Random Thoughts That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread Go Here

[Ghost Econ]

Our 16 year old finally got Instagram on her birthday. Maybe people are sliding into her DMs, but it's a private account and we can see everything she posts so not too concerned. No tiktok or snap allowed and she's fine with it.

[albionmoonlight]

No one at a business gets back to you faster than someone passing the buck onto someone else.

literally one minute after I sent a request: "Hey, I'm not handling that anymore, but I am copying X who is doing that now."

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Lathum

My 12 yeah old daughter who will be 13 in May is having a full on meltdown because we won't let her have snapchat

Our 14 year old son still doesn't have a phone. He may be his only friend who doesn't. Our plan is to finally get him one in the next few months here.

My wife and I are going to write up a contract that he will have to sign before we give it to him that sets forth pretty strict rules with consequences when the rules are broken. There will be no social media. His phone is not allowed upstairs (where his bedroom is). He will know that his texts will be monitored. No app downloaded beyond what we approve. Among others.

We are very comfortable with being uncool parents.

I think he'll be good with it. He's not a sneaky kid or a mess around and find out type of kid.

Now, our six year old daughter on the other hand will be a whole separate issue down the line...

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Lathum

My 12 yeah old daughter who will be 13 in May is having a full on meltdown because we won't let her have snapchat

I do not envy that position. Teenagers and today's social media feels like an insane minefield.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I do not envy that position. Teenagers and today's social media feels like an insane minefield.

Not just teenagers...

[Lathum]

Bury her under the jail


https://www.nbcnews.com/news/animal-...ued-rcna260147

[Ghost Econ]

I just learned that B.A.S.S. of Bassmasters Classic is an acronym.

[RainMaker]

I find Jason Statham to be a comically bad actor but I thoroughly enjoy every movie he puts out.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

I just learned that B.A.S.S. of Bassmasters Classic is an acronym.

Yep.

Bass Angler(s) Sportsman Society, IIRC

(no, I didn't google, but I'm pretty sure that either right or really really close)

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I find Jason Statham to be a comically bad actor but I thoroughly enjoy every movie he puts out.

Jean Claude Vandam is the same. Not everything needs to be Shawshank.

I usually find the harder a movie tries to be serious the worse it is, looking at you Nomadland.

[Ghost Econ]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Yep.

Bass Angler(s) Sportsman Society, IIRC

(no, I didn't google, but I'm pretty sure that either right or really really close)

Yep, but that they also created the acronym and them worked backwards to find the words to fit. I also enjoy when they use the word in the acronym which just makes the whole thing redundant.

[Lathum]

Man, raising a teenage girl is wild.....

[Ksyrup]

We had a surprisingly easy go of it with both of our girls, relatively speaking.

[GrantDawg]

Why do bartenders just generally suck? Why do Bar menus always have drinks and beers that they don't actually have? Do I just have the worse luck ordering drinks?

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

We had a surprisingly easy go of it with both of our girls, relatively speaking.

We had some issues with self-harm, anxiety/depression, and at one point an eating disorder, but no girl issues, really (more the uh, opposite, really). Certainly not any concerning boys.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Why do bartenders just generally suck? Why do Bar menus always have drinks and beers that they don't actually have? Do I just have the worse luck ordering drinks?

That sounds more like you having my food luck but with drinks.

I occasionally run into an out of stock beer but other than that, not a big issue that I've encountered.

[NobodyHere]

Night Court was a really good show.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Night Court was a really good show.

One of the most underrated shows of all time.

[Passacaglia]

So the Killers were named after a fictional band in the music video for the song Crystal by New Order in 2001. What I don't get it...who was watching music videos in 2001? I feel like MTV was done playing music videos by then, maybe they still had TRL, but I doubt they were playing New Order on it.

[RainMaker]

Please someone explain the Raising Canes hype to me. It's chicken strips. They're fine. The sauce is fine. Why are there lines for 90 minutes for them?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Please someone explain the Raising Canes hype to me. It's chicken strips. They're fine. The sauce is fine. Why are there lines for 90 minutes for them?

Shouldn't have that unless it's a new location somewhere (new to the market really).

I mean, I'm sitting in the town where they stole their sauce formula & the in-store wait is never more than 10 minutes -- and that's food in hand, not just placing the order

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Shouldn't have that unless it's a new location somewhere (new to the market really).

I mean, I'm sitting in the town where they stole their sauce formula & the in-store wait is never more than 10 minutes -- and that's food in hand, not just placing the order

Yeah, it's a new location and they had to have police out for traffic control.

[JPhillips]

A small plane crashed into the Hudson River just a couple of miles from my house. Both the pilot and passenger are safe.

The aircraft is a Cessna 172, a single-engine, four-seat plane commonly used for flight training and private travel, with registration number N1560E. It is registered to American Airman Inc, a flight school based on Long Island.

[Ghost Econ]

It's actually impressive how shit Moe's is. I ordered a pickup for my daughter and the order should have been ready 10 minutes ago. They did 3 other walkin orders since I've been here, but still not mine. How hard is it to just make the food that's ordered?

[Ksyrup]

20 years ago, I loved Moe's. We even used Moe's to cater Caitlin's graduation party (9 *gulp* years ago). But I've only been there a couple of times in the past 5 years, and neither time was all that great.

[Ghost Econ]

So more complaining about shit. I'm sitting at the dealer waiting room getting my free oil change/maintenance. A guy is sitting 15/20 feet away and just reeks of weed. It's 7:30 in the morning. If I can smell you across a room, you have a problem and probably need professional help. And you definitely don't need to be operating a motor vehicle.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

So more complaining about shit. I'm sitting at the dealer waiting room getting my free oil change/maintenance. A guy is sitting 15/20 feet away and just reeks of weed. It's 7:30 in the morning. If I can smell you across a room, you have a problem and probably need professional help. And you definitely don't need to be operating a motor vehicle.

"I drive better when I am high" *puff* *puff*

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Yeah, it's a new location and they had to have police out for traffic control.

Okay, yeah. That's every new chain that opens in Athens. Varies from a month to six months.

And how fast does it fall? 6 months worth of cops directing traffic at one of the three Whattaburgers that opened in short order ... to 2 of the 3 already being shuttered.

[JPhillips]

Look up the LA Marathon ending if you haven't seen it. An American comes from behind and wins by .01 seconds.

[flere-imsaho]

That was pretty nuts.

[Ksyrup]

It was apparently 80-85 degrees so they decided to award "finisher" medals at mile 18. Which I wouldn't accept. But the worst part about the course - and the reason for picking mile 18 as the fake finish - is that due to a dispute with a parking lot/land owner, the course takes you through the finish line at mile 18 before doubling back to the real finish at 26.2 miles.

Having run a marathon, I can't think of a worse mental hurdle than running through the finish line 8 miles early, right before the real struggle starts in the last 10K. I wouldn't run that marathon even in perfect weather.

[Ghost Econ]

Am I the only one that seems AI make math mistakes almost any time I ask it to do more than the most straightforward math?

I got some new weight plates and don't feel like figuring out the various combos in my head for adding them to the bar, so I asked AI to do it. While it seemed to get all the combinations right, the totals it listed were generally off by about 10 pounds each time. When I asked it about it, it just said oh you're right, I forgot when I counted.

And people are relying on this thing in their business/killing humans?

[Lathum]

I have a few friends on facebook who are cheer moms and are rightfully proud of their kids, but I always find it a bit shocking how they have these 12 year old girls made up like street whores.

[cuervo72]

I mean, hasn't that long been the case with dance and/or pagentry? (See Ramsey, JonBinet). But yeah.

(What's always gotten me about cheer is the number of competitions/trophies out there. Everyone's a champion! Like, they seem to have these things at Disney every other day.)

[flere-imsaho]

Identity theft should be punishable by death, and scams like phishing shouldn't be far behind.

Today's thought brought to you by our lawyer reminding us to notify credit bureaus of Dad's death so the people who comb obits looking for identities to steal can't cause trouble for my Mom.

[Ghost Econ]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

I mean, hasn't that long been the case with dance and/or pagentry? (See Ramsey, JonBinet). But yeah.

(What's always gotten me about cheer is the number of competitions/trophies out there. Everyone's a champion! Like, they seem to have these things at Disney every other day.)

You should try being a swim parent. Having to stand behind the blocks while timing trying to look down the side of a pool for a light to flash so to start your timer. But while you're doing it you have to look around the asses of teenage boys in speedos and teenage girls with swimsuits that are too small in that area. 15 year old me would have been cool with it, now me feels like an old creep.

[cuervo72]

Yeah. Some years ago one of the neighbor families had kids in swim, including their eldest girl. One of the other neighbor dads seemed to make a point of going to the meets. Now, granted - this was a longtime neighbor and friend of the family. But it still seemed a little...not 100% right to me, his enthusiasm.

[Ghost Econ]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Yeah. Some years ago one of the neighbor families had kids in swim, including their eldest girl. One of the other neighbor dads seemed to make a point of going to the meets. Now, granted - this was a longtime neighbor and friend of the family. But it still seemed a little...not 100% right to me, his enthusiasm.

After doing this for I think 5 years during the summer and 2 all year long, I don't trust anyone who enjoys going to swim meets. The kids are amazing athletes, but you're on horrible benches for hours on end unless you time and then you're standing for hours on end, it's uncomfortably crowded with almost no parking, it's normally hot and humid, it's about 120 decibels the entire time, and your eyes and nose burn from the chemicals... but you get to kinda see your kid do something mostly underwater for about 5 minutes on aggregate so I guess it's all good.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Yeah. Some years ago one of the neighbor families had kids in swim, including their eldest girl. One of the other neighbor dads seemed to make a point of going to the meets. Now, granted - this was a longtime neighbor and friend of the family. But it still seemed a little...not 100% right to me, his enthusiasm.

It's just the world we live in. I remember some years back (Will's HS era) there was one of the girls that I enjoyed watching play. I loved how she approached the game AND having known of her for several school years I knew she was a quintessential "good kid". Well damn, that's pretty much the kind of youth athlete I most enjoy watching - and cheering for - be it girls tennis or boys basketball or friday night football.

Alas she was also an attractive young lady, a consensus opinion widely held by everyone from little kids to grandparents. Not being blind doesn't mean you're being a pervert.

And I remember knowing I had to be conscious of appearances, never lingering too long watching her matches versus any of the others also underway. And I remember thinking what a shitty state of affairs it was that the world is at a point where you can't really enjoy much of anything without having to do mental gymnastics about who might think what.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

It's just the world we live in. I remember some years back (Will's HS era) there was one of the girls that I enjoyed watching play. I loved how she approached the game AND having known of her for several school years I knew she was a quintessential "good kid". Well damn, that's pretty much the kind of youth athlete I most enjoy watching - and cheering for - be it girls tennis or boys basketball or friday night football.

Alas she was also an attractive young lady, a consensus opinion widely held by everyone from little kids to grandparents. Not being blind doesn't mean you're being a pervert.

And I remember knowing I had to be conscious of appearances, never lingering too long watching her matches versus any of the others also underway. And I remember thinking what a shitty state of affairs it was that the world is at a point where you can't really enjoy much of anything without having to do mental gymnastics about who might think what.

Years ago, Mrs. A and I were at the mall buying Christmas presents. And she told me to wait for a bit while she shopped for mine.

Tired of walking, and for lack of anything else to do (I'd already had my Cinnabon :-)), I sat down by the Christmas display in the middle of the mall watching the little kids ride the train.

Then I suddenly realized that I was a man sitting alone with no child of my own watching a bunch of preschoolers. And I'd been there for a little too long.

I quickly got up and decided to spend the rest of the time at the Gamestop.

[flere-imsaho]

Pedophiles ruining society for the rest of us. Release the Epstein files!

[Lathum]

My son takes drum lessons right across from a popular playground. I'll usually sit in my car and drink a coffee and listen to the radio while he is in his lesson. It occurred to me a while back that a middle aged dude is sitting alone in his car, sometimes laughing, at the same time every week across from a childrens playground. I keep waiting for a tap on the window.

[CrimsonFox]

Hmmm there are two new political threads and neither was created by edward.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I dunno where to put this (kid thread? another thread?) so I'm just gonna stick it here. It struck ME pretty interesting.

I won't get into deep details or anything, but I don't think I'm violating anything by saying that Will went on a raid with local law enforcement down in Miami-Dade early this morning.

It's an occasional training opportunity that both the state attorney's office and local law enforcement feels is beneficial all around, so they get offered the chance once in a while.

Again, without getting too detailed or anything, it was a big enough operation (and location) that it involved three full SRT teams serving warrants before dawn. And suffice to say that the charges are something hardly anyone here on the board wouldn't agree justifies getting the accused off the streets.

Sure, there were aspects that could be described as "fun", certainly a lot more adrenaline than most people get before breakfast, it's kind of what you'd imagine the experience to be for someone of his age, background, and career.

But the reason I'm telling any of this here is something else. Before I heard any of the fun stuff, before I heard any of the stuff you'd expect, he told me what he learned, specifically the biggest unexpected takeaway of the whole experience. And ironically it had to do with ... the impact of stuff on UNinvolved civilians.

He'll be a better prosecutor because of what he learned this morning, do a better job of "representing the interests of the people" because of it ... and I just wish more people in his profession did more of this sort of stuff, especially early in their careers.

A lot of the legal profession -- on both sides of the business -- are sorely lacking in contact with the real world, especially the world(s) inhabited by the people they deal with in court. The more they "touch grass", the better afaic.

[flere-imsaho]

Amen to that.

Edit: This was meant in response to Jon's post, but could also have been in response to CrimsonFox's.

[miami_fan]

Piggybacking off of Jon's commentary about people needing to "touch grass" albeit in much less noble way, there is this.

hxxps://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-men-humiliated-after-being-duped-by-ai-foot-fetish-model/

I went with the old school precautionary "hxxps" just in case.

AFAIC this is not about taking any shots at MAGA men specifically or anything political. In an attempt to have any hope for humanity, I am choosing to believe that the majority of the followers of this account are bots.

[Ksyrup]

I've spent nearly my entire legal career outside the courtroom and representing entities, not people. I did work for the state for the first 5 years, but even then, I didn't get the usual "starter kit" of administrative proceedings against individuals and such, as I was often pulled to work on bigger stuff (like federal briefs, legislation, company actions, etc.),

About 25 years ago, after I had transitioned to private practice, some dude called our office out of the blue on a Friday afternoon and I was the only one there to take the call. He was a ship captain looking to challenge the decision of the FL agency that appoints harbor pilots to give someone else one of these positions over him. Sounded interesting enough, so I took the case. Turns out, these positions are similar to federal judgeships - lifetime appointments, extremely competitive, lucrative, and a nice, cushy job to allow someone to settle in to a stationary lifestyle instead of piloting ships all over the world for 10+ months a year as a way to sail off into retirement. This guy basically had a PO Box in Lake Tahoe as his address.

Anyway, the way these things worked, they just gave them to whomever got the highest score regardless of their resumes, outside of meeting the minimal requirements for the position. My guy had continually finished runner-up - if there were two positions available, he placed third. If there was one, he finished second. And he knew enough that he wanted to challenge the scoring of particular questions that he believed he was right on. The problem was, these positions were already awarded and even if successful after more than a year of going through the administrative process, there's no way they'd unseat someone to put a different person in. So, after a couple of years and another round of testing which he aced (and we're talking gymnastics-level differences, 97.56 versus 97.28-type scores) but again, finished just behind someone with a far lesser resume, we partnered with someone from another firm who had a relationship with the head of the agency and convinced them that they should be looking at the combination of score and resume in deciding who to appoint. And when they did, they appointed my client this time.

It was extremely rewarding on a personal level to help change this guy's life. On his way from Lake Tahoe to the port where he would be taking his position, he stopped at our offices, brought a large briefcase of cash and paid us like $6K there on the spot. Apparently, many ship captains get paid cash and don't report everything to the IRS. Who knew?!

[GrantDawg]

That was interesting but made me think of the Arrested Development episodes where Micheal pretended to be a Maritime lawyer.


"You're aaaa crook, Mr. Hook...."

[GrantDawg]

Dola: On the sea captains getting paid cash, that actually doesn't surprise me. When we recently binged a bunch of seasons of "Below Deck" it was crazy to me that everybody tipped out with huge stacks of cash. But then i really thought about it. You are working in many, many different tax districts when you are aboard a ship. Dodging taxes is probably is pretty close to a necessity.

[GrantDawg]

Do you think European guys take their girlfriends to kilogram town?