doppelganglander 7/19/2021 5:24:59 AM

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Kosh's Shadow 7/19/2021 6:36:45 AM

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Reply to doppelganglander in 1:

Onboarding with HR via zoom?

Occasional Reader 7/19/2021 6:42:08 AM

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Ah, I see we've ordered the "Heart-Healthy" breakfast today.

Good luck with the new job, dopps!

doppelganglander 7/19/2021 6:53:37 AM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 2:

Introduction to the team via Microsoft Teams. My previous experience with the app was terrible but it actually worked well today.

Right now I'm waiting for IT to call me back to get my laptop set up. It simply froze on me and won't respond to Ctrl+Alt+Del or anything else for that matter.

Reply to Occasional Reader in 3:

Thanks!

Occasional Reader 7/19/2021 6:57:03 AM

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I dropped off Little OR at his new session of summer day "camp" today.  He was a little nervous, but excited.  The theme is computers and robotics, so he's quite thrilled with that.  

The "camp" is very much in the heart of deep-blue northwest DC; I know some of the other parents from Little OR's school.  They are, for the  most part, nice people.  So how can they support such venomously stupid political ideas?  

Occasional Reader 7/19/2021 6:58:51 AM

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In #4 doppelganglander said: Right now I'm waiting for IT to call me

We all float down here.... 

Kosh's Shadow 7/19/2021 7:10:15 AM

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In #4 doppelganglander said: Right now I'm waiting for IT to call me back to get my laptop set up. It simply froze on me and won't respond to Ctrl+Alt+Del or anything else for that matter.

After giving it a few minutes, if nothing else works, hold the power button down for 10 seconds and it will shut off. Give it 30 seconds or so and turn it on again.

This is not a good thing to have to do. Often Windows will ask if you want to do a recovery, but usually continue booting works OK, and you'd need IT to handle recovery. But often it is the only thing you can do.

vxbush 7/19/2021 7:22:05 AM

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In #3 Occasional Reader said: Good luck with the new job, dopps!

Massive, massive amounts of good luck and wishes on the new job! 

In other news, I see more and more places are demanding folks where masks again, even though the literature says it doesn't work. 

vxbush 7/19/2021 7:28:25 AM

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In #8 vxbush said: folks where wear masks again

Sigh.

JCM 7/19/2021 7:52:11 AM

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Reply to doppelganglander in 1:

We have a regular Monday 8:00AM project meeting...

bleech.....

Kosh's Shadow 7/19/2021 7:53:54 AM

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Woke companies now require masks during Zoom meetings.

A spokesperson said "Well, computers can get viruses, so why can't they pass COVID during Zoom meetings?"

(Maybe I should write for the Babylon Bee)

JCM 7/19/2021 7:55:47 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 8:

We knew that was going to happen when the Delta Variant became the raison d êtred,

Occasional Reader 7/19/2021 8:06:00 AM

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In #11 Kosh's Shadow said: Woke companies now require masks during Zoom meetings. A spokesperson said "Well, computers can get viruses, so why can't they pass COVID during Zoom meetings?"

C'mon, man!  None other than Joe Biden wore a mask during a Zoom meeting, and his IQ is higher than yours!   So cut the malarkey. 

JCM 7/19/2021 8:12:10 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 13:

A WI agency REQUIRED masks during teleconferences...

vxbush 7/19/2021 8:30:42 AM

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In #11 Kosh's Shadow said: Woke companies now require masks during Zoom meetings. A spokesperson said "Well, computers can get viruses, so why can't they pass COVID during Zoom meetings?"

Who said this?????

vxbush 7/19/2021 8:32:03 AM

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In #14 JCM said: A WI agency REQUIRED masks during teleconferences...

Ah, yes, virtue signaling über alles. 

JCM 7/19/2021 8:36:46 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 15:

Level 4 hazmat suit required when going online!

Kosh's Shadow 7/19/2021 8:39:35 AM

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In #15 vxbush said: Who said this?????

I made it up - did you see the last line of that post where I wondered if I should write for the Babylon Bee? That was a hint.

Alice in Dairyland 7/19/2021 8:39:50 AM

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vxbush 7/19/2021 8:43:02 AM

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In #18 Kosh's Shadow said: I made it up - did you see the last line of that post where I wondered if I should write for the Babylon Bee? That was a hint.

Well, apparently not that much, considering JCM's 14. 

Kosh's Shadow 7/19/2021 9:01:42 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 20:

Just shows how crazy reality has gotten.

BTW, "We apologize for using the term "spokesperson". The being in question identifies as a nongendered nonspecific type of life force being"

vxbush 7/19/2021 9:13:50 AM

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In #21 Kosh's Shadow said: "We apologize for using the term "spokesperson". The being in question identifies as a nongendered nonspecific type of life force being"

So we've got proof Jen Psaki is an alien? 

vxbush 7/19/2021 9:14:40 AM

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Occasional Reader 7/19/2021 9:20:10 AM

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In #23 vxbush said: In the picture above, is it just me, or does the building in the background (behind the left champaign glass) look like a lot of windows have been broken out? 

I see it as some have sunshades drawn. 

lucius septimius 7/19/2021 9:41:48 AM

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In #23 vxbush said: (behind the left champaign glass)

But where's the Urbana glass?

doppelganglander 7/19/2021 9:44:31 AM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 7:

You're right. I ended up taking it to the office, which is not officially open but there is an IT presence. It has to be reimaged, probably, so I was sent home until it's ready. But I got a tour of the building and a shiny new badge. 

Occasional Reader 7/19/2021 9:53:36 AM

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In #25 lucius septimius said: But where's the Urbana glass?

I continue to insist that the city in question be renamed "Sparkling Wine-Urbana".

Denominations of Origin are not to be trifled with. 

vxbush 7/19/2021 9:56:45 AM

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In #27 Occasional Reader said: I continue to insist that the city in question be renamed "Sparkling Wine-Urbana". Denominations of Origin are not to be trifled with. 

In which case, the two-city acronym CU becomes SWU, and then the University of Illinois becomes UISWU. Pronounce the latter as "you-ee-swoo". Oh, yeah, that's gonna work. 

////

Alice in Dairyland 7/19/2021 10:04:55 AM

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In #1 doppelganglander said: It's my first day at the new job.

Good luck on your first day!  Hopefully, it's a start to long and fulfilling employment.

JCM 7/19/2021 10:09:44 AM

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All children should wear masks in school this fall, even if vaccinated, according to pediatrics group

Why?

Masks are definitely not effective.

Children are at extremely low risk for COVID.

buzzsawmonkey 7/19/2021 10:13:34 AM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 25:

Heh.

Meanwhile, I want to hear more about your exposing the Younger Generation to Al Jolson.

doppelganglander 7/19/2021 10:20:04 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 8:
Thanks!

I'm off to a great start. My laptop either gives the blue screen of death or freezes on the login screen. I had to take it to the office because it probably needs to be reimaged. But I got my new badge and a tour of the building. Good news: enormous windows with a great view, fancy cappuccino machine on order, and a fitness center. Bad news: a vast sea of cubes with low barriers. Unless they change that (and they might), it's going to be incredibly noisy and distracting. I'm working from home until the official opening on August 9th. 

JCM 7/19/2021 10:26:50 AM

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Reply to doppelganglander in 32:

Current office when I go in or open floor plan. Desks are 48" by 30" with little 24" barriers on the sides and back. Adjust desks so a person can sit or stand.

Noise cancelling headphones a must. 

doppelganglander 7/19/2021 10:31:57 AM

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buzzsawmonkey 7/19/2021 10:40:51 AM

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In #34 doppelganglander said: pronouns

I have no "pronouns."  My nouns still retain their amateur status.

vxbush 7/19/2021 10:47:57 AM

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In #32 doppelganglander said: I'm off to a great start. My laptop either gives the blue screen of death or freezes on the login screen. I had to take it to the office because it probably needs to be reimaged. But I got my new badge and a tour of the building. Good news: enormous windows with a great view, fancy cappuccino machine on order, and a fitness center. Bad news: a vast sea of cubes with low barriers. Unless they change that (and they might), it's going to be incredibly noisy and distracting. I'm working from home until the official opening on August 9th. 

Ah, cubicle farms. How I remember those and despise those. 

Hey, think of your computer problems this way--you've already got the major problem getting sorted out now, before you've lost any work or wasted a lot of time trying to figure out what's wrong. 

vxbush 7/19/2021 10:48:55 AM

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In #35 buzzsawmonkey said: I have no "pronouns."  My nouns still retain their amateur status.

I really think I need to make it "Tech goddess/Her Technicity's". 

/

doppelganglander 7/19/2021 10:59:23 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 36:

That's a good way to look at it. Another new employee started today and she had her laptop up and running before the meeting. I'm sort of relieved mine was a technical catastrophe - at least it clearly wasn't my fault.

Kosh's Shadow 7/19/2021 11:19:36 AM

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I've had two work laptops of the same model with the same symptoms - they randomly power off, won't turn on by pressing the power button, and then randomly turn on later.

Swapped the first one for another; they updated the BIOS but found no problems. Second one acted up, got the first one back, and it has been fine,

Where I work has an arrangement with Dell to do warranty work in-house.

lucius septimius 7/19/2021 1:02:49 PM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 31:

Not all that much to say.  We were discussion about various issues, but one thing that kept coming back was how different things were in the past and how utterly ignorant many people are of attitudes in former times.  I showed him the sequence, which left him speechless. He had never seen anything so blatant, even.  It's one thing to have heard in general about casual racism in the past; it was something rather different to see it on the big screen.  That said, we also talked about the utter absurdity of the scene.  I suspect the audience would have been struck by the nakedness of the stereotypes and in better and more thoughtful times everyone could laugh at it's absurdity.  He picked out the newspaper immediately and then tied it back to the Yiddish-speaking Indian chief in Blazing Saddles.  That got us talking about how the entire scene might just as well have been produced by Mel Brooks.  His own absurd dance numbers are only slightly more ridiculous -- I was thinking in a different vein of comparing Elvis's rendition of "Viva Las Vegas" with the Dead Kenneys' version.  

So, to sum up, he was shocked, but then after getting over the initial shock proceeded to place it in a broader context.

I should add that previously with his youngest brother we had watched Duck Soup and some other things and talked about the carry-overs from vaudeville to the Silver Screen.  Much of what they found both funny and confusing about the early Marx Brothers pointed back to the stage origins of the act.  In a similar vein, we had talked about the oddly Expressionist sets in Captain Blood -- they point back to German silent films (not surprising given who made the film) as well as early 20th Century central European avant-garde staging conventions.

Kosh's Shadow 7/19/2021 1:24:10 PM

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In #40 lucius septimius said: Yiddish-speaking Indian chief in Blazing Saddles

iirc, the Mormons say the American Indians are the lost tribes of Israel. Also, on one of the movie posters, there is Hebrew lettering on  the headdress (not in the movie, though) that reads Kosher for Passover

buzzsawmonkey 7/19/2021 1:24:45 PM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 40:

Sounds like you're bringin' the kids up right.  I'm guessing you didn't watch the whole of Wonder Bar---the "Boys will be boys!" moment on the dance floor woul probably also give rise to comment.

The Marx Brothers' Duck Soup is part of the early-'30s "small country comedy" genre, which also includes Wheeler & Woolsey's Diplomaniacs (my recollection is, not that funny), and the WC Fields/Jack Oakie/Lyda Roberti masterpiece, Million Dollar Legs.

Side note: in the film Hallelujah, I'm a Bum, Jolson plays the Hobo Mayor of Central Park; his sidekick is a black dwarf, called "Acorn" in the film.  Silent-screen comic legend Harry Langdon plays a villain part as a Communist.

buzzsawmonkey 7/19/2021 1:36:40 PM

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Kosh's Shadow 7/19/2021 1:43:25 PM

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Random thought:

If Mickey Katz had been around to write a parody of Ballroom Blitz, it would be Ballroom Bris

Then there is the Jewish version of a famous movie, Cholent Green

JCM 7/19/2021 1:59:02 PM

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Flying cars are real!

Wild video......

Story...

Occasional Reader 7/19/2021 2:11:40 PM

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In #45 JCM said: Wild video...... Story... Driver That Catapulted Through Power Lines Only Sustained Minor Injuries

"Well, it was 'round about this time that them ol' Duke boys found themselves in a whole heap-a trouble..."

JCM 7/19/2021 2:14:46 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 46:

LMAO!

JCM 7/19/2021 2:42:29 PM

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Kosh's Shadow 7/19/2021 2:50:42 PM

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5 Signs Your Children are Being Taught Critical Race Theory at school

See, even the Bee does make into satire what is happening

JCM 7/19/2021 4:03:48 PM

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How a Minneapolis resident fought city’s decision to defund police — and won

Late last year, Samuels and his wife, along with their neighbors, finally took action by filing a lawsuit against the city for failing to provide the minimum number of police officers per citizen in Minneapolis. On July 1, a judge ruled in their favor, ordering the Minneapolis Police Department to hire more officers. The department is now required to staff at least 730 officers by June 30, 2022, or .0017 sworn officers per resident. 

Kosh's Shadow 7/19/2021 4:09:23 PM

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Reply to JCM in 50:
Mini-a-police

buzzsawmonkey 7/19/2021 4:12:07 PM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 51:

++++++++++++++

@PBJ3 7/19/2021 4:34:49 PM

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In #48 JCM said: Okay who had, "Acid-squirting land lobster from hell" on their 2021 Bingo Card? Reply

When I was about 35 and visiting my parents in Nevada one of those creatures must have climbed inside one of the legs of my jeans.  When I put the jeans on again I got pinched.  OMG I was SO freaked out and my dad just thought I was nuts.  He had no idea how many of those things I had killed the night before....there were hundreds of them all over their kitchen floor.

JCM 7/19/2021 4:39:18 PM

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Reply to @PBJ3 in 53:

When we were in Iran it was scorpions.

Every night before bed, roll the sheets all the way down to check the bottom where they were tucked in. Every morning whack the shoes to see what falls out. Check towels in the towel rack, they liked the folds in a towel never pick up anything without first tilting it and checking underneath.

I just the love the headline on that story.......

Kosh's Shadow 7/19/2021 4:49:43 PM

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Reply to JCM in 54:

I read a biography of Robert Goddard, and when he moved to the southwest, he had to learn to keep boots on chairs lest snakes get in.

Around heah in Massachusetts, we get harmless snakes (mostly) but they freak out my wife. We had one in the bedroom - one dog noticed it and told us. I got a container, got the snake into it, and outside. She imagines me as Superman for that little bit

(Note I have never panicked in my life - I have had the experience of time stretching, but I use it to figure out what to do_

JCM 7/19/2021 4:55:43 PM

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In #55 Kosh's Shadow said: (Note I have never panicked in my life - I have had the experience of time stretching, but I use it to figure out what to do_

Same here, it seems I always have time to analyze a situation before acting.

@PBJ3 7/19/2021 5:08:46 PM

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Reply to JCM in 54:

I loved the headline as well.  We occasionally saw scorpions but I don't recall having them come into our home.