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user-inactivated  ·  512 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: U.S. workers have gotten way less productive. No one is sure why.

My employer “We care deeply about the mental and emotional well being of all our employees . . . unless we have to do anything that actually costs money. As an aside, since we’re starting a new quarter, now is a good time to announce both pay raises and cuts to work hours. Enjoy that extra $.25! You earned it! 😊 👍 🎉”

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user-inactivated  ·  525 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: October 19, 2022

You should come here. America is a very, very difficult country to live in and we’re pretty disfunctional as a society, but there’s also a lot of wonderful and beautiful things about this place.

user-inactivated  ·  525 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Smash and Grab of Kroger-Albertsons

At this point, if someone doesn’t expect a major corporate move to be predatory or exploitative, they’re incredibly naive.

user-inactivated  ·  525 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: October 19, 2022

Baseball

A bunch of “reporters” took a single sentence out of a quote by Ohtani wildly out of context and sensationalized the hell out of it. You figure, for a bunch of people who always cry “Why doesn’t anyone trust the media anymore?!” that they’d actually exercize some integrity. They’re doing Ohtani, their audience, and their peers a massive disservice. Shame on them.

Now that both The Guardians and The Mariners are out of the running for The World Series, I kind of don’t have a team I’m rooting for. I’m definitely rooting against The Yankees and Astros though. So let’s hope The Padres or Phillies win it all.

Birdwatching and Nature

I haven’t really done much of any in the past six months. The fall is my favorite time to do it, not cause of migratory birds or anything, I just love the cool air and falling leaves.

It’s rained once here in the last four weeks, and even then, for like five minutes. I’m not joking. Lake Meade is at its lowest levels in history. The Mississippi is so low in some parts, river barges can’t travel down it. The parks where I live are starting to cut down certain species of trees cause our wet/dry shifts are so dramatic now that the trees can’t cope and are no longer maintainable. It’s kind of crazy to think things are already this bad and we’re just getting started. But it’s cool. Let’s just fiddle away like Nero. After all, everyone is doing it.

Housing Market

Apparently a bunch of people who sank money into the speculative housing market through flipping and Air BNB are seeing some very dark storm clouds forming on the horizon. Good. Fuck them. Housing is a social and life necessity, and should never have been turned into a speculative instrument. My only regret is the banks and corporations engaged in the same behavior will probably come out the other side mostly unscathed, which is a shame, cause they’re the real villains here.

I actually have him blocked on Twitter. His tweets are both insufferable and terrifying. He has absolutely no idea that he is the embodiment of hubris that writers of all types through the centuries have been warning us against.

user-inactivated  ·  528 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Yesterday I tried writing up a joke post about how Kansas City doesn’t actually have a baseball team . . .

I’m, and this is a shock seeing as how I’ve openly admitted to liking souse, am not a fan of scrapple. The flavor is good, but the texture is off.

user-inactivated  ·  528 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Yesterday I tried writing up a joke post about how Kansas City doesn’t actually have a baseball team . . .

. . . but it’s decadently delicious.

user-inactivated  ·  529 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Yesterday I tried writing up a joke post about how Kansas City doesn’t actually have a baseball team . . .

Have you or kleinbl00 or ThurberMingus ever had souse? It’s basically gelatanized, uh . . . lesser desired pig bits, as a sandwich filling. It sounds terrible, but it goes great on rye with mustard, but eaten sparingly. It’s delicious, but overwhelming, so a little goes a long way.

user-inactivated  ·  529 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Yesterday I tried writing up a joke post about how Kansas City doesn’t actually have a baseball team . . .

Definitely had both stroganoff and peroggis. Thought both were like, polish or something. I love both though, they’re great comfort food in the winter, which is probably no coincidence. Made me look up packzis, cause I swore those were polish donuts. They are. Which is fine, cause I love those too.

user-inactivated  ·  529 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Yesterday I tried writing up a joke post about how Kansas City doesn’t actually have a baseball team . . .

user-inactivated  ·  530 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Yesterday I tried writing up a joke post about how Kansas City doesn’t actually have a baseball team . . .

I will look into this food.

I have to start winding down for the night, but thank you for keeping me company today.

user-inactivated  ·  530 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Yesterday I tried writing up a joke post about how Kansas City doesn’t actually have a baseball team . . .

Shoot. This city has restaurants from all over. India, Peru, Thailand, you name it. Nothing from Russia though. Makes me wonder if I’m missing out. Am I?

user-inactivated  ·  530 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Yesterday I tried writing up a joke post about how Kansas City doesn’t actually have a baseball team . . .

    You had me look up "mets". Best I got was the baseball team. Help me out here.

Sorry. Blame my midwest regional terms. Mets are like, you know, bratwurst and hot dogs and stuff. I mean here, they thick like Bratwurst but they’re not bratwurst, tend to be 100% beef, very little if any spices. They’re dense. They’re greasy. They’re delicious. You can dress one up on a bun like a Reuben sandwich and you’re in junk food heaven.

You should, if ever given the chance, play with microfilm. It’s so much fun in ways I can’t describe. Either way though, you guys put your newspapers to good use. We tended to use them, along with other things, as firestarters.

user-inactivated  ·  530 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Yesterday I tried writing up a joke post about how Kansas City doesn’t actually have a baseball team . . .

Do you remember the days when you bought mets from the grocery store, you still had to actually cook them? But now they have microwave ready mets. How does that make you feel?

Are you old enough to remember looking up old newspapers on microfilm? Did you ever? Are you ever nostalgic for the opportunity to do it again and kind of hate the whole digital archives, despite how they’re much more convenient?

I know Europe and Asia have tons of baseball leagues. Does Russia?

user-inactivated  ·  531 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: October 12, 2022

I’m doing laundry today, a boatload of laundry, so I’m working my way through Seneca’s De Ira translated by James Romm and titled “How to Keep Your Cool.” It’s pretty okay, the translation is easy to read and understand without feeling dry, so credit to Romm for that, and Seneca has some worthwhile thoughts about anger and why our relationship with it is unhealthy.

My wife used Post-It Notes to mark passages she finds interesting. Some books, I’m not joking, she’ll have one every few pages. There were some passages I already went through that made me think a bit, but I didn’t note them, so I’ll have to go back and find them later.

First time reading Seneca though and he’s pretty alright. I told the wife we need more books of his. She agrees. So there’s that.

I also have baseball going on in the background. An old game from earlier this year, if two teams I didn’t pay attention to, just to learn players I don’t know. And no, it’s not a Kansas City Game. As far as I’m aware, that team is actually a work of fiction.

user-inactivated  ·  532 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: October 12, 2022

Fucking exhausted over here bro. Beyond words. There’s no way to answer this without getting dark.

So, let’s like, talk about trees or something tomorrow.

user-inactivated  ·  532 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: October 12, 2022

Yeah. I see where you’re coming from.

The frustration I feel with myself though, I think is very important to point out, doesn’t come from feeling guilty or shameful or sinful or anything like that. The frustration I feel, comes from both the knowledge that I can do more and be better, and the desire to do more and be better, and I’m just not living up to the vision of me that I have of myself. It’s because I’m not being told “I’m not good enough,” it’s because I’m being told “I have it on me to be amazing.” I think it’s coming from multiple directions too, like I’m in a spiritual slump almost to the point of having The Yips, to the being held back by a lot of fear and anxiety. I mean, I’ve lost count of the number of times I wanted to do something, only to talk myself out of it, and end up frustrated with myself the next day. It’s not fun.

user-inactivated  ·  532 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: October 12, 2022

A whole rock opera, ready for Broadway.

user-inactivated  ·  532 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: October 12, 2022

Your life right now could be like, a movie or something.

user-inactivated  ·  532 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: October 12, 2022

Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime. That’s why I’m posting on company time.

The Bible, The Quran, The Baha’i Writings, I’m not burned out on them, but when you read from them everyday, they kind of get repetitive and lose some of their “wow factor.” I think it’s hard too, cause when you read them to hold a mirror up to yourself, to hold yourself to account, it’s hard often to not feel like you’re failing terribly short on a daily basis. I’m a very flawed man and it’s so easy to be angry and sad these days, so, so easy. I gotta find ways not to.

So I’m reading other things, like Epictetus and a Marcus Aurelius, Pema Chodron, Attar’s “Conference of the Birds,” on I can go. Authors and books that touch on the same subjects and themes, but from new perspectives to just try to keep things fresh and keep me motivated. Twitter sucks as a source for positive energy. I might just use my account to quote passages and throw them out into the world a bit, not really expecting people to see them though.

I think this year’s MLB Playoff format gave the underdog teams an unintended edge, and I’m okay with that.

I have more to say, maybe on my lunch.

user-inactivated  ·  533 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: WHAT A DAY IN BASEBALL!!!

I’ll have to add that onto the list of things to check out. The Mariners, despite me not watching a lot of their games, are a really fun team.

user-inactivated  ·  533 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: WHAT A DAY IN BASEBALL!!!

I haven’t seen it. I’ll have to check it out though. I might have to get a Netflix subscription again, if even for only a couple of months. They have some other shows I’m slightly interested in.

Growing up, I had a baseball card or two of Ryan’s, despite never seeing him play. Of course, even as a kid, I knew who he was and that he was something special. Like Michael Jordan or Mike Tyson, he was a household name.

user-inactivated  ·  537 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The CD Turns 40: How the ‘Shiny, Tiny’ Discs Took Over

I’m liking, with this milestone, the various articles that have gone out about cds. I particularly like how the author of this article, talks about after becoming a music editor, his collection of cds grew to unreasonable proportions.

user-inactivated  ·  538 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: October 5, 2022

It’s funny you mention sports, because that’s how I found every paper these days have a paywall. It was frustrating at first, until I quickly discovered a few things.

If the article is any good, in a few days it’ll get republished on either Yahoo or MSN.

Chances are you’re gonna come across the ideas of the article in a couple of days because people on Reddit and Twitter will be repeating ideas from said article as if it’s they thought of it themselves. This is where I warn that they often hold the idea that they did indeed think if it themselves, and therefore, will quickly and vehemently argue to the last breath with anyone who disagrees (more so on Twitter than Reddit, but to get a feel for this, look at conversations about Judge and Bonds and The Home Run Record or Judge and Ohtani and The MVP Race).

If there is a sports team you like, there is at least one Podcast about them. Often there are multiple. The Pidcasts are often more informative and more interesting.

Lastly, and most importantly, just watch the sport and the teams you like. The commentators and sideline reporters are more than sufficient in keeping you up to date.

In short, I’m not paying to get past your pay well, your article isn’t essential, and chances are I’m gonna hear about whatever your paper has to say from other, and often better, sources.

user-inactivated  ·  538 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: October 5, 2022

The sheer number of paywalls out there these days is pretty crazy. Sometimes I wonder if they actually hurt papers more than help, especially papers from smaller markets like Milwaukee or Des Moines or something.

user-inactivated  ·  539 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: October 5, 2022

    Fuck society. Live by your own rules.

“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” ~Marcus Aurelius (allegedly)

If you’re talking about Power Rangers with Elizabeth Banks, that movie was fun. Haven’t seen the Pattinson Batman, but Pattinson is actually a good actor.

Godzilla vs Kong though? Bad writing. Like, every five minutes you’re like, “Dud anyone take time to clean up the script? Anyone at all?” Let me throw some examples at you.

Bryan Tyree Henry’s character is infiltrating a corporation to expose them for their evil craziness, and does so by video blogging the whole thing. No disguised face. No disguised voice. Nothing. Like, you expect me to believe he’d be doing that for any length of time and not get caught?

There is a battle in the ocean where at one point, Godzilla tries to drown King by dragging him down to the depths of the Ocean and everyone is like “We gotta help that dang guy? What do we do?” Well? What do they do? They drop depth charges!. Literalky in the previous film, Godzilla was at ground zero of a nuclear explosion and survived unharmed, but depth charges are gonna help? And I’m Kong: Skull Iskand, Kong got hurt by conventional weapons, and you guys expect him to survive depth charges? Are you sure? Like, cmon!

Oh yeah, and in the climatic battle, King suffers a heart attack, and how is he saved? A geologist somehow magically knows how to fly an experimental antigravity hover craft thingy AND turn it into a giant defibrillator? Are you serious guys?

Look, I’ve seen literally EVERY Godzilla film and quite a few of them ask for a bit of give on the part of the audience to make them enjoyable. But when you have s movie where, every five minutes, EVERY FIVE MINUTES, you expect me to give up on reasoning to enjoy it. No. No. It’s badly written and I want a written apology from Warner Brothers and basically everyone involved in this film. It’s bad. It’s terrible. I wanna watch it again only to remind myself that no, I’m not crazy, it really was that awful the first time through.