totm nov 2023 Thread to discuss negative things in a very general way, just see where it goes y'know?

[kerbiloid]

4 hours ago, AlamoVampire said:

a double croissanwich with sausage and bacon

 

4 hours ago, AlamoVampire said:

Pull to window: store has NOT ONE BLOODY PERSON IN IT

Don't ask, whom what those sausages and bacon were made from.
Whatever they it were, the money won't be returned anyway.

Try thinking that it was a chicken.
After all, if it wasn't, theywouldn't cook it that easily.

 

4 hours ago, AlamoVampire said:

I get a sad croissanwich with just bloody bacon and cheese

Understand and forgive them.

They just had returned from the first diner, and didn't have a time to wash the blood off.

Edited July 9, 2023 by kerbiloid

[AlamoVampire]

Guys I need your help or advice or wisdom. I am at a complete loss from some bitter news I just learned. I just learned that one of the sweetest cats I knew was found dead by another neighbor and was buried by my neighbor. This cat was beyond sweet and (not my sweet cat, she is alive and well. Thankfully) was previously sheltered in an air conditioned patio but after one or two other cats that shared this space escaped the owners (neighbors) chose rather than attempt recapture just to let them all go free. A choice I have disagreed with because of many reasons but chief among them is the fact I regularly see coyotes in my neighborhood. Now this cat is confirmed as having died, but her 2 “children” are missing and presumed dead. But heres where I need your help or advice or wisdom.

I am feeling a bunch of things right now.

1. Sadness. While she was not my cat, I did care for her and always set food and water out once she was “freed.”

2. Anger. This cat as well as the two cats she gave birth to (the two cats she shared that patio with) were small cats. Very thin, like sub 10 pounds small with equally tiny frames. Either they were just tiny by default or had hidden medical issues, i dont know how often or even IF these cats got veterinary care.

3. Guilt. This cat was so sweet guys. Nearly as sweet as my cat who frankly is one of the most empathetic cats Ive ever known. So much so, she keeps jumping on my lap to mew at me. The mew she uses at times like this is not a meow, but its a sound I can only compare to the cooing sounds a mother makes when a young child is distressed. So, why guilt? Every time this cat (the neighbor cat) would approach me, shed meow a greeting. Shed then give me this look as if begging me to pet her. I never would. Not because I didnt want to, oh no, I wanted to pet her, give her love and attention. I couldnt pet her because I had no idea if she had communicable diseases that could harm my cat. My cat, my loving and adorable ball of empathy is immunocompromised in a way. She carries in her blood a corona virus. A virus called FIP or Feline Infectious Peritonitis. A disease I am beyond familiar with and have both a healthy respect for and fear of. Both my other cats had it. One (my first) lived 19 years and 305 days with it prior to old age catching her. My second cat lived just shy of 18 years with it before kidney disease took her from me just a few years ago. Now my current kitty has thus far made it 7 years and still otherwise healthy. Its fine if the immune system ignores it, but it becomes fatal if the immune system turns on it. Also its contagious. I am very cautious about touching other cats if I have handled mine after she grooms herself and is wet. Its a body fluid transmission vector. But my point is, I dont want to accidentally trigger an immune response by accidentally being a vector of a pathogen by a cat whose history I dont know. Am I being paranoid? Maybe. Could I be wrong in my thoughts on what could cause a response in my cats own immune system to an otherwise dormant disease/virus? Could be. Is it worth risking it? Nope. So, Id refuse to pet her (neighbors cat) and now feel intense guilt for not petting her. 
 

I also kinda blame my neighbors for that cats passing. I believe had they just opted to recapture the 2 that escaped shed not have been killed by what they presume is a dog attack. Sure Id not know that cat, but, Id also not be feeling sad or angry or guilty. Beyond that Im sitting here wondering why all this kinda crap is coming at me. Im referring to a bs action that hit me this past november (which some of you know about) to other things that have happened to me or around me. Its got me wondering and starting to firmly believe Im cursed.

So guys, any advice or help or wisdom? Am I wrong to be sad or angry or guilty? Am I cursed? Am I going to be ok? Im really confused and frankly in pure brutal honesty, kinda scared here. It feels like im cursed. 
 

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Edited July 9, 2023 by AlamoVampire

[kerbiloid]

Afair, average lifespan of a cat in wild nature is 5 years, in street 2 years.
So, you are definitely not guilty. Just sooner or later some random event becomes fatal in the sequence of prevented dangers.

The cats are predators with territorial instinct, so don't treat their communication practices like human ones.
As you weren't reacting on that cat's signals too friendly, she was probably puzzled, why her greeting protocol doesn't work on you like it should, but as you were feeding her, she was just considering your communication abilities underdeveloped, and wasn't bothering much.

Edited July 9, 2023 by kerbiloid

[AlamoVampire]

One cat that lives outside that was born my back patio years ago just recently turned 20 in the last few days. July 3rd actually if my memory is accurate. Im just so frustrated and sad and angry. And I feel so so guilty for seeing her wanting attention and even trying to gain entry into my house but having to be forced back outside. I wanted so badly to give her that attention to just pluck her up and pretend to never know where she went while keeping her safe but not being able to. Its a special kind of pain to want so badly to help a cat like her and knowing you cant or now rather couldnt because you just couldnt risk your own cats health. But @kerbiloid I appreciate your words very very much.

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Edited July 9, 2023 by AlamoVampire

[kerbiloid]

What if wash hands with antiseptic on return to home. 

Something like the classic chlorhexidine, but with your local specifics.

[AlamoVampire]

@kerbiloid one would have thought id have thought of something like that, especially given my grandmother was the head nurse of an er way back when but sadly such a thought never got thought by me. But a definite thing to consider should the last of her “children” wind up rematerializing. At least then id be able to give him scritches and pats. Thank you for that!

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[TheSaint]

So I had to fix our new(er) fridge today. Only had it for two years, and the water inlet valve started leaking by, the ice maker was overflowing and making the ice in the ice bucket into a solid block. That was irritating enough, but then I discover that (unlike our old Whirlpool fridge) you can't buy just the water inlet valve, you have to buy it in an assembly with the water filter housing. $200. And it's a major evolution to replace. Super annoying. Not thrilled with Samsung.

[RevanX_LSR]

Linbol system rebirth may be 2% complete, but I lost ALL MY PROGRESS of the other ultra high definition modpack.

Edited July 11, 2023 by JNSQFan

[StrandedonEarth]

On 7/9/2023 at 2:26 PM, TheSaint said:

So I had to fix our new(er) fridge today. Only had it for two years, and the water inlet valve started leaking by, the ice maker was overflowing and making the ice in the ice bucket into a solid block. That was irritating enough, but then I discover that (unlike our old Whirlpool fridge) you can't buy just the water inlet valve, you have to buy it in an assembly with the water filter housing. $200. And it's a major evolution to replace. Super annoying. Not thrilled with Samsung.

*glances nervously at two-year-old Samsung fridge with icemaker*

Thanks for the heads-up 

Edited July 12, 2023 by StrandedonEarth

[Pthigrivi]

Gah alright. Edit. Living in Vermont, our second 500y flood in less than 15y, sucking smoke from the entirety of Canada being on fire every day it doesn’t rain its feeling real apocalypty up here. Im an older millennial. To the Boomers and Xers seriously what happened? This collective moral failure to act as good stewards for your country and planet or even care to create a better future for our children and grandchildren is pretty palpable at this point. 

Edited July 19, 2023 by Pthigrivi

[tater]

On 7/9/2023 at 11:58 AM, AlamoVampire said:

So guys, any advice or help or wisdom? Am I wrong to be sad or angry or guilty? Am I cursed? Am I going to be ok? Im really confused and frankly in pure brutal honesty, kinda scared here. It feels like im cursed. 

Barn cats (or any outside) are always at high risk. Adopt them (spay/neuter), and put them inside, or accept that nature is cruel.

 

10 hours ago, Pthigrivi said:

Gah alright. Edit. Living in Vermont, our second 500y flood in less than 15y, sucking smoke from the entirety of Canada being on fire every day it doesn’t rain its feeling real apocalypty up here. Im an older millennial. To the Boomers and Xers seriously what happened? This collective moral failure to act as good stewards for your country and planet or even care to create a better future for our children and grandchildren is pretty palpable at this point. 

Just because probability is 1:500 years doesn't mean that you can't have multiple in a row, even the same year—then a looong gap, and still average 1:500—and besides, the 500y figure was always just someone's guess, presumably for writing insurance premiums.

As for fires, forest management has been broken since forever. Fires are supposed to happen. When society spends many decades disallowing small fires, they create a situation where large fires happen. We see this in NM all the time. People are not allowed to clear dead wood (for firewood) out of National Forest areas, and as soon as any fire starts, it is immediately fought. Course at this point they need to fight it, because with all the deadfall, etc, it will burn hot, crown, and torch 100s of thousands of acres. In a more naturalistic forest, periodic low intensity fires would clear the brush, mitigating catastrophic fires. We have prescribed burns here to try and clear areas—but more than once this has backfired and caused harm (a fire in Los Alamos that torched I think 400 houses was set by the government and went sideways).

[Pthigrivi]

Yeah its also viscerally, obviously, miserably hot compared to when I was a kid. But in a way you did answer the question I guess. 

[AlamoVampire]

23 minutes ago, tater said:

Barn cats (or any outside) are always at high risk. Adopt them (spay/neuter), and put them inside, or accept that nature is cruel.

Nature being cruel is one thing, something I accept. But, what I cannot accept is when a person knowingly allows a cat or in this case 3 very small cats (two of which I have first hand experience being very close to physically) that (for the one I spoke of, the female) spent prior to this the majority of her life indoors and her “children” the two males spent up until this their ENTIRE LIVES as sheltered indoor cats with 0 survival skills to suddenly roam free. Again where we live is a mixture of suburban and country and seeing coyotes or deer or skunks or opossums or even armadillos is all too common. Now, again nature is brutal, I get it, but, is it ever decent or right to suddenly turn lose cats who have little to 0 survival skills in the wild, weigh sub 10 pounds? Especially when you know and have been told by your neighbor (me for the record) that there are active coyotes in the area? Keep in mind where I am these coyotes are NOT SMALL, they are in some cases well north of 40 pounds in weight!! Is cruel. The fact that I know of 1 cat in my neighborhood to have survived 20 YEARS like this is remarkable, but she has 2 things those poor cats didnt: size (shes 12-15 pounds) and experience. 
 

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edit: if i didnt have my current kitty whos currently grooming herself on my lap AND has FIP i WOULD HAVE brought that small kitty in, but i couldnt and it kills me.

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Edited July 19, 2023 by AlamoVampire

[tater]

4 hours ago, AlamoVampire said:

Nature being cruel is one thing, something I accept. But, what I cannot accept is when a person knowingly allows a cat or in this case 3 very small cats (two of which I have first hand experience being very close to physically) that (for the one I spoke of, the female) spent prior to this the majority of her life indoors and her “children” the two males spent up until this their ENTIRE LIVES as sheltered indoor cats with 0 survival skills to suddenly roam free. Again where we live is a mixture of suburban and country and seeing coyotes or deer or skunks or opossums or even armadillos is all too common. Now, again nature is brutal, I get it, but, is it ever decent or right to suddenly turn lose cats who have little to 0 survival skills in the wild, weigh sub 10 pounds? Especially when you know and have been told by your neighbor (me for the record) that there are active coyotes in the area? Keep in mind where I am these coyotes are NOT SMALL, they are in some cases well north of 40 pounds in weight!! Is cruel. The fact that I know of 1 cat in my neighborhood to have survived 20 YEARS like this is remarkable, but she has 2 things those poor cats didnt: size (shes 12-15 pounds) and experience. 

Yeah, our cat is tiny (7-8 lbs?), and she was inside/outside at first simply because she learned to use the dog door. She went on a multi-day adventure, and we locked the dog door—which is incredibly annoying, as we now have to let the dog out ourselves. And yeah, we have coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, and birds to worry about (previous cat was rendered paraplegic by a Great Horned Owl). Dunno what anyone can do, they have to have indoor cats, or it's a Russian roulette situation every time they go outside.

[AlamoVampire]

@tater you reminded me of the owls in my area… not sure if they are big enough or inclined to prey on cats…  my cat is a full blown indoor princess.  I say all cats at least should be indoors but thats my opinion…

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[tater]

4 hours ago, AlamoVampire said:

@tater you reminded me of the owls in my area… not sure if they are big enough or inclined to prey on cats…  my cat is a full blown indoor princess.  I say all cats at least should be indoors but thats my opinion…

Our previous cat was a stray that found us, and lived outside because our dog at the time was not compatible with cats. She moved inside after the dog, and after the terrible incident with the owl (she lived 9 more years as a paraplegic). She trained the new dog to be cat friendly (not that labradoodles need much/any training in being sweet to everything), then we got the new cat who is now 100% indoors. If we had a mean cat, and it lived outside we'd be more OK with a barn cat maybe, but ours is super nice, and I really don't want her to go on an adventure and never come back. That said, we have a couple neighbors with outside cats, and they have been around for years. <shrug>

[Kerbalsaurus]

My foot got hit with a baseball when I was playing catch with my brother earlier today. I've been limping all day now.

[kerbiloid]

At least, you caught a snitch, rather than a bludger.

[Lisias]

In the early times of WW2, everybody (but URSS apparently) were pursuing the Atomic Bomb - from Germany to USA and UK (even Japan had a study group about).

At 1939, the UK's already had some german scientists as refugees and, obviously, were using them on their Research efforts. But they were denied access to the Radar development due, well, being "enemy aliens" and so denied the needed access privileges.

So they gave them the task to calculate data for the Atomic Bomb… 

 

__ "Hey, boss, we have these two very talented german scientists around and we are in the need of their talents on the Radar program! Can you please grant them a pass?"

__ "Are you nuts? These guys are the enemy, they may be spies! Give them some secondary, harmless tasks to do - as that fairy tale you call Atomic Bomb…."

Some months later, the Memorandum made by these two "enemy aliens" were used to incept the Manhattan Project.

Edited July 23, 2023 by Lisias
More juicy details.

[kerbiloid]

10 hours ago, Lisias said:

In the early times of WW2, everybody (but URSS apparently) were pursuing the Atomic Bomb

https://ru-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Проект_атомной_бомбы_ХФТИ_1940_года?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=ru&_x_tr_pto=wapp

The early version of H-Bomb (pure hydrogenic D+T+H, without uranium, fruiting in the cancelled RDS-6t) was on everyones table since <unknown>, but maybe since mid-1930s).

10 hours ago, Lisias said:

So they gave them the task to calculate data for the Atomic Bomb… 

They can.

The first nuclear reactor had exploded in Germany, Leipzig L-IV, near Leipzig.
1942, 44 years before Chernobyl.

***

Related Deutsche Kaptcha:  Kernphysikalische Forschungsberichte

Edited July 23, 2023 by kerbiloid

[Lisias]

(sigh).

I think it's time to create a KSP spin off.  

 

 

[DDE]

End up with an unrealistic deadline on Monday that requires working on a weekend.

Procrastinate while internally whining about having to work on a weekend.

Repeat.

[Shpaget]

10 hours ago, DDE said:

End up with an unrealistic deadline on Monday that requires working on a weekend.

Is the problem in question your fault? What happens if you don't meet the deadline? Does an entire town end up without drinking water for a month, does somebody die, does the world end, or is it just a matter of somebody else not making as much of a profit?

These are the questions I answer myself when faced with similar situations, and usually I end up actually having a relaxing weekend. Who knows what other emergency with unrealistic deadline will happen next Friday, but that too will likely wait until Monday to get looked at.

Take care of Number 1 first.

[Lisias]

12 minutes ago, Shpaget said:

Is the problem in question your fault? What happens if you don't meet the deadline? Does an entire town end up without drinking water for a month, does somebody die, does the world end, or is it just a matter of somebody else not making as much of a profit?

Or… You are really the only one able to do the work?

I wasted about 3 weeks once because a contractor was unable to built a critical component of our production stack and it was decided that the less worst solution is to me develop yet one more component of our solution, but then something happened (probably a raise on the fee), and the dude come back to develop the thing, and my work on it was thrown away.

And then I have 3 weeks of my own work piled up on the back log. Still Work In Progress.

Logic says that had I procrastinated that work, my own duties would not be behind schedule and I would not be working on week ends in consequence. But then what would happen if that dude didn't came back to work for us? What would cost us more, my 3 weeks of work thrown away (and I'm not exactly cheap), or 3 more weeks on that critical component that we need to solve some structural problems we have?

Still doing the math, to tell you the true. The inconvenient true is that nobody knows for sure.

(oh, and I kindly ignoring the major screw ups of our partners, that made me burn the midnight oil to diagnose because the client was thinking it was our fault)

[DDE]

Well, it's been a terrible week on the phone fraud front in Russia.

https://www.rbc.ru/politics/02/08/2023/64ca45769a7947fe52564167

At least half of last week's spate of 16 arson attempts at military muster stations have been the result of phone fraud. Yes, seriously, it's proven possible to convince people from all walks of life that (1) if someone is trying to get a loan in your name, you need to get that loan first! And sell the flat if you have one, too! (2) the obvious next step is to transfer all your money to a safe account indicated by your "benefactor".

Spoiler

Example of proof of ID such benefactors offer in WhatsApp:

Not only does this look nothing like an actual Bank of Russia ID, but it takes about 15 seconds to locate the source of the extensively brushed-up photo on the website of a Moscow document photo studio: https://xn----ptbfema1ao7aze.xn--p1ai/

A more crafty group had put together a fake registrar of government employees that also allowed a user to look up "suspected fraud cases".

And (3) to ultimately defeat the fraudsters you need to take a Molotov to where they are. Previously the preferred target used to be the nearest Sberbank branch, but this week the supposed dens of villainy have shifted to military comissariats.

In one particularly egregious case, the commissariat in Podol'sk was attacked twice within the space of a few hours, by a 20-year-old shift manager at not-McDonalds, and then a 76-year-old. The latter had been robbed blind in April and has been used as a de facto sleeping agent. Another case saw a woman fly from Moscow to Saratov to torch the commissariat there. There's one casualty from all of this: a 74-year-old attacker committed suicide afterwards, in the flat he'd just sold off.

Equally crazy was a case to weeks ago, where the man was being guided to the local ATM to wire his money away, ran into cops twice, got recognized as being manipulated both times, walked away and finally parted with his money at a third ATM.

https://www.ufa.kp.ru/online/news/5360335/

Which means Ufa's police were actively staking out the local ATMs looking for glassy-eyed people talking into their phone. And they aren't the first ones doing this.

https://76.ru/text/gorod/2021/05/04/69899852/

https://www.vk.com/wall-180791822_891203

https://infoya.ru/?module=articles&action=view&id=44817

Information on the operation of Ukranian and Georgian fraud call centers beyond Russia is somewhat sporadic, and they seem to be leaning into investment fraud in Europe and US, but ultimately it's highly unlikely such a business model and political psy-op won't be replicated elsewhere. All you need is are two unfriendly jurisdictions and linguistic adjecency... or AI.

Worse yet, don't think it's just old jeezers and financial illiterates that are being milked (and small children, but there's a very different scenario for those). It's only largely old jeezers and financial illiterates.