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

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Nothing says "politicians can't be trusted" like forcing them to tell you they approve a message they are directly saying to you.

The nominal notion was to try to cut down on attack ads I guess (if you have to explictly SAY etc etc) Instead, most candidates don't mind them and those who are leery just let soft money do them instead.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

The nominal notion was to try to cut down on attack ads I guess (if you have to explictly SAY etc etc) Instead, most candidates don't mind them and those who are leery just let soft money do them instead.

I want to see an ad that simply says "Donald Trump you're a douchebag." Then hear Biden say "I am Joe Biden and I support this message.

[Warhammer]

I do not understand big companies...

When I switched jobs earlier this year, I went from a $30 million a year company to one that is a $6 million-ish a year sub-sub-division of a multi-billion dollar company. One of our largest divisions is tied to the oil and gas market as well as the power industry. With COVID, they have been down massively. The division my company rolls into is middling this year, down a bit, but not as much as other sectors. My little fiefdom is actually holding steady and may even show some growth if the 4th quarter is strong.

So what are all the higher ups doing? Beating on my sub sub division for bookings to come in this month. No one is really graded on October bookings, not to mention, who cares if these orders come in this week or next. We're locked in on these projects, but we gotta get 'em now.... because we... uh... don't know why.

What makes it worse, my area is based on projects, where as my boss and my boss' boss are in a sub division one rung up from my BU. Their division is transactional and they do not understand the difference between buying a widget at $10-15,000 a pop, vs. $50-100,000 a pop.

I understand numbers at the quarterly mark. I understand the push to get things in then, for bonuses, incentives, etc., but on a month to month basis especially when you're locked in on the projects just shows a lack of understanding what you are supposed to be managing.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

So what are all the higher ups doing? Beating on my sub sub division for bookings to come in this month. No one is really graded on October bookings, not to mention, who cares if these orders come in this week or next. We're locked in on these projects, but we gotta get 'em now.... because we... uh... don't know why.

Could it be election related?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Could it be election related?

A reasonable bet, although that sort of thing also happens when anything from an impending sale/merger/earnings statement/etc etc is on the horizon.

Makes it harder to figure out until some time passes and you see if there was a shoe waiting to drop or not.

[Warhammer]

No, they are too unaware for that thought to cross their mind. I actually mentioned that earlier this year. So I started in February right before COVID hit. We had a great 1st quarter, 2nd quarter was fair, would have been good, but activity fell off a cliff in June. June and July were awful, and the 3rd quarter was pretty solid. Our 4th quarter is going to be great, just projects being, projects.

Anyway, back in June and July when management was questioning everything, I pointed out:

1) COVID - most of our business is tied to the food industry and when guys are trying to keep plants running and prevent outbreaks, they are not worried about keeping projects moving ahead.
2) Election year - On top of COVID, you have an election year, and that means whoever wins will have a different view on environmental policies, and companies that were not already moving forward with projects would take a wait and see approach.

They were gobsmacked by item 2. Will it really be that big of an impact? Uh, yeah? I told them replacement business should not be affected, but if a plant knows they need to replace equipment and more stringent regs are on the way, they might upgrade rather than replace in kind. That would need to be evaluated internally, etc. They did not understand this concept.

It just blows my mind that you have people like this running organizations. My direct boss at least understands that he does not know my division's business and is willing to learn. His boss has no clue. Her claim to fame was she was one of the big Dale Carnegie trainers, but she is clueless. I was asked what I needed to complete my training in a COVID world and I told them field experience (I am replacing a 40 year industry vet who is retiring at the end of the year), and in the field troubleshooting (which could be arranged even with COVID because we are deemed system critical). I was told, "You can learn everything you need to on the internet." Seriously?

When I was interviewing for the job, I was asked several times if I was aware of the types of facilities I would be going to. So in the final interview I had to make a presentation about me. So I work in there a picture of a chicken processing plant to work in that I know what I am going to be dealing with, (it was a picture of chickens that were bad due to bacteria being disposed of, they looked just like fresh chicken from the store unwrapped) her comment? "Did you have to show us that?" I responded that it was a topic that came up repeatedly during the interviewing process and the best way to show that I was aware was incorporating it into the presentation graphically.

It drives me nuts because their division is not all that different from mine, they just do not understand the business. I do not interact with them on a daily basis, but when I do, holy cow is it frustrating.

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

A reasonable bet, although that sort of thing also happens when anything from an impending sale/merger/earnings statement/etc etc is on the horizon.

Makes it harder to figure out until some time passes and you see if there was a shoe waiting to drop or not.

The division was acquired three years ago in an acquisition from a holding company. The holding company sold it based in part on financial projections 3 years out. This was the hockey stick year that would have been hard to meet even with out COVID.

That said, the overall company is too big to merge with anyone else in the industry without concerns of significantly reducing competition. Our division is tied in with the core business municipally, so I don't see the division being spun off. My sub-division is making money and showing signs of growth, so why spin us off (also too small for anyone to seriously want to buy)? Also, as above, our municipal business is tied in with the other divisions' municipal business.

Now the funny thing, they do not want to talk to the 40 yr vet because he tells it like it is. The order is going to come in on the customer's time line, not our time line, etc. Not going to cut price to get a job to come in two weeks earlier than it will otherwise, that is stupid and self defeating, etc.

[sterlingice]

My wife pointed me to a Facebook acquaintance who had fallen down a mix of QAnon and supernatural hole and, honestly, it was kindof an amusing read from afar (like: that it has clout and isn't just crazy folks in their parents' basement is scary but the content feels like run of the mill conspiracy theory stuff). I've got to give it this: there are a ton of ideas that would make for good SciFi and thriller movie stuff. It mostly nails that cutting edge of what is really implausible but not quite impossible.

It's so hard to make both good SciFi and good comedy that is timeless. You have to be close enough to that edge to make something that stands out today but also isn't so implausible/bad as to drive people away a generation or two later. Like in the 50s, it seemed possible that we could have nuclear powered cars and you could make a plot based on that. But if you tried to trot that out now, it's fallen out of vogue and would seem out of touch with where modern futurism is going.

SI

[stevew]

finally getting around to re-keying the entire house that i've owned for 14 years. will be nice to actually be able to unlock the front door if necessary.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

Now the funny thing, they do not want to talk to the 40 yr vet because he tells it like it is.

Yeah, the other possibility that I didn't mention explicitly earlier is that those making demands simply don't have anything resembling a clue. Sadly, buying all 5 vowels from Vanna at $250 each usually doesn't give them one either.

I've seen that shit more times than I care to count

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

They were gobsmacked by item 2. Will it really be that big of an impact?

What in the... ? Yeah, that's pretty bad.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by stevew

finally getting around to re-keying the entire house that i've owned for 14 years. will be nice to actually be able to unlock the front door if necessary.

We did this a couple of months ago. Had a mix of 7 keys, down to 2.

[cartman]

My uncle had a couple of small set backs with some infections, but overall is making slow and steady progress. He is starting to get more of his mental functions back. He asked my cousins twice today "why am I alive" and they told him about being found and taken to the hospital. He has no memory of any of that or of anything happening to cause it.

On the doctor side of things, they've run several tests, but still don't have an answer to the "what happened" question. Everything came back negative on a stroke.

[JonInMiddleGA]

No clue what thread to put this in, so ...

Late season Covid cancellations are turning HS football in Georgia into a clusterfuck. And opening the door for possible shenanigans.

Scenario 1) Earlier today Friday's matchup between 4th ranked Cartersville & 2nd ranked & 3-time defending state champ Blessed Trinity was postponed "due to covid concerns at Cartersville). C'ville has an open date remaining, BT does not ... meaning that a makeup game would force BT to play on short rest. More possible shenanigans could be in the fact that C'ville just added 4* Florida commit Carlos Del Rio-Wilson to their roster a week ago (his 2nd transfer of the year) and needs time to get him up to speed.

Scenario #2a & 2b) #4 Athens Academy just had their game at bottom-feeder Loganville Christian cancelled due to "health concerns at LC".

Acad can now only finish 2-1 in region play, but #1 Prince Ave could lose to #8 GWA, Acad could beat GWA after having lost to Prince, leaving us with round robin W/L among the teams, but two are 3-1 and the other is 2-1 (through no fault of their own) So is that a 3-way tie or a 2-way tie?

Meanwhile, LC can avoid two obvious losses, lose to ACS but upset GWA and finish 1-1 in the region ... ACS would be 1-3 but have a win h2h over LC ... so are they tied or not tied?

Now multiply this shit over 64 regions, each of whom can determine their own method of tiebreaking ... all because the stupid governing body declared all unplayed regular season covid cancellations no contest instead of forfeits ... even though any during the playoffs ARE forfeits.

At this point it's not a question of IF a state title will be determined by cancellations, it's just how many.

[PilotMan]

Just let everyone declare themselves the state champs and everyone gets to celebrate!

[spleen1015]

A 2-1 team can't tie with 3-1 teams. Win% is .666 versus .750.

If they let this be a tie, then that's fucking crazy and GA HS football is a joke.


Also H2H shouldn't come into play unless the teams involved have the same record. The 1-3 loses because they lost 2 more games.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

A 2-1 team can't tie with 3-1 teams. Win% is .666 versus .750.

If they let this be a tie, then that's fucking crazy and GA HS football is a joke.


Also H2H shouldn't come into play unless the teams involved have the same record. The 1-3 loses because they lost 2 more games.

So we reward the 1-1 for cancelling two games? (both essentially certain losses, they'd be 50'ish point underdogs in each)

Meanwhile, the 2-1 would be 3-1 if their unplayed game was declared a forfeit (as I've maintained from day one should be the case)

Interestingly, at least one region HAS declared a forfeit (or at least that their standings would treat it as one) in a similar situation.

And then there's the was-bizarre-but-maybe-not-so-much now scenario down in coastal Georgia.

It's a 4-team region, 3 of the 4 teams are part of the same county school system. Those 3 were banned by their administration from playing any team outside the system in the regular season ... so the region declared the other one the champion before a single snap was played, the only team eligible by participation basically ... but allows the other 3 to compete with each other for seeding purposes. All 4 will advance to the playoffs.

[spleen1015]

I guess so?

Both teams suck I take it. So, does it matter which one moves on if they're just going to lose the next game?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

I guess so?

Both teams suck I take it. So, does it matter which one moves on if they're just going to lose the next game?

Playoff revenue (in a year where gate receipts have been scarce), the difference between being a playoff team vs non-qualifier (where 80 percent will qualify).

And with the covid forfeits in place once the playoffs start, you're not guaranteed to lose anymore.

Lest I appear to have vested interest clouding my point of view, let me mention that my HS alma mater is under quarantine right now. Two postponements, only one of which (the more winnable one, 1 point underdog at home) has a makeup date, the other (where we're a 17 point underdog) remains in limbo. A strong chance we finish 2-2, tied with the then 2-2 team we didn't play, the one that would have been a 17 point favorite if they played. My alma mater benefits from not playing, with a coin toss likely to decide #3 vs #4 seed in that scenario.

[JonInMiddleGA]

It's not just the fucked up scenarios that confound me, it's the inane guidance from the governing body.

So, regular season games should be made up if at all possible (indeed, one team is playing 4 games in a 14 day span to do just that), any that aren't are declared "no contest". Playoffs are "no opportunity to makeup, therefore the team causing the cancellation will forfeit and the other will advance".

Okay ... so why aren't games in the final two weeks of the regular season subject to forfeit as well then? Because mandatory 10 day quarantine + 5 day acclimitization period means there's no opportunity to make up any of those either.

We're almost assured at this point of having teams make the playoffs by virtue of unplayed "no contests" ... only to then forfeit in the first round based on their quarantine.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I asked our (Acad) AD on open Twitter about the 1-1 vs 1-3 scenario tiebreaker.His reply was this

Region 8A Private TieBreaker
Head to Head
Overall Region Record
Overall Record vs Class A
Overall Record ...

You notice what he DIDN'T address? Whether or not they're tied. Or, rather, you'll notice what he didn't say, that they aren't tied.

(Yes, he knows me well enough to know exactly what I was getting at)

edit to add: that tweet paid off for me (to verify something I had already figured out). The daily newsletter (that also provides the bulk of the AJC's HSFB coverage) pointed out that "The GHSA considers the game a no contest for its official records. So if you're 7-2 and don't play your final game, you're still 7-2 in the 'official record'. But a region can consider it a forfeit in the process of determining its playoff teams and seeds."

In other words, it can be a forfeit even if it wasn't a forfeit.

Which is the sort of fucked up shit that set me off in the first place

[JonInMiddleGA]

If a native English-speaker, U.S. born, etc, college graduate pronounces an Iowa city as "Dez Moinez" ... can you really avoid discounting their potential contributions afterwards?

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

If a native English-speaker, U.S. born, etc, college graduate pronounces an Iowa city as "Dez Moinez" ... can you really avoid discounting their potential contributions afterwards?

Nope.

[stevew]

sort of like Yo-se-mite

[Edward64]

Or ar-kin-saw (correct) vs ar-kan-sas (abomination)

[CrimsonFox]

[Ironhead]

I am seeing an influx of mail recently from companies trying to sell me supplemental insurance to Medicare and/or Medicaid. The problem is that the mail is addressed to a slightly misspelled version of my name.

All of my credit reports seem clean so seemingly no worries there. I am not 100% sure if I should worry about this or if someone somewhere just screwed up in some giant data entry database that went to all of these companies. I am not even sure how I would go about tracking down the origin of this.

[Edward64]

This is pretty cool. Makes me want to visit Abu Dhabi in 2023+.

Views from a rabbi, a priest & an imam on the Abrahamic house being built in Abu Dhabi | Euronews

Religious history was made in Abu Dhabi last year, when the Document on Human Fraternity was signed in February by Pope Francis and Dr. Ahmed Al Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar.

Calling for universal peace & the reconciliation of all faiths, the physical embodiment of the agreement is a planned project in the capital called, The Abrahamic Family House.

Located on Saadiyat Island, and due for completion in 2022, the site will house a church, a mosque and a synagogue.

[sterlingice]

Wait, I think I've heard this one before! A rabbi, a priest, and an imam go into an Abrahamic house in Abu Dhabi... dang, I forget how it goes. I think Nermal is involved somehow.

SI

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Wait, I think I've heard this one before! A rabbi, a priest, and an imam go into an Abrahamic house in Abu Dhabi... dang, I forget how it goes. I think Nermal is involved somehow.

SI

10 bonus points for the Garfield reference.

[cartman]

Not much to update on my uncle. My cousins have been seeing him everyday, plus doing work on his place in anticipation of an eventual release. I've been making trips down several times per week to help out as well. But that release is appearing to be likely far in the future. He's stable, but really isn't making much improvement. We might have to start recognizing a new normal for him, that was much different that the Uncle Andy we knew in the past.

One of my cousins has to head back to Tulsa today, as she's a teacher and they are moving to in-classroom next week. She'll be back over Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. My other cousin can work remotely, so she is staying for the foreseeable future.

[Lathum]

Wife took the kids to the dentist today since I am not equipped for that drama. She works from home and I am a stay at home dad, so we are all home all the time in coronaworld.

I fell asleep on the couch around 4:30 and woke up about 5:30 in the dark with no one home. took me a good 2 minutes before I realize WTF was happening.

[stevew]

I can't wait til we can get back to boring stuff, like complaining about how coffee creamer comes in such random and annoying sizes. Fridge real estate is limited.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by stevew

I can't wait til we can get back to boring stuff, like complaining about how coffee creamer comes in such random and annoying sizes. Fridge real estate is limited.

Could we get fridge shelf standardization/configurations in the future please?

All options should be at least two standard pizza boxes tall, with a little extra room for tolerance if one box lid isn't perfectly closed tight.

[Edward64]

Regarding Popeyes vs CFA. I like both but lean towards Popeyes because their sandwich is bigger. It comes down to what mood I'm in.

Went to one and asked for no mayo (at BK, I get the Whopper with no mayo because it adds a ton of calories). The woman said that's what makes it spicy. I always assumed it was like in the batter when they fried it up but kinda makes sense.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Could we get fridge shelf standardization/configurations in the future please?

All options should be at least two standard pizza boxes tall, with a little extra room for tolerance if one box lid isn't perfectly closed tight.

I thought you were talking about the door shelf on the fridge here, and spent like 15 minutes putting way too much thought into my misunderstanding, assuming you were lining pizzas up vertically like on a bookshelf.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

I thought you were talking about the door shelf on the fridge here, and spent like 15 minutes putting way too much thought into my misunderstanding, assuming you were lining pizzas up vertically like on a bookshelf.

I would apologize for creating confusion but, well, I think this one is on you

[miami_fan]

Is there still such a thing as a real life Make Out Point in 2020?

Make-Out Point - TV Tropes

For example, there were always corners of the beach that youngsters would go to do their thing when I was growing up. Then when I joined the military, I would hear about the specific spots on the base where they would catch the younger airman in compromising situations.

Don't mind me. My wife just showed me the anime that my son has as a screensaver on his IPad and yeah puberty is coming on fast!

[Ksyrup]

Why does the outro music on Wheel of Fortune speed up and slow down like a drunk Lars Ulrich is the band leader keeping time?

[NobodyHere]

His second in two days, Jon Rahm skips his way to a hole-in-one at No. 16 - on his birthday, no less. #themasters pic.twitter.com/rtefAN5XtH

— The Masters (@TheMasters) November 10, 2020

[Ksyrup]

CBS gave the ultra-annoying guy from the AT&T commercials a sitcom? And it's about the relationship between a kidney donor and donee? Good luck with that.

[cuervo72]

And paired him with an ultra-annoying Broadway actress!

(I don't know if she's really annoying, but is in the commercials. And, well, she's a Broadway actress.)

[JonInMiddleGA]

I've mentioned this in another thread as a joke (and think I've mentioned it once in this thread or another previously) but it's downright uncanny

Late this evening the AJC posted a list of now a dozen HS weekend games cancelled by Tuesday evening in Georgia.

Of those, all 12 were cancelled by the underdog.
11/12 were double-digit spreads
10/12 were 28 point spreads or more.

One of the 2 relatively close ones was cancelled by a team that's already locked up a playoff berth while the only single digit spread game also has a path to clinch without playing as well

[cuervo72]

Wait...how much actual betting is there on these games?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Wait...how much actual betting is there on these games?

Probably very little by the spread.

The lines are based on the long running Maxwell Ratings (in their 35th year now)

So far this season they have a 93% winner accuracy across 1255 total games played, 68% accuracy within 9 points

[ColtCrazy]

Gonna through this out here because I know there's a lot of people that can visualize this. I simply cannot get enough time to step away from the middle of it to actually think of a solution.
Our district has done a good job on staying in school through all this. Our district has minimal cases and my own school is the last (knock on wood) to not have a case at all. My concern is we now have several different forms of information. We have one that registers a student that is symptomatic, close contact, etc. We have another that logs students that are now quarantined that is communicated to district transportation. We have another that is a daily check in for students that are virtual or for all students on our virtual Wednesdays. And there is yet another that is used by teachers to log when they check in with their virtual students. My worry is there are so many forms that something can fall through the cracks. Outside of simply assigning people to communicate these forms to others, I want to find a better way to merge this information into one source that we can use to help track and help students. This is the headache we have.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by ColtCrazy

Gonna through this out here because I know there's a lot of people that can visualize this. I simply cannot get enough time to step away from the middle of it to actually think of a solution.
Our district has done a good job on staying in school through all this. Our district has minimal cases and my own school is the last (knock on wood) to not have a case at all. My concern is we now have several different forms of information. We have one that registers a student that is symptomatic, close contact, etc. We have another that logs students that are now quarantined that is communicated to district transportation. We have another that is a daily check in for students that are virtual or for all students on our virtual Wednesdays. And there is yet another that is used by teachers to log when they check in with their virtual students. My worry is there are so many forms that something can fall through the cracks. Outside of simply assigning people to communicate these forms to others, I want to find a better way to merge this information into one source that we can use to help track and help students. This is the headache we have.

Sounds like you need some kind of system that can query all 4 of those databases and can be searched by student name or student ID number or both. That way, you only need to go into one system (the querying system), but, that won't 100% guarantee all 4 systems are up to date with the most current data for a particular student.

The only thing that comes to mind to try and help minimize the data not being up to date, is sending some kind of auto reminder to everyone that is responsible for entering that data into each of those 4 systems. I get email warnings when my time card hasn't been submitted after so many hours, so something along those lines. Doesn't sound like there's going to be one catch all way unfortunately.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I'm the #1 English language streamer of the game "Kitty Powers' Matchmaker" on Twitch over the past 90 days.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

I'm the #1 English language streamer of the game "Kitty Powers' Matchmaker" on Twitch over the past 90 days.

Congrats!! Knocking it out of the park like usual!

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

I'm the #1 English language streamer of the game "Kitty Powers' Matchmaker" on Twitch over the past 90 days.

What a way to celebrate a birthday! Happy Birthday!