I had several things I wanted to say but then I saw this and I just got so flustered because we live in the dumbest fucking timeline:
I just can’t believe I live in a timeline where the question “Hey should we starve kids in Africa to give billionaires a tax cut” is posed and so many fucking Americans are getting it wrong.
different-church-lady
Yeah, Jack, we’ve never seen a stupid dick swinging contest before eyeroll.
Baud
Why do you hate the working class?
Baud
Phallocentroc and gynocentric sound like pornhub categories.
different-church-lady
@Baud: so does posobiec.
Baud
@different-church-lady:
Isn’t that what people take for heartburn?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Why are these people so damn weird?
I mean, “phallocentric”? “Gynocentric”?
This is bizarre manosphere/incel garbage that’s gobbledygook to anyone that’s not in those spaces
different-church-lady
@Baud: It’s giving me heartburn.
WaterGirl
So many questions.
Who is Jack Poso and why do I care what he wrote?
What the hell does “two high agency males mean?
Who is he referring to? (Trump and Musk?)
What is this even in reference to?
Why is this guy such a fucking pig?
Mr. Bemused Senior
Do people who say things like this expect to be taken seriously? Get me rewrite, nobody will fall for this.
different-church-lady
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): The dumbfuckcentric space?
Suzanne
The funniest thing about it was that it was mostly not direct communication. It was largely passive-aggressive subtweeting. PAB behavior.
different-church-lady
@Mr. Bemused Senior: NARATOR: “Everybody fell for it.”
lamh47
Hey BJ…just checking it. Been lurking since my new job started about 6 weeks ago and sigh…I really hate the commute for my new job. I’m literally this –> <– close to just quitting this job because of it…smh. The only reason I have not fully gone…I’m out… is because I need the income currently..But mahn…I’m actively looking for other work and if I find something closer to home, then yeah…I’m fuq’n out! Sigh…I rather be on BART an hr/ half than be in traffic like 2 damn hours just to get home!!! I’m trying to wait until my regular evening schedule … but … Sigh….
Nukular Biskits
Good evenin’, y’all.
Idiocracy was a preemptive documentary for these times.
The Audacity of Krope
@Mr. Bemused Senior: A couple highfalutin’ words to disguise the fact that basically he’s saying they’re both being dicks.
cmorenc
The feud is so petty that Trump is considering selling or giving away the red Tesla Musk gave Trump when they were still besties.
The Audacity of Krope
Billionaires work? I thought they just leeched off everyone else’s work.
WaterGirl
@lamh47: Great news that you got a job. But an awful commute is awful.
Sounds like you are trying to get changed to a different shift?
Aimai
@lamh47: hang in there lamh47!!
leeleeFL
Saw this earlier and thought, “Of course I’ve seen two juvenile assholes wildly swinging their dicks at each other, I am a 74 y.o. Female! I used to see it everyday at school, and on the street i grew up on. Then I grew up! It was still happening, I just decided not to notice it! That was sweet!”
Suzanne
@lamh47: Commuting is evil, I’m sorry.
MagdaInBlack
@lamh47: I’m so sorry. I drive an hour each way, in suburban Chicago insanity traffic, and that, for me, is just exhausting.
Jay
@WaterGirl:
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Jack_Posobiec
Baud
@lamh47:
That’s brutal.
TONYG
@Baud: A lot of Americans (many of them in “red states”) will be dying due to malnutrition and lack of medical care by the time these assholes are finished. Will those Trump voters learn anything from this? Probably not. It takes a certain level of intelligence for people to learn from their mistakes.
Raoul Paste
Let me take a guess,— Jack Poso is an incel.
How repellent can you get?
Scout211
Governor Newsom said something good today.
Good for Newsom but man, those White House spokespeople are shrill.
sab
@lamh47: I am glad you are checking in with us and glad you have a job.
I did the four hour a day commute in the Bay Area for about four years and it was a real grind.
VFX Lurker
@lamh47: What Aimai said upthread — hang in there.
HinTN
@Suzanne: Especially in the Bay Area. It’s just insane.
However, @lamh47:, it is good to be employed when you need it. Hang in there.
Jay
@lamh47:
I am guessing that BART is not an option.
When I worked at the place, I was asked often why I didn’t drive and took Transit instead.
Comfy seats, thermos of coffee, web surf, cool regulars, beat white knuckling the #1.
Ohio Mom
@lamh47: I knew you would land on your feet. I’m considering this job a bounce until you land for good in the right place.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@lamh47: That’s hard. Can you listen to audiobooks? You can get them from the library on your phone. When I had a 90 minute commute, they really helped me. Sometimes I looked forward to getting back in the car
Jackie
@lamh47: Do you like your job, but hate the commute? Or hate both? If you like your job, is it feasible to relocate nearer your job?
Nukular Biskits
And, since this an open thread, I’m hereby notifying all squirrels, possums and raccoons within a 1 mile radius of The Tomato Jungle that, starting tomorrow, I’m gonna fry their furry little asses with a solar-powered fence charger if they try to eat my Cherokee Purples again.
I have yet to get a single one because one or more of the little bastards keep eating them.
Suzanne
@HinTN: I used to do an hour and a half each way in Phoenix, in the summer, so I definitely know commuting rage. It literally radicalized me. I also remember SuzMom doing two hours each way into NYC when I was a kid, on the train. Long commutes are a policy failure, IMO. They’re a tax on working people, bad for families and the environment.
lamh47
@WaterGirl: Currently, I’m training during day shift hours. My scheduled hours is evenings (late afternoon to late night). The past 6 weeks I’ve been doing morning and rush hour afternoon traffic. The morning traffic is 45 min to 1hour depending on how early..and I’ll be honest, that’s tough “enough”, but that afternoon rush hour commute, averaged 1hr 30 min to 2hrs!!!
I’ve been trying to at least wait until I start the evening schedule…becuase maybe the commute will be no more than an hour each way which is at least doable….but TBH, aside from the pay rate, the job itself might end up being a bit boring and not quite using my experience and skill to it’s fullest…so the commute being so bad is not helping my desired to stay when I already kinda know it could be a not quite good fit.
If the commute was better, the money IS good enough that I would def be willing to keep going.
different-church-lady
@Nukular Biskits: Three years ago I spent $45 on chicken wire to protect a crop tomatoes that I could have probably bought for eight bucks.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@different-church-lady: 😁
Nukular Biskits
@different-church-lady:
It’s the principle.
And my honor has been engaged!
WaterGirl
@lamh47: How much longer before you get done training and can do your regular shift where you’ll very likely have a shorter and less maddening commute?
Jay
@Nukular Biskits:
Well, which ever rodent it is, they have excellent taste.
People have had results spraying the fruit with hot pepper sprays.
If you try the treatment, just remember to wash the fruit.
lamh47
@Jackie: I like where I live (Oakland) and the diversity it allows, my new job is in Palo Alto and the diversity that I like in Oakland just isn’t there. Also too, I could def move closer, but for the cost in Palo Alto, it’s def cost more. Now I can afford the increase in cost, but still…
lamh47
@Jay: My employer does offer commuting type things, but I work at a seperate stand alone building in a different area of Palo Alto and unfortunately, not close to Caltrain, BART or the commuting services…
lamh47
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I did create a commute playlist on my Itunes, but don’t matter how much I love the songs, that brake and go driving and merging is killing me…
Nukular Biskits
@Jay:
Interesting suggestion. I can try that.
One of the other things recommended is to pick them just as they’re starting to turn; i.e. once they start to ripen, leaving them on the vine serves no purpose.
Well, today, both of the Cherokee Purples that had just started turning were half-eaten.
I’m not conversant in rodent gab but I take that as an declaration of war.
WaterGirl
@lamh47: On the bright side, you have money coming in while you’re figuring it out.
How did your previous coworkers do in landing something new after you were all dismissed en masse? Or did they actually end up hiring a significant number of those folks back?
Chief Oshkosh
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Christ these people are fucking weird and they are especially weird about “manly” communication. For that level of “discourse,” it ain’t that complicated.
WaterGirl
@Nukular Biskits: This year, I am growing Cherokee Purple for the first time. Fingers crossed.
lamh47
@WaterGirl: One more week. It’s been a blitz of a training 6 weeks. The saving grace is that I have decades of experience so training me isn’t the same as training a completely new tech. After next week, I go to my regular schedule and then 6 more weeks training on my regular shift.
I am def giving the regular shift a chance first.
What I have done was rent a room near the job while I’m doing the training (I’m lucky enough to have the funds to be able to do this and not stretch my budget). I’ve got points and discounts and used them for past 2 weeks. One more week of this and I’ll be on regular schedule.
Eric S.
@lamh47: Good seeing you and sorry your commute is such shit. I spent 2 years having to drive for my commute. 46 miles one way. I don’t know how people do it. I got out first chance I could.
Nukular Biskits
@WaterGirl:
In my previous life, I grew them in my greenhouse.
And they were delicious on sandwiches, burgers.
That’s why I’m so mad. LOL.
lamh47
@WaterGirl: Right…I feel grateful that I have income and work and not having to be bothered or worried about the fed work system. I’m not too sure about my old coworkers. Many of the folks in my department were career fed workers and many likely did early retirement
WaterGirl
@lamh47: That’s good news, the end is in sight! Smart to rent the room.
Weird to be being the one trained when you are likely used to being the one who is training others?
WaterGirl
@Nukular Biskits: I discoverd them at the farmer’s market the last two years – while I was growing other tomatoes. This is the first time I’m trying to grow them myself.
Scout211
In BC’s thread earlier today she posted a bluesky video interview of a Chinese woman who is Harvard’s valedictorian. A fight between two stupid guys broke out behind her. The post from Posobiec is in response to people reacting to the stupid guys fighting behind the brilliant young woman.
There was some discussion in that earlier thread about Posobiec’s post.
Added: He was defending men and minimizing women because he’s a pig, which answers another one of your questions.
lamh47
@Eric S.: Thx.
What makes it hard is I’m kinda spoiled. Cause for the past 15 years I’ve never lived more than 15 miles from my job. literally my daily commute was 10-15 minute! Literally I bought a new car in 2015 and by 2023 I only had 35k miles on the car! That’s only about 5k a year!
So yeah…this new commute is driving me batty
Eric S.
@Nukular Biskits: Id declare war too.
Jay
@Nukular Biskits:
Quite often, they are going for the water, not the nutrition. That why they eat only part of the tomato.
Capsaicin works. You can buy pretreated birdseed for your winter feeders when rodents are an issue.
There is a reason why “vine ripened” is the best.
Spanky
@WaterGirl: I’ll just Plus One all of WG’s questions.
They Call Me Noni
@WaterGirl: All questions I have as well. I don’t understand any of it.
WaterGirl
@Scout211: Thank you!
I did see the interview with the Harvard valedictorian, but I wasn’t able to read the whole thread.
Knowing that this joker was writing about a stupid fist fight makes this even dumber.
lamh47
@WaterGirl: 100%. I can tell the past new hires they’ve trained didn’t nearly have the same experience I have…LOL. So many of the trainers have said to me “hey…if you feel you need more time or you feel they are trying to train you too fast…then you can ask for more time…”
And I’m like…nah, I’m good. I promise you, I could train YOU on this stuff…LOL. All I need you to do for me is let me know what the protocol here is and I can adapt…cause all the same stuff I’ve done before or a version of it.
PsiFighter37
“Which one wants to be the power bottom more: Elon or Donald? We asked patrons at a Chattanooga Waffle House for their thoughts, and their answers might surprise you.”
WaterGirl
@They Call Me Noni: @Spanky: Good company!
WaterGirl
@lamh47: So the drive is tedious and the training is too. No wonder you are cranky! :-)
kindness
@lamh47: I commuted from Modesto to Oakland and back for 12 years. It wasn’t so bad during the 2008/9 economic crash. No one was commuting. When I started doing it I could run the 85 miles each way in an hour & a half. By the end though it was taking 2 to 3 hours each way. I was overjoyed when they moved me from Regional out to the Modesto hospital. Funny thing is, the big wigs thought I was being punished because I wasn’t around them in Oakland any more. I never told them how wrong they were.
Eric S.
@lamh47: I’ve been full time remote since March 2020. The new COO got bug up his ass and is trying to get everyone into the office 3x/wk. There’s so many logistical problems with this I won’t try to list them. If/When it happens I’ll have a 70m commute but I’ll be on the El or in nice weather on my bicycle.
bbleh
OMG, I think Jack Poso needs to go have some phallocentric communication in some dark corner somewhere, perhaps alone perhaps not, and then he’ll feel much better.
Shalimar
I will repeat what I said earlier. I am surprised phallocentric is a real word. It sounds an awful lot like they communicate by sticking their dicks in each other. Not that there is anything wrong with that if it’s what Jack is into.
They Call Me Noni
@The Audacity of Krope: would be more effective if he’d just say that.
They Call Me Noni
@cmorenc: i read somewhere that it was like TACO was selling the engagement ring.
The Audacity of Krope
@They Call Me Noni: Right, but it wouldn’t communicate the esteem Poso has for dickish behavior.
Scout211
@Shalimar: Loved your comment this morning and loved it tonight, with extras. :-)
sab
@lamh47: Yikes! Oakland to Palo Alto.
When I lived in the Bay Area I commuted in the North Bay Area which was interminable, but partly I took the ferry.That was slow but soothing. The other half was traffic.
Californians are much much better drivers than, say, Ohioans, but commuting in traffic is such a strain.
When is your lease up? (Don’t tell us. Just think about moving south.)
Suzanne
LMAO. A similar take I just observed: “People forget how men with testicles spar”.
Apparently men with testicles subtweet one another on Xhitter. So manly.
ETA: Extra irony on the 81st anniversary of D-Day.
Sister Golden Bear
@lamh47: An Oakland to Palo Alto commute is brutal.
Dunno if it would help, but there are things to do in the Palo Alto and nearby to wait out evening traffic. Hit me up if you’d like more info.
They Call Me Noni
@Nukular Biskits: Chicken wire is your friend. Ask me how I know.
I have lots of flowers behind wire because that’s just how you garden when you live in the woods.
Nukular Biskits
@Jay:
I’d always believed that as well, having grown stuff for nearly 50 years (growing up, the annual garden’s output went directly into the freeze or canning for the winter … money was tight).
However, having read that a couple of weeks ago about about (mostly) squirrels seeking out tomatoes for the water content (the little bastards have access to a damned pond just across the fence), I also came across a lot of discussion about picking tomatoes just as they were starting to turn, rather than allowing them to turn completely red (or purple or yellow, etc, depending on your variety), on the vine.
I started picking the cherry tomatoes as they started to turn and I really can’t tell the difference between that and “vine-ripened”, TBH.
As for the 4-legged criminals, I’m of the opinion they’re doing it for one simple reason: They task me and I shall have them.
Kristine
@lamh47: I hope you find something closer to home soon
::reads follow-up emails::
Or that matters improve once your schedule changes.
Nukular Biskits
@They Call Me Noni:
In my previous life, my garden was in a wide open area, far from trees (except my fruit trees) and I never had this problem. That and the cats I had at the time tended to lounge around under my blueberry bushes next to the garden.
Here, as you can see in my “jungle” link, the woods are just over the other side of the fence and I have no cats.
HypersphericalCow
I made a similar comment on LGM (which seems to be broken right now), that this is like the Mr Show sketch where both Bob and David are playing hypermasculine dudes who threaten each other, brandish weapons, and then talk themselves into gay marriage.
The Audacity of Krope
Fruit water is clean, generally speaking.
Suzanne
Man, Elon unfollowed Catturd, and I’m just….. still not over how funny this shit is.
LeftCoastYankee
So was that comment about the two morons fighting in background of the Harvard valedictorian video, or the two morons fighting on their respective social media echo chambers?
Either way they could all use a phallocentric kick in the groin.
That’s what we need robots for: Misogynistic dipshit opens their mouth and robot brings a phallocentric remedy.
Kristine
@Nukular Biskits:
I have a small bird bath attached to my deck, and occasionally see a squirrel grab a drink there (I’m pretty religious about cleaning it, sometimes several times a day because as much as I love birds, they’re mice with wings).
Nukular Biskits
@The Audacity of Krope:
Understood. And the taste buds of humans can’t comprehend those of lesser organisms, I guess, but I can’t imagine being so thirsty was to eat a raw (mostly) green tomato.
And this is from someone who LOVES fried green tomatoes.
Lyrebird
@Baud: I may not always agree, but I am so thankful for John Cole and the various Men of Balloon Juice.
How do you like:
“Decency: It’s not just about wearing pants.”
They Call Me Noni
@Nukular Biskits: Here we are surrounded by woods on three sides so the squirrels, rabbits and deer are a problem but I figure we’re in their territory so we adjust. We put a couple of flowering trees in the backyard a few years ago and had to put wire around them because apparently the deer thought they were tasty.
Jay
@Nukular Biskits:
We always vine ripened as much as possible.
But yeah, tomatoes will quite often ripen off the vine.
Some tomatoes really do have more flavor, but it depends on the strain of the tomato. Roma’s, not so much, Pink Ladies and Sunsugars, yup. Depends on the terroir and the amount of sugars.
sab
@lamh47: Remember if you think about moving, do you like Oakland?
California is huge and diverse, and a lot of areas are wonderful, and other areas are worse than sites back east.
I always liked Oakland. Also my nephew and his Canadian wife chose to live there.
I lived in Marin. It was very white and secretly Republican.
My brother was a mayor in a town there and I cannot even talk to him any more. He went to work for a financial firm and they turned out to be a cult. Think like them or be tossed into the abyss.
WTFGhost
So my covid test came back positive, ten minutes after my home clinic closed, and apparently, calling the clinic and asking if the on-call doc could call in a prescription is no longer “a thing”.
I did call around, and found a doctor who would see me for a video visit, but, I would just *have* to come in, to use one of *their* tests, to prove something everyone already knows, and I pointed out that I really wanted to prefer not to break quarantine. I do get it, though: if they don’t charge me for the test, they only get an office visit! UPSELL UPSELL, UPSELL! Plus, wouldn’t is suck to help save a guy’s life, if you didn’t get to charge him for the meaningless test? EWWWWWW! Who wants that, when they can be all in on the cash, right? Plus, taking me out of quarantine, while I’m definitely contagious, strikes me as blatant stupidity, even though I’ll wear an n95.
Apparently, all the nearby urgent care clinics are hidden by dozens of ads for “talk to doctor by phone!” services, so it’s not even easy to find an actual *clinic*, and not a place to buy boner pills in private.
There are times I really hate life, and this is one of those times.
Sorry if I crapped too hard on those who were feeling a win for Kilmar Abrego Garcia – I’m definitely in a less than stellar mood right now.
lamh47
@sab: my current least is month to month because I didn’t want to sign an extended lease until after starting my evening schedule. So if I do decide to move closer, I just will need to submit a 30 day notice.
lamh47
@Sister Golden Bear: I’ve got one week left of day shift training. I leave work at 3:30pm each day. I’d literally have to find something to do for like at least 3 hrs, or I’ll just book a room next week and thankfully it’s my final week
lamh47
@sab: I do like living in Oakland. Like I said, the diverisity is def a plus, but also it gives me a similar feel to living in NOLA.
I also like my apartment…it’s a perfect size for the money the area and being a new transplant.
They Call Me Noni
@WTFGhost: So you can’t get Paxlovid yet? From what I understand you have to start taking it within a few days of first symptoms.
Elizabelle
@lamh47: Hello you.
Sister Golden Bear
@lamh47: You’d actually want to wait until 7 or so for the freeways to clear, so no, not worth it.
MCat
@lamh47: Hi. I understand. I take it that you don’t have a way to work from home. I hope you find something better that’s closer to home. Long commutes are awful.
lamh47
@Elizabelle: WAVES!!!!
sab
@They Call Me Noni: We were sitting out yesterday in our new ( to us) yard in Akron.
We are next to a railroad, and beyond that is our local faux Tudor Mansion. The mansion has a pond and a huge thousand acres maybe) area, almost none of which is gardened.
We were sitting in the driveway, overlooking the trees out back, railroad behind.
Then our somnulent pitbull woke up and barked, frantically.
Turns out a doe and her tiny baby were in our yard. She stamped her feet at and our pitbull almost fainted in fear. A sensible reaction. An angry whitetail deer mom is much bigger and very much fiercer than our silly dog.
We put the dog inside, and will remember the deer threat.
Ramona
@Scout211: What are the mechanics of how Newsom proposes to withhold these federal taxes? As I understand it, most of it is withheld by the employer and sent straight on to the IRS.
prostratedragon
@Nukular Biskits: From your start there, I thought you were gathering ingredients for Brunswick stew.
NotMax
Got the punch line: Phallo Vance. (Play on the original.)
Now need to reverse engineer the joke.
Suzanne
@NotMax: I want to send Elon to CECOT.
Ramona
@lamh47: Can you afford to stay in a nearby hotel during the week while you are training?
H.E.Wolf
@lamh47: First of all, it’s great to hear from you.
Second, you are right up there with Lizzo in awesomeness, and I hope the folks at the new job figure that out right quick.
Third, this may be a really dumb question… are any of the train stations close enough to your workplace to make Uber rides a possibility, maybe sometimes if not regularly?
(I so dislike the notion of you being trapped behind the wheel for hours of stop-and-go every day. Where is my magic fairy wand to fix this?)
Best wishes, and please keep us posted….
WTFGhost
@They Call Me Noni: Yes, but, symptoms started today. I have tomorrow, Sunday, and Monday, and even could start on Tuesday (they now saw “within 5 days of symptoms starting” instead of “within 4”), but, my figuring is, the sooner I start clobbering the bugs, the sooner they’ll get their ass properly kicked.
Someone earlier mentioned to keep up on sleep with Covid-19. That’s looking easier and easier as the day wears on.
Nukular Biskits
@prostratedragon:
I’ve had the Southern version of that.
Ms. Biskits, being a city girl, simply would not have such a thing.
Jackie
@Ramona: from lamh47 “somewhere upthread”:
Ramona
@Suzanne: Ahahahahahahahaha!
dr. luba
A fried sent me this link today: “My Billionaire Daddies Are Fighting”
lamh47
@Ramona: yes. that’s exactly what I have been doing for past 2 weeks and I have a room booked for next week, the final week.
Luckily I have a cousin who gets friends and family discounts that I have been using so at least I’m not paying a whole arm and a leg
lamh47
@H.E.Wolf: Thx…Once I survive the training, hopefully the commute is better.
For the main hospital there is a close Caltrain station along with PT that the hospital provides for employees. Unfortunately the lab I’m in is an off-site lab so it’s on a seperate campus from the main hospital and no PT provided for employees
Fair Economist
@lamh47: My husband’s mom and one of his brothers live in Fremont, which I rather like – I wish Orange had bike lanes like that! It’s more diverse than super-$$$ Palo Alto, and a commute to Palo Alto would be much more doable. I know it’s not Oakland, but it might be a workable compromise.
NaijaGal
@lamh47: Oh – so sorry to hear about the commute. Hang in there.
They Call Me Noni
@WTFGhost: That’s good. I wish you the best. Both of our daughters had Covid a couple of years ago and it was pretty yukky. Hope you can get the right meds and it won’t be too hard on you.
rikyrah
Cole, they are the stupidest muthaphuckas ever😠😠
rikyrah
@WTFGhost:
🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽get well.
rikyrah
@lamh47:
lamh,
Keep on pushing. Long commutes suck😪
Craig
@HinTN: yes! 280 is the most gorgeous freeway, now it’s totally clogged by bros in 100,000 dollar cars going 60mph in the left lane. 101 is totally suck. 880 is a nightmare. Commuting is terrible. I envy my pal in Philly that commutes into Manhattan on the Amtrak. She reads a lot of books
NaijaGal
@Scout211: Thank you for sharing this – I was hoping Newsom would take a break from the podcasts to rediscover his spine and point out the obvious (about California giving more in taxes to the federal government than it gets back).
But this is the sad thing – we essentially have a president that’s fine with dismantling the union without calling it that. He’ll cut funds to blue states and leave funds for red states and what he’ll fund is the confederacy plus some mid-western states. Is that what MAGA had in mind? Even though there are probably more MAGA voters in California than Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina combined?
Lapassionara
@WTFGhost: I managed COVID with doses of mucinexD and lots and lots of broth, herbal teas, and other fluids. If you have a pulseoximeter, make sure your oxygen saturation is 95% or higher. Good luck, and let us know how you are doing.
They Call Me Noni
@sab: I have pics of my cat Gizzy tracking a decent sized deer in our yard. Little dude always thought he was 10 foot tall and bullet proof when in actuality he weighed all of 10 pounds. I had to shout to scare the deer away because Giz was not having that thing in his yard and I didn’t want him to get hurt.
I bet with that kind of land and water nearby you get tons of them. Three years ago we had a mama and her three babies that would come graze in our backyard a couple nights a week. I googled it because I didn’t know they could have three babies.
They Call Me Noni
@dr. luba: That elicited a chuckle!
divF
@lamh47: I’m so glad to hear you’re here in the East Bay gainfully employed. Your comparison of Oakland to NOLA (with which I agree) is quite flattering to Oakland. The weather is very different, though – we will see high temps mostly in the 60’s for the month of June, which isn’t exactly NOLA weather. How do you feel about that ? If your nieces come to visit, they will need to be warned to bring suitable clothing (but probably won’t believe you), which is what happened the first time my brother’s daughters came out for a visit from Washington DC in the summer.
George
Any Kenworth drivers out there pullin’ logs? Any Cabover Petes with reefers on? Any Jimmys haulin’ hogs?
Asking for a friend.
NaijaGal
@LeftCoastYankee: I thought it was about Skipping Dipshit’s fight with Cheeto Jesus (since he said “high agency males”) but I may be wrong. I’m not sure I even want to know who Posobiec is.
lamh47
@divF: Oh I love the weather. It’s one of the highlights of the area. The traffic, not surpringly, is the worse.
My sister and my cousin visited last month and they loved the area and the weather. In fact, the weather is the biggest draw to the region for me.
H.E.Wolf
@lamh47:
Grrrr. That is so “wrong*.
Fingers crossed that this starts to get better!
Marc
@lamh47: Congratulations on the new job! I commuted for over a decade on a daily basis between the Grand Lake area and Stanford. Even with a shuttle at the Stanford end it took between 2:00 and 2:30 each way. Stanford provided transit passes so it was free, which helped, plus I could sleep or read. Driving was mostly faster, but I hated it.
If you continue to live in downtown Oakland, hopefully you’ve figured out the quickest way these days would be BART to Millbrae then transfer to Caltrain. Do you have a bike? Timed right, that could get it down to 90 minutes or so.
WTFGhost
@George: This, and a person mentioning their theory (“which is mine,”) really hits the nostalgia tracks. Do CBs still exist, so the song still makes sense?
(One fever dream weekend, I saw a perfect storybook ending, where the convoy was flushing out evil aliens dressed as cops, and “crashing the gate doing 98” didn’t trigger the alien cops, hence, the good guys could identify and kill them. After that, I tried to avoid fever dreams.)
(Re, the theory that “is mine,” the origin was the theory of brontosaurs, which were said to be thin at one end, much, much, thicker in the middle, and thin again at the other end. “That theory seems to strike the nail on the head!” “And it is mine!”)
WTFGhost
@rikyrah: thanks!
@Lapassionara: I’m betting my body can take it on its own, but I’m nearly 60, overweight, and diabetic, so for me, I want to pull out all the stops. That said, I do have mucinex and real, live, Sudafed, and plenty of tea and soup.
George
@WTFGhost:
I’m not sure if CBs still exist, but I hope they do. Warning other truckers about Smokeys would be difficult on a group chat on Microsoft Teams.
Marc
@lamh47: By the way, there are other transit option that may work out for you. AC Transit (Line U) has buses between Fremont BART, the Amtrak station, and the Stanford oval which stops at various places in PA (there is also Stanford AE+F, but that doesn’t stop in PA).
There are also the Dumbarton Express (DB, DB1) buses with two routes from Union City BART to different parts of PA. That can actually be quicker (under 90 minutes) if you can easily get to Lake Merritt BART and bridge traffic is normal. Plus PA has various last mile options, including scheduled shuttles to various office parks and on-demand shuttles.
Marc
@sab: I lived in Marin, too, but in an apartment on the Headlands adjacent to Marin City in the early 90s. My girlfriend and I used to walk to one of the churches in MC back then, and there were (still?) a couple of restaurants, just to be around other black people.
But, Marin is a worse commute to Palo Alto than Oakland.
San Leandro and Hayward are also decent options, smaller than Oakland, and just about as diverse, but with a bit more South Asian culture.
Gvg
@Jay: If it’s the water, it may help to put down fresh water bowls outside the enclosure. My first drought as a serious gardener taught me that. The critters were eating my good hoses to get at the water they smelled sitting inside. I installed a small “pond”, and had no more problems. It was a buried kiddie pool with lily pads and minnows to eat mosquito larvae. I did have a problem that I thought was juvenile kids stealing water lilies and leaving them to die in the yard, but found out it was a playful dog.
you can also buy large quantities of red pepper as restaurant supply and carefully sprinkle some around every week. It’s much cheaper and the same stuff they sell for a higher price with a fancy label to deter deer or squirrels. In some locations I had to mix it with the bird seed because the squirrels were defeating the squirrel proof feeders.
Gloria DryGarden
@Baud: feminists use these words too, and often quite sharply..
Craig
Gloria DryGarden
@Gvg: piggybacking on to say, steep the red pepper in water, spray on surfaces and items you wish to protect. Depending on critter, garlic in the concoction. Or some garden centers sell urine of different animals…to repel.
prostratedragon
@Nukular Biskits:
Just today saw a cooking show featurette reminiscing about the original edition Joy of Cooking, which includes the squirrel and|or possum version. That’s one my Southern-reared family left down there, though we did have rabbit on the barbie a time or two.
Gloria DryGarden
@lamh47: books on tape? I hear that helps some people. 2 hours each way is super long. You can’t really have a life after that, can you?
I don’t know your traffic patterns, but sometimes leaving 20 minutes earlier, or later, shortens a drive and lessens the traffic one is stuck in. In Denver this is true anyway. May you find your way through this.
Gloria DryGarden
@Nukular Biskits: oh no. Cherokee purples are sacred. Even better than sungolds, but you have to wait so long for them…
Gloria DryGarden
@lamh47: if they would let you leave a half hour early and stay that half hour late on alt days, perhaps that would offset the timing, and get you a shorter trip.
Maybe pick up some food, or do an errand close to work, before the commute, to delay it, no hopefully get less traffic. I hate rush hour, I’ll go out if my way to avoid it. my tricks may or may not be useful for others.
pieceofpeace
@lamh47: I could take a guess at the area where you work. I used to do the same Palo Alto commute, only to Berkeley, but that was long ago.
It occurred to me that ferry boating would have worked well. Can you bike to and from CalTrain on each end? It has dedicated bike placement.
Good luck, sorry I have no other ideas.
prostratedragon
Last night, heard Randall Goosby play this Florence Price concerto with the local band. If you need something to do in Chicago tonight, you can probably get tickets. Rest of the program’s pretty nice, too.
JWR
Has this been covered today? It’s been all over Los Angeles TV news all afternoon and evening. From NBC tonight:
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@JWR: I stopped by my store this evening and our hardware guy was saying that two of the locations that they raided were Home Depots(Wilshire and Cypress Park). I don’t know if they went inside the stores or just picked up the day laborers outside.
JWR
More on today’s practice Nazi raids. This time from KTLA:
Remember when we all said to the idiot Trump voters that they had no idea what mass deportations would look like? Welp, it begins. :(
JWR
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA: I don’t know where on the premises they were picked up, but yeah, Home Depot was one of those hit. The TV was speculating that some further action was being planned for tomorrow, but only speculation on that point.
PS. I hope all’s well!
Nettoyeur
@Suzanne: Mean girls in high school
JWR
Bibi Netanyahu, doing the Lord’s work (of ensuring a ready made enemy once he’s done using Hamas to keep his sorry ass out of jail.)
Jay
@JWR:
Creating, arming and funding Hamas worked out so well for Israel to undermine the PLA, that they are trying it again, with ISIS, to undermine Hamas.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@lamh47: Consider moving to Hayward/ Union City/ Fremont. The commute would be a lot better there.
Gregory
The responses on BlueSky have been hilarious. They’re mostly photos like Bert and Ernie or SpongeBob and Squidward or the two cowboys from Brokeback Mountain.
Paul in KY
@different-church-lady: Not me, nosiree.
Paul in KY
@Baud: I would assume they are. Also. Too.
Paul in KY
@lamh47: Assume you are in Nashville or Atlanta? Both those cities have terrible traffic. Wherever you are, I hope you can get a better job soon.
Edit: See it is out in Palo Alto
Paul in KY
@MagdaInBlack: Chicago really bad too. I feel for you.
Paul in KY
@Nukular Biskits: Duly noted. You may install and activate fence!
Paul in KY
@lamh47: Can your employer move these current hours abit so you miss the worst of it?
Paul in KY
@The Audacity of Krope: Also predators can be around ye ole water hole
Paul in KY
@WTFGhost: I am sorry about you & your wife getting the Rona. Am glad that you now understand and appreciate our modern health care system :-)
Paul in KY
@WTFGhost: You need to take this very serious, as you appear to be doing. Best luck to you and your wife!