, and we might be worse off. Regardless, the most important thing is that it looks like she’s probably killed it for now.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
jl
@Lurking Canadian: I was just saying that Trump has bumped us all up a couple of notches on the adequate performance scale. So far, since Trump has been too scattered and incoherent to do anything much of irreversible lasting damage, that is one very small tiny plus on his life ledger. He’s done something for others as president, so far, despite himself. Hope that doesn’t change.
NotMax
@Schlemazel
Nope. Don’t much care for McFarland’s usual ‘throw everything against the wall, something’s bound to stick’ and derivative ‘when in doubt, toss in a pop culture reference’ penchants.
Felonius Monk
@A Ghost to Most:
Well, he is either happy because he is nice and warm or he loves him some wimmen (even if they are sheep).
Schlemazel
@debbie:
I liked some of the ‘reality’ bits like the guy saying “My last captain allowed us to have sodas on the bridge, is that OK with you?” As a new manager I have dealt with that sort of thing. I liked the fact that they lost the tribunal because the people involved were hidebound. That is more realistic than an entire culture suddenly seeing the error of their way in 30 minutes as would happen on ST.
I really liked that the one guy screwed up the holodeck so the bandito challenges them to a dance off. That was funny & the sort of stupidity more real than ST.
But, different tastes. It all good.
debbie
@Major Major Major Major:
I also liked that one too.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Trump negotiates the BEST DEALS!
les
@germy:
Where would the lead come from? Brass is copper and zinc.
Frankensteinbeck
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I would not be at all surprised if Trump’s lobbying sank GC. Congress hates his guts.
hueyplong
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Trump bragged that last time he was given ten names and turned them all, so well done, Sen. Collins. Twist that blade.
debbie
@Schlemazel:
No worries. Were it not for Seth McFarland, I’d have liked it better. I do like that guy who was on ER. Nice to see him again.
Frankensteinbeck
@hueyplong:
Somehow, I suspect he was given names like ‘Lindsay Graham’ and ‘Ted Nugent.’
hueyplong
@Frankensteinbeck: I suspect the same thing.
Ruckus
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:
Have you ever met a republican? They don’t care about the law, written or unwritten. They are above the law, the law does not apply to them. That should be the most obvious thing to anyone that is still breathing.
Gin & Tonic
@les: If the wrong solder is used, that could be a lead source.
MomSense
@FlipYrWhig:
Charles Pierce characterized it as McConnell parading Gorsuch around Kentucky taking a victory lap.
germy
@les:
plumbing materials including pipes, new brass faucets, fittings and valves, including those advertised as “lead free” may contribute lead to drinking water.
The above is from a letter I got from my local dept. of public works.
les
@Gin & Tonic:
True; but his question was about fixtures, most of which aren’t soldered these days. Which is why brass, in large part–copper’s not so good at holding threads and seats for moving parts. Hopefully folks competent enough to solder plumbing know to choose non-lead. Alas, hope ain’t workin’ out so good lately.
les
@germy:
Huh. Not very helpful. Brass faucets with lead parts in ’em? I dunno; I’m not sure you can even get lead pipes anymore; and if you’re careful about the solder, I don’t know how you get lead from either copper or brass. I suppose faucets and fittings from China could have anything in them; be careful of Home Depot, much of their stuff is sourced weirdly and can’t be fixed, even if it’s not got bad shit in it. Your Dept. needs to give you some info on specifics–if stuff is really brass, copper and plastic–that covers most of a faucet/pipe hookup–it’s not a lead hazard. If you’re supposed to doubt what its actually made of–well, too bad we can’t have a government that helps us look out for that kind of thing.
gbbalto
@germy: Maybe a dead thread, but lead (up to 8%) is often added to the brass to make machining the fixture parts easier, for example:
https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/science-public/lead-free-faucets-are-anything
As for lead pipes, the chemical characteristics of the water will determine to what extent the lead will leach out.
ETA: Plumbers may cheat on solder because the leaded ones are easier to make a joint with
Mnemosyne
@Frankensteinbeck:
Totally OT, but I ended up down the rabbit hole of TV Tropes last night and saw that your books are being cited. You’ve made it! ?
chris
Just a late note from a rural person. That dog and the sheep are friends. If they weren’t the sheep wouldn’t be anywhere near the dog. To a sheep all strange dogs are wolves. From the picture it’s hard to tell but the dog could easily be a black and white border collie or some sort of mix. Whichever, he’s in his element and happy about it.
Jay Noble
@Gin & Tonic: That lead solder is/was the big problem in Flint
maeve
@chris:
Or a Kelpie who has slipped off the back of the sheep – https://youtu.be/CrPZ2BDBJ90
Not sure it the sheep think of the relationship as “friends”.
J R in WV
@germy:
Brass plumbing fittings no longer contain lead, so far as I know. They closed some plumbing fixture factories around here about 30 years ago because they couldn’t get 100% of the lead out after using lead for 100 odd years. So I think you’re safe.
No One You Know
@ruemara: Tell it.
Neil Gaiman once told a very nervous Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess) that when anxiety attack threatened to derail her first book tour, she should “pretend you’re good at it.”
I’m good at my job, but not at the interviewing for it part. I need to get better at pretending that I don’t care about the outcome.
Jado
@germy:
Usually copper
Jado
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:
Unwritten. that’s the key word. There are no more standards or acceptable practices. If something isn’t strictly forbidden (or even if it is, but you’re a GOP), then there are no consequences. Gorsuch will not suffer for this breach – his tribe loves it, and only wants to see the opposition burn.