One childish pleasure you can grant yourself after being fired is this: Purging files, photos, passwords and other job-related data from your devices. Unsubscribing to emails, putting things in the rearview mirror, waving bye-bye.
Then I found a keeper: Shit Derek Says, a file I was keeping of the quips and quotes of my amusing boss-before-last, who presents as quite the curmudgeon but, of course, isn’t:
Are you willing to admit I was right about TED talks? Yes? Victory is mine.
Yes, Derek, I am willing to admit you were right about TED talks. Great idea, ridiculous and/or poor execution in 90 percent of the cases. And yet they go on.
I’m going hard on self-care in this interregnum. Exercise, eating right, scant alcohol, childish pleasures – I believe I’ve mentioned this, but I could use some more, preferably the kind that doesn’t cost much money. Long walks with the dog, meditation, that sort of thing. Send tips.
Feeling a little peevish this morning, however. Alan was having problems with his email that I couldn’t solve, so we called Comcast for help. Ai-yi-yi. The first 15 minutes — FIFTEEN MINUTES — of the call, which of course was to the Philippines, was spent explaining that “Grosse Pointe” and “Grosse Pointe Woods” are the same thing.
And then it turned out the problem was at their end. While I listened to him negotiate with the Filipino help desk, I read this story, from Columbia Journalism Review, on the victims of fake news — Sandy Hook parents, Comet Pizza owners and customers, you know the drill. Here’s a passage that I stopped at:
I spent 45 minutes on the phone with Megyn Kelly asking her to not run that show where she interviewed Alex Jones. My point to her was, don’t just hold up this guy and say “Can you believe he thinks this?” That’s not enough. Look into why is he that way, why does he think these things, what happened to him to make him think this? Why?
That’s Sandy Hook parent David Wheeler speaking. Good for him for sparing 45 minutes for Megyn Kelly, but where Alex Jones is concerned, I think he’s asking the wrong question. I firmly, absolutely believe Alex Jones doesn’t think these things. He knows he’s peddling bullshit to rubes, but it pays so well, he has to pretend he believes this nonsense, too. And this is where I part with those earnest souls who insist that we must meet Milo, et al in the Marketplace of Ideas, extending respect to them and getting it in return. They are not bargaining in good faith, and I don’t think we owe them anything like respect.
Also on the Testy Train is the writer of this piece, who points out that “as the father of daughters” is the thoughts-and-prayers of sexual harassment stories. Slam-dunk kicker here:
Having a daughter shouldn’t be a requirement for internalizing the problems of working within a sexist industry. Your wives gave birth to a baby girl, not a moral compass. (For what it’s worth, George Clooney, a new dad, managed to talk to the Daily Beast for a whole interview without mentioning his infant twins, one of whom is a girl.) Peppering statements about how shocked and appalled you are with a mention of your daughter just makes you look clueless. Because here’s the thing: Only a sociopath needs a daughter — or a sister, a girlfriend, a wife, or even just a lady standing in front of him at Starbucks — to make him queasy enough at the thought of a sexual predator in his industry to do something about it. You don’t need a daughter to feel guilty about working with a man who preys on young women, or about not acting to stop him. You just need a conscience.
The Russians not only penetrated Facebook, Twitter and Google, but even…Pinterest? The social network for bar-cart enthusiasts? Apparently so.
Onward into the maw of Thursday. Time to check GlassDoor and ZipRecruiter again. Sigh.
Connie said on October 12, 2017 at 11:26 am
I have been wanting to go to the zoo. Want to go? I have coupons.
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nancy said on October 12, 2017 at 11:53 am
I could zoo out one of these days. I’d offer to bring marijuana (leftovers from the dispensary story), but can’t risk dropping dirty when I’m in the midst of a job search.
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jcburns said on October 12, 2017 at 11:43 am
One basic tech support precept I have is: if you have changed NOTHING on your end, the problem is theirs. And your problem thus becomes one of convincing them that you are not calling for “help” or “support,” but you are instead “reporting a problem” that they must address.
And to expand on the definition of “NOTHING on your end”: new software version automatically downloaded? New operating system version? New router in your basement? Change internet service providers recently? Accidentally put phone in airplane mode? Those are all things that change the equation on your end of the router.
If you haven’t done or had done to you any of those things, then your phone or computer WILL NOT magically just start messing up on its own. It just won’t, unless the device is being squished by an expanding battery or dropped into a pleasant fishing lake.
It’s something they did. And if the “they” you’re talking to is in the Philippines, chances are they are as far removed from the problem as you are, and it will take some time and some pressure to get things better on their end.
Or you can just wait it out.
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brian stouder said on October 12, 2017 at 11:46 am
My list of ‘Fun things that don’t cost much’ include going to the library (the big one downtown), or making a soda-pop run (usually I can get Chloe [our 13 year old] to come with me for that), or going to the school-board meetings (for some reason, I can never talk Chloe into that one!), or a walk around the block (and see what the neighborhood is up to)
Connie – I love love love our zoo; but it is closed (although they’ll be doing Wild Zoo Halloween every weekend this month)
Do you do the Columbus zoo?
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Jolene said on October 12, 2017 at 11:58 am
Here is an excellent, affecting feature story that has nothing to do with Donald Trump. The writer, Dan Zak, has had several excellent pieces in the Post recently. He is someone to follow.
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Joe K said on October 12, 2017 at 12:05 pm
Gang,
After seeing the group collectively lose their mind over the allegations of sexual harassment by the ceo of Fox News the silence from you all over Harvey Wienstien is deafening. One can only conclude there is somehow a double standard of we will crucify the right yet make no mention of the inappropriate behavior of the left.
Pilot Joe
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Bitter Scribe said on October 12, 2017 at 12:13 pm
Hey Nancy: LMK if you find those email job notifications as useless as I do. I’ve taken to deleting them en masse.
Joe K: One can only conclude you didn’t bother to click on Nancy’s link. The headline of the piece is “Stop Mentioning Your Daughters When You Denounce Harvey Weinstein.”
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Mark P said on October 12, 2017 at 12:16 pm
I seem to be reading and hearing quite a lot about Weinstein, even from that liberal online hell Slate.
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brian stouder said on October 12, 2017 at 12:20 pm
and not for nothing, but I was absolutely in agreement with the impeachment of President Clinton, and still don’t like him.
The movie guy is a horrible human being, and I don’t like him, either….so we agree, yes?
On the brighter side, Weinstein hasn’t got the nuclear codes, and cannot move combat troops and ships around, so there’s that
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Heather said on October 12, 2017 at 12:28 pm
Joe, my Facebook and Twitter feeds are full of Weinstein stuff. We’re furious. This isn’t a political issue. It’s a male issue. And if you voted for Trump after hearing that tape, you really shouldn’t be saying anything.
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Icarus said on October 12, 2017 at 12:34 pm
“but I could use some more, preferably the kind that doesn’t cost much money. Long walks with the dog, meditation, that sort of thing. Send tips. ”
My advice would be based on Chicago, not Grosse Pointe Woods. [My SIL lives in the Farms and if I were living there unemployed I would explore Detroit as much as I could.] There are a plethora of neighborhoods I pass through on the El ride to work…I’d use the time to walk through them and look at the architecture of the homes and the gentrification of Humboldt Park, Avondale and Logan Square.
Now is the time to take in all those museums you’ve been dying to check out. Or an afternoon matinee. Clean/organize your house from top to bottom. Do all those things you didn’t have time for because of the day job.
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Jolene said on October 12, 2017 at 12:54 pm
You could go to this conference. There’s a fairly substantial registration fee, but it might be a networking opportunity or there might be something to write about it for, I dunno, someplace.
And, yeah, Joe, Weinstein has been denounced by pretty much everybody. Don’t forget that the big stories on this appeared in the New York Times and the New Yorker—bastions of the so-called liberal media. And, as others have said, we didn’t learn these facts about Weinstein and then elect him president.
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Scout said on October 12, 2017 at 1:01 pm
Any Trump voter who even thinks the name Weinstein needs to SIT DOWN.
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Connie said on October 12, 2017 at 1:33 pm
Detroit Zoo. New penguin house.
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susan said on October 12, 2017 at 1:35 pm
jolene @11 – link was 404’d. This one worked.
I’d go to that conference just to hear Maxine Waters!
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Michael Einheuser said on October 12, 2017 at 1:40 pm
I found an article titled Hacking Into Your Happy Chemicals that has some interesting suggestions. Some predictable, some surprising.
http://theutopianlife.com/2014/10/14/hacking-into-your-happy-chemicals-dopamine-serotonin-endorphins-oxytocin/
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Suzanne said on October 12, 2017 at 1:44 pm
One difference, Joe K, is that when the Weinstein story hit, I had no clue who he was. The other difference is that, unlike Newt G, or Donald T, Weinstein doesn’t represent the party that supposedly stands for morality and chaste living and has campaigned for years on it. And he’s not making laws.
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Jolene said on October 12, 2017 at 1:54 pm
Thanks for the fix, Susan. Not sure what I did wrong. There’s also a “go here” link on the 404 page.
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Peter said on October 12, 2017 at 2:04 pm
Well, in fairness to Joe, a lot of commenters are comparing Weinstein to Trump, when Joe was asking about the comparison between Weinstein and Ailes. And there is a difference in those comparisons – if nothing else, Weinstein and Ailes both ran media empires and both ruled through fear and intimidation.
Joe, I think they’re both pretty disgusting. And, I appreciate that Weinstein has realized that he needs help, and regardless of how sincere he is about it, that is the first step to getting back to being a normal human being. Also, in both cases, there are events that you just have to say to yourself that this is WAY outside normal behavior – I’m sure every CEO has imagined having a little fun with the new receptionist, but asking an attractive employee to slather some lotion on you? Your mind has to be pretty far out of whack to think that’s a good way to break the ice.
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Jakash said on October 12, 2017 at 2:28 pm
Sorry, but “fairness to Joe,” when much of his participation here is as a troll, isn’t high on my agenda.
Appreciate your keeping us informed of the right-wing talking point, as usual, Joe. But if we were all required to individually denounce outrages by folks “on our side,” you’d need to disassociate yourself at least several times a week from your buddy Trump’s words and actions. And yet you don’t. Ever. So your sanctimoniousness here doesn’t fly. (Uh, that’s a pun, I think.)
Suffice it to say that Mr. Weinstein has been fired and is being savaged by media left and right. Whether we’ve commented about him here at nn.c, or not, at least we never voted for him for president in order to piss you off.
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brian stouder said on October 12, 2017 at 2:33 pm
…and indeed, if being a horrible human being toward women is something Joe (et al) deems important, then he should have joined (many of) us in voting for Hillary – as we just passed the one year anniversary of the Access Hollywood ‘grab ’em by the____’ video
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Andrea said on October 12, 2017 at 2:38 pm
Sorry, Joe. Shop your self-righteousness elsewhere. No one here, or anywhere that I can see, is supporting Weinstein, excusing his conduct, or electing him to be in charge of anything. If anything, the fallout from his behavior being publicly revealed will bring other (liberal Hollywood) men down with him. See Ben Affleck being forced to apologize for grabbing a woman’s breast when she was 18 years old. We aren’t resisting the sunshine — we are encouraging it.
So if you want to join us in decrying the misogynist predatory behavior of Ailes, O’Reilly, Thomas, and Trump (among many many other men) and proposing real solutions and accountability, we welcome you. Otherwise, STFU.
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Connie said on October 12, 2017 at 2:53 pm
What Jakash and Andrea said.
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Joe Kobiela said on October 12, 2017 at 3:14 pm
Sorry this guy was known to have been doing this for the last 20 yrs or so, a reporter brings the story to the times in 2004 and it never gets printed,top female talent in Hollywood don’t do anything or tell anyone, allowing his action to continue on other women,( thanks sister) and the Democratic party accepts a boat load of his money, people knew and did nothing about it, no difference than the other side, any thoughts on the fashion designer saying the women were at fault because the way they dress, let a republican say that, and the media would melt down.
Pilot Joe
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alex said on October 12, 2017 at 3:31 pm
Joe, you obviously haven’t been reading about it from credible sources because if you had, you would know that Weinstein used his power and influence with media to attack and discredit women who complained about him; he even did this to women simply for rejecting him.
But it’s pointless to reason with an asshat like you because you’re just spoiling for a fight and don’t really give a fuck about facts anyway.
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Bitter Scribe said on October 12, 2017 at 3:35 pm
Sorry this guy was known to have been doing this for the last 20 yrs or so
Which is why this is so appalling.
a reporter brings the story to the times in 2004 and it never gets printed
But it was the Times that broke the story.
top female talent in Hollywood don’t do anything or tell anyone
Because they were afraid Weinstein would ruin their careers, as indeed he tried to in more than one case.
the Democratic party accepts a boat load of his money
I’ll compare top Democratic donors against some of the scum who fund Republicans any day. Ever hear of the Kochs? The Mercers?
people knew and did nothing about it
And your point is…?
no difference than the other side
“You’re just as bad” is the last resort of the guilty.
any thoughts on the fashion designer saying the women were at fault because the way they dress
Again, your point is…?
Joe, if you’re going to troll, at least put some thought into it.
And to reiterate what other commenters have said: Anyone who voted for Trump does not get to claim the moral high ground when it comes to sexual harassment.
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brian stouder said on October 12, 2017 at 3:45 pm
At lunchtime, I gave Oxy-Rush 5 minutes on the way out (it was all about all the evil in the world existing among Democrats, especially the Kennedys, and the Clintons) – and then switched to Maroon 5 on the pop-rock station.
On the way back, I gave Oxy-Rush another 30 seconds (he was in mid-rant, still, about how all evil and all sin originates with and resides amongst the Democratic party) and then switched to commercials on 97.3
So the marching orders from the boss-man of the flying monkeys of the right-wing airwaves are clear: use Weinstein to cover the incompetent president – for as long as possible – period.
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Heather said on October 12, 2017 at 3:47 pm
Joe, Harvey Weinstein had powerful connections and could ruin your career. If you read about Mira Sorvino, after she rejected his advances, her career kind of dried up. Not to mention he threatened to sue lots of publications, and with all the resources at his disposal, that threat carried real weight. Also you CLEARLY have no idea how painful and scary it is to report this kind of stuff. Men tend not to believe you when you do come forward, and when you do, it’s “Why didn’t you do it earlier?” Of which your comments are Exhibit A. Look at freaking Bill Cosby. More than 50 women had the same story about him and he STILL wasn’t found guilty. What does that say to you, if you are a young woman who is scared about speaking out?
And I’ve seen a TON of condemnation of Donna Karan, the fashion designer, on Twitter. I really have no patience for this today. Do some fucking research. Don’t make us do the labor of educating you on some basic stuff.
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Heather said on October 12, 2017 at 3:54 pm
Also several women came forward about Trump. Did you believe them, or did you just brush it off?
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Dave Kobiela said on October 12, 2017 at 3:59 pm
Dammit Joe, I really try to stay out of these rants of yours, since they are so obviously fueled by the hard right media, and I can’t see wasting my time trying to debate anyone who has no desire to listen to facts. But please, this is kinda embarrassing. Also, I would bet a nickel that you didn’t even write your own comment at #5.
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brian stouder said on October 12, 2017 at 4:06 pm
Also, I would bet a nickel that you didn’t even write your own comment at #5.
Ohhhhh – dang it!! I don’t wanna go down the ‘Fake news’/’Fake views’ rabbit hole! Not here!!; Not on good ol’ nn.c!!
Genuine dishonesty (is that concept even do-able?) belongs on Facebook/Twitter/Google – where someone is at least getting paid!
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coozledad said on October 12, 2017 at 4:51 pm
Joe K is pretty big on “I fuck your wife haha” shit to pretend he’s not a gutter fucking trog. I wouldn’t leave his skank ass alone with one of my sheep, and I damn sure wouldn’t sup with the trash. He’s liable to spit on your plate when you’re not looking.
Life’s too damn short to spend any time at all with hungry ghosts. You have to destroy those relationships in order to achieve the full measure of happiness in your own life. Leave the ten thousand hells to the assholes who deserve them.
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Jenine said on October 12, 2017 at 5:31 pm
@ Bitter Scribe: Nicely done point by point. I don’t think any more needs to be said on that and would prefer to talk about pumpkins. We don’t have any for the doorstep yet. I think this weekend is the time.
Vintage pumpkin prank at Cornell, I love the photo.
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jcburns said on October 12, 2017 at 5:48 pm
Joe, Fox News is just TELLING you that there isn’t much Weinstein discussion/condemnation on the left. That is (why are you surprised), NOT true.
Here on NN.C, comments began on October 5th, right after a lively discussion of colonoscopies, which is somehow appropriate.
Rachel Maddow’s been all over it. My twitterverse is filled with it—especially in the larger context of—this can happen to women in any industry, it has, and it has to stop.
I’m hoping for a sea change at this point. It’d be great if we could look back at 2017 as at least THAT positive moment.
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David C. said on October 12, 2017 at 5:54 pm
Well, Joe wrote Democratic Party. That’s something of an advance, although I’ve come to appreciate Democrat Party because it relieves me of needing to read any further when I see it.
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Joe K said on October 12, 2017 at 6:01 pm
No, I wrote #5 why?
I don’t think anyone should hold power over a female, I’m just pointing out people are quick to rant when someone on the right does something wrong, yet your making excuses for Weinstien, he could sue, could ruin your career, the woman dressed provocatively, Hell Seth Mcfarlen made a joke about it when he hosted the Oscars, it was known about for years and no one did anything about it.
Don’t you think Someone should have stood up and said this is wrong?
Pilot Joe
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jcburns said on October 12, 2017 at 6:21 pm
Joe!! NO ONE here is making excuses for Harvey Weinstein!! And I’m not seeing anyone on TV or in my little corner of the internet doing so either!
People are quick (especially these days) to point out someone doing something wrong whether they are Republican or Democrat or space alien.
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Suzanne said on October 12, 2017 at 6:24 pm
Weinstein is a perv, O’Reilly is a perv, Cosby a perv, Ailes was a perv, OK? Women didn’t speak up because the few that did were either threatened or not believed. If I had some of the strange thing these men did happen to me, I am not sure I would have reported it either. Why? Money. I don’t have a lot. I couldn’t afford to hire a lawyer to go up against the deep pockets of someone like Weinstein or Cosby. Fox admitted they paid out huge sums to settle for O’Reilly but didn’t fire him until enough advertisers pulled out. They all had enablers. It’s not a left/right issue except that the right has, for years, claimed the moral high ground on things related to sex (family values, abstinence training, gays are bad bad bad) so there is a bit of schadenfruede when one of them falls in a sex scandal.
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Heather said on October 12, 2017 at 6:55 pm
[bangs head against wall]
Everyone knows Trump is a sexual predator. Why isn’t anyone doing anything about it?
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 12, 2017 at 7:01 pm
The even bigger tragedy are all the women, in many cases girls, who felt that they had to provide intimate favors to a Hollywood producer in order to get anywhere in their business. Most of the stories are about those who said no, and there is clearly a higher order of offense and potentially legal involvement, but my heart is also with those who probably think they can’t say anything because they went along with it, believing they had no other choice.
Those probably number in the hundreds. And as Rose Marie has been telling on Twitter (@RoseMarie4Real) at length, this was true some 70 years ago. I’d like to think this sort of pain and objectification is getting better, but as has already been pointed out, Trump got elected, so obviously not so much.
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susan said on October 12, 2017 at 7:02 pm
JoeTroll needs to watch Samantha Bee, see if he is capable of learning anything. (I doubt it.)
Then watch her PSA.
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Deborah said on October 12, 2017 at 7:09 pm
I don’t think I need to say any more about Weinstein, you all have done a great job of using facts and rationality to convince Joe how wrong he is, but I doubt that he’s listening. Except for Donna Karan, I have read nothing but condemnation about Weinstein and I read many liberal news sites. And as nearly everyone here says, NO ONE would want the guy to be president of ANYTHING, unlike Joe who voted for the perv Trump.
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Little Bird said on October 12, 2017 at 7:23 pm
Joe, perhaps if the rightwing didn’t pride themselves on being so pure and honest and without fault, no one would be quick to point out how corrupt, sexist, and racist they behave. And I’d like to point out that your own BROTHER just called you out. That’s got to sting a bit.
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Deborah said on October 12, 2017 at 8:56 pm
My husband asked me recently if I ever received sexual harassment on the job in my career and I could think of two incidents, one was way back when I was in college during the summer when I was home working as a shipping and receiving clerk in a metal fabrication plant, my immediate boss kept asking me about my sex life, as if I had on then. I would try to change the subject or make up excuses to leave the office. The other one was many years later I was in my late thirties or early forties in a business meeting one of the men made a comment to the whole room about my legs. I was super embarrassed, and I remember vowing to never wear the tights I was wearing again, and I never did. I didn’t report either of these incidents because at the time it wasn’t in our consciousness that it was something you could do, if you were demeaned in that way. I’m sure all the women here could relate stories about that kind of thing.
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Ann said on October 12, 2017 at 9:01 pm
I’m sorry we all got caught up in the troll’s net and aren’t spending more time responding to Nancy’s request. I can recommend dog parks and nature preserves, but I want to make a more specific suggestion. Now that you’ve got the time, give us some stories about the people you meet day-to-day. Tell us about the couple that runs the dry cleaners, the franchise owner at the Subway shop, or more about your great lifeguard/swimming coach. My usual way of doing this is to ask if I can take a photo, and then enter into a conversation, but you probably wouldn’t even need the camera as a prop. My father’s philosophy was that the world is going to hell, so you better appreciate the little things as you come across them. I do that through photos. You could too, but you’re a great writer, so tell us about them.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 12, 2017 at 9:26 pm
Yay Ann. Good point.
I find archaeology relaxing. Not the field work, which is generally a short burst of knee-bursting effort in mid-summer, but the steady slog of processing in the artifacts from their brown paper bags with semi-legible marker inscriptions indicating the site and level and location and depth. Cleaning and cataloguing and stowing carefully for the next poor fool who chooses to unpack this tote in another century and wants to examine directly 33-Li-251 Phase III midden 2’s charcoal sample.
We’re also in the middle of levy campaign for Children Services, and I enjoy the Zen of writing “letters to the editor” in different voices. This is a grown-up forum, right? I can just say it. When you read sixteen letters in the paper about our levy, I’ll have written thirteen or fourteen of them. Perhaps it’s a disreputable practice, but I’m writing for various community leaders the letter they’d write if they had the time and attention to master the details and say it their way. Some change a line or two, but most just go with what we send them. I feel the same way about writing alumni association citations, but to be fair my enjoyment is probably there because they pay me for them.
And sketching. I don’t draw much of anything I want to show anybody, but the act of illustration makes my memory work better, even if I never open that notebook up again at all. It’s a form of meditation for me. I do mandalas, too; I started a dream notebook years ago, and got tired of trying to remember the incomprehensible so I just started trying to evoke in a circular glorified doodle the impressions of the night before. I’ve got a handful of notebooks with quickly drawn circles and a variety of patterns and pictures within them now, some thirty years later.
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Deborah said on October 12, 2017 at 9:46 pm
Sketching, yes! I do that too. I buy sketchbooks and vow to use every page but I rarely do, but why I don’t is puzzling. I try to draw my left hand in various positions or holding various items every day. I always get disappointed at first because my sketches are so bad but the more I do them the better they get, by the end of the first month there is much improvement. I do contour drawings where I keep my eyes more on the outlines of my hand/fingers than the paper. It can be kind of hilarious how off you can be at first but practice helps. If I can keep at it, it can be quite satisfying.
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basset said on October 12, 2017 at 9:51 pm
Meanwhile, more embarrassing stupidity from an Indiana legislator:
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2017/10/12/trump-slams-media-indiana-lawmaker-jim-lucas-threatens-license-johas-drafted-bill-license-journalist/757157001/
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Sherri said on October 12, 2017 at 10:03 pm
I don’t care about Harvey Weinstein. By which I mean, Harvey Weinstein himself is just one of many. There will be another powerful man treating women like shit tomorrow. Measuring whether one set of people are sufficiently outraged about this particular instance of a shitty powerful man doesn’t do anything but shift the focus away from the more difficult and important conversation about change. Just like outrage over what NFL players do during the anthem has shifted the discussion away from what they were protesting.
Emma Thompson says it best: https://mobile.twitter.com/seankent/status/918547944692785152
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Jolene said on October 12, 2017 at 10:25 pm
Another point re Weinstein that I have seen several journalists make is that there is a difference between what they have seen, heard, and are fairly certain about and what can be reported. To make a case, you need sources and witnesses and, for the reasons that have been discussed, it’s not always easy to produce either, even in the face of egregious behavior.
A good example of this distinction is what happened with the infamous dossier re Trump released by buzzfeed. I don’t exactly remember the circumstances that prompted them to release it, but, once it was released, several reporters noted that it had been “floating around” DC for months but had not been released because its contents could not be verified.
So the answer to “Why didn’t anyone speak up?” is not that journalists were protecting bad actors but that they simply didn’t have the goods. We are not talking, after all, about things that happen in public places with lots of onlookers.
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Linda said on October 12, 2017 at 10:26 pm
Re: Pinterest. As a reference librarian, I am not ashamed to admit that it has saved my butt a couple of times. Sometimes, it’s the only place to find certain visuals. It’s the primo place to find RV wiring diagrams. And when someone wanted a Catholic saints bingo game with St Martin De Porres? Pinterest to the rescue.
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beb said on October 12, 2017 at 11:29 pm
Things for Nancy to do:
The zoo has been mentioned but it always a fun place to visit. If nothing else it’s good walk with interesting things to look at on the way.
Another place we like to visit is the Henry Ford museum and Greenfield Village.
AAnd finally, though it’s a long drive from Nancy’s side of town, the Kensington Metro Park should be in peak color about now. We’ve always enjoy a drive through the park. They have lots of Maples which always turn the most delightful shades of red and orange.
Wednesday in Detroit was a miderable, cold and rainy day. I had a am Drs appt in St. Claire Shores so I drove along Lake Shore Dr. (AKA Jefferson) which fronts Lake St. Clair for a couple miles. The lake was really storm-tossed with choppy white-caps waves. I could have watched that for a good while.,,,
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Suzi said on October 12, 2017 at 11:44 pm
Zoos are a vile and anachronistic construct, and there are few more soul destroying forms of recreation and civic activity. I can’t fathom how that would be a constructive way to pass a day free from work. I grew up going to the San Diego zoo, where my mother was a docent, so please no comments on the ‘good work’ that is done at zoos. Don’t buy it for a second.
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Sherri said on October 13, 2017 at 12:04 am
Some numbers on what it takes just to get back in Seattle and the eastside suburbs. For further context, the Area Median Income in King County is around $80K. That’s the number used for affordable housing requirements. Typically, 10% of any development has to be affordable for households at 80% or less of AMI. The minimum wage is $11 in Washington, $15 for some workers in Seattle.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/report-family-of-4-needs-76000-just-to-scrape-by-in-seattle/
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susan said on October 13, 2017 at 12:26 am
suzi @52 – I agree so much. The last time I went to a zoo, which was decades ago, maybe 40 or more years ago, just seeing big beautiful cats pacing back and forth, back and forth; the poor elephants swaying back and forth, back and forth; caged birds…I was sickened and despondent. Awful. And my Mom was a docent, too, but I still wouldn’t go even when she was there.
I so enjoy watching this amazing live internet stream, though. Broadcast daily. Twice a day. Amazing in that it is live as they drive around looking for animals, plants in the Maasai Mara in Kenya and in the Sabi Sands in South Africa. The animals do their thing in their own environment. And it can get pretty real when you see lions stalk and catch a buffalo or wildebeest. But gosh, the leopard, such a beautiful animal…
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Dexter said on October 13, 2017 at 3:17 am
I heard the term “casting couch” decades ago, so it was part of Hollywood forever, but sometimes shit has to roll downhill a long time before a revolt takes place. So this is the time, and Ailes, Cosby, Weinstein are caught in their own spun web, it taking so long one is dead already.
Tech support…I used Dell Support until my Dell aged out and was replaced by a new HP desk top. Some crime ring apparently is using Dell’s support phone number to sell support packs. I made dozens of calls tracking why I was constantly bombarded by calls from Dell Support when I clearly told them I no longer used Dell anything. Finally a spokesman told me “a third party is contacting you, not Dell…” and since I went on inside the schoolhouse and didn’t just walk on by, I figured it out right-quick: hacked. Sprint blocked the motherfuckers.
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alex said on October 13, 2017 at 6:06 am
Sketching and doodling are great pastimes and stress relievers. It’s how I used to handle my ADHD tendencies before there was such a thing as the internet (and before I ever heard of ADHD). Maybe it’s time to cut some more cords.
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Connie said on October 13, 2017 at 8:01 am
Kensington Metro Park is in my neck of the metro area, and the location of my first ever live eagle sighting. Great park, a little worn around the edges. My dad tells me baby Connie went to a grad school family picnic there when he was in grad school in Ann Arbor.
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Icarus said on October 13, 2017 at 9:03 am
One thing I’m working on, I have this box of snail mail letters received while in college and early adult years when people still wrote real letters. Initially I was going to re-read them, keep a few and pitch the rest. However, many of them have memory nuggets and other tidbits that despite my jaded and cynical self, I cannot bring myself to do so. Sentimental old fool that I am.
I started scanning them and then I got the idea to send the originals back to some of the people whom I’m still in touch with if they are interested. The project will take some time, probably longer than it took to write and read those letters in the first place.
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Suzanne said on October 13, 2017 at 9:29 am
One thing that I had trouble with when I was job searching was that while I had time to deep clean, purge files, go through all that crap that gets stored in the basement, every time I tried to do that, the guilt set in. “You should be filling out applications! You should be refining your resume! You should be going to networking events!” But when I did those things, the other guilties crept in. “You don’t have a job! Your house should be spotless! You should be cooking up gourmet meals!”
It’s a no win. So, I would take long walks to clear my head, which was good.
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Dorothy said on October 13, 2017 at 9:38 am
Why the fuck do we pay attention to the comments from someone who thinks it’s necessary to type “Pilot Joe” after each of his comments, when his full name is already listed at the top of his comments? Seriously – I should just stop reading what he types because my blood pressure skyrockets every.single.damn.time I do.
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susan said on October 13, 2017 at 9:44 am
dorothy, that’s what trolls like to do. Win!
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brian stouder said on October 13, 2017 at 10:41 am
Dorothy, I confess – you got me laughing!
A total non-sequitur: a local attorney and Friend-of-NN from way back made my jaw drop, when I got news yesterday that he was joining the Indiana State Charter School Board
http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/schools/20171013/giaquinta-chosen-for-charter-board
Ol’ GQ is a champion of real public education, and he just resigned from the altogether marvelous Fort Wayne Community Schools board of trustees, as his career is fairly jam-packed, and the local board is pretty time-intensive…so at first this made no sense to me at all.
But then, I read the state board only meets 2 or 3 times a year – and GQ would certainly (certainly!) maximize the opportunity to hold then accountable – and this realization brightened my day considerably!
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Sherri said on October 13, 2017 at 10:44 am
Joe, if we’re not outraged enough over Weinstein, it’s because we’ve been too busy with trying to keep health care: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/12/16458184/trump-obamacare-executive-order-association-health-plans-short-term-insurance
At least our sexual harassers and rapists want to make sure people have health care, while yours want to take it away to give more money to rich people.
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Deborah said on October 13, 2017 at 11:12 am
Will this healthcare executive order effect Medicaid in the long term? LB has Medicaid now, it has been fantastic for her, it will be devastating if/when she loses it.
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