Zompist Bboard Again

Metempsychosis wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 8:43 pm Hey guys. I'm new here, but I just have to say, we just elected the son of our dictator as president over here in the Philippines. And it fucking sucks. Six years of blatant corruption and rewriting history ahead. So yeah. I'm angry and scared, not for myself because me and mine, being comfortably middle-class, will be able to survive the storm in all likelihood, but for the ones who actually voted for him as president. They're the disposessed who will suffer most from the economic downturns and blatant kleptocracy of a Marcos presidency. That said, I do worry about the censorship these clowns will try to enforce upon us. Anyway, wish us luck for the next six years, we'll need it.

Welcome, and that does fucking suck.

Well, we finally know who are new library dean is and it looks like a disappointing pick at best. In fact, I suspect his main reason for taking the job is to be closer to his grandkids. Why can't we get someone who's in the prime of their career instead of someone who's winding theirs down? And how much of our salary budget is going to get et up by someone so old and expensive? The word from his current institution is that he spent more time travelling abroad than actually running their library.

Metempsychosis wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 8:43 pm Hey guys. I'm new here, but I just have to say, we just elected the son of our dictator as president over here in the Philippines. And it fucking sucks. Six years of blatant corruption and rewriting history ahead. So yeah. I'm angry and scared, not for myself because me and mine, being comfortably middle-class, will be able to survive the storm in all likelihood, but for the ones who actually voted for him as president. They're the disposessed who will suffer most from the economic downturns and blatant kleptocracy of a Marcos presidency. That said, I do worry about the censorship these clowns will try to enforce upon us. Anyway, wish us luck for the next six years, we'll need it.

I'm shocked (from being ignorant the last >20 years) and appalled, too. From Dutarte to Bobo? How is this the pendulum swinging from an extreme to a center?

Metempsychosis wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 8:43 pm Hey guys. I'm new here, but I just have to say, we just elected the son of our dictator as president over here in the Philippines. And it fucking sucks. Six years of blatant corruption and rewriting history ahead. So yeah. I'm angry and scared, not for myself because me and mine, being comfortably middle-class, will be able to survive the storm in all likelihood, but for the ones who actually voted for him as president. They're the disposessed who will suffer most from the economic downturns and blatant kleptocracy of a Marcos presidency. That said, I do worry about the censorship these clowns will try to enforce upon us. Anyway, wish us luck for the next six years, we'll need it.

I'm so sorry. I'd heard about that being the likely outcome, but didn't know it had already happened.

Also, welcome. I believe there's an odd custom of offering pickles and tea to newcomers.

Welcome! And here's your pickles and tea:

linguoboy: I suspect they don't want to hire someone who will outlive the concept of libraries.

Gherkins and chai to you Metempsychosis! It is indeed a shame the son of the kleptomaniac dictator getting in on the back of lies spread over the internet.

It's been pretty hot here for some days, and as usual in that situation, there are warnings of thunderstorms now.

Now, I used to think of thunderstorms as not that big a deal - potentially dangerous if you have to be or insist on being outside, but aside from that, something that you can handle by staying inside and making sure that your doors and windows are safely closed and locked.

But last year, one particularly severe thunderstorm in a different part of the country effectively destroyed entire neighborhoods there - more than a hundred people died, and photos of the place after it looked as if someone had dropped bombs on it. Not what I used to expect when being warned about thunderstorms.

So I admit I'm a bit nervous and apprehensive now.

Raphael wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 10:50 amSo I admit I'm a bit nervous and apprehensive now.

A decade ago, "derecho" was a novel term to me. Now we have at least one a year. One even spawned a tornado in my neighbourhood a couple years ago. (Growing up, the common wisdom was that twisters don't touch down in major urban areas. Perhaps that was always erroneous but it definitely seems obsolete now.) We lost power for three days in that storm, something which had never happened to me in thirty years living in Chicago. So now I regard major storms with considerably more apprehension than before.

Linguoboy wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 11:33 am

Raphael wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 10:50 amSo I admit I'm a bit nervous and apprehensive now.

A decade ago, "derecho" was a novel term to me. Now we have at least one a year. One even spawned a tornado in my neighbourhood a couple years ago. (Growing up, the common wisdom was that twisters don't touch down in major urban areas. Perhaps that was always erroneous but it definitely seems obsolete now.) We lost power for three days in that storm, something which had never happened to me in thirty years living in Chicago. So now I regard major storms with considerably more apprehension than before.

I remember being caught in the open about a decade ago, back when I lived in Maryland, during a derecho that came on very suddenly while I was taking a walk (and had been foolish enough to not check the weather beforehand). That was... interesting - I was stuck in probably the hardest rain and strongest wind I ever have been in, which were stronger than when the DC area got hit by a hurricane while I lived there. Somehow I didn't lose power, even though a lot of people did.

Since then we've had a derecho here where I live now, which knocked down tree limbs everywhere. Likewise, I thankfully did not lose power, but a lot people did in this case as well. The part I wonder about, though, is that that day, right before the derecho started, I saw people paddleboarding and kayaking in the lake by which I live right before the derecho hit... I wonder how that turned out for them...

I'm pretty glad that so far, tornadoes have been very rare where I live - tornadoes and earthquakes are the creepiest of natural disasters, IMO.

Looks like for now, the most intense period of the thunderstorm is over, and the weather has settled down to regular rain. During the early part of the storm, the thermometer on the balcony went from 31° Celsius (about 88° Fahrenheit) to 20° Celsius (68° Fahrenheit) within a really short time period.

Raphael wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 12:02 pmDuring the early part of the storm, the thermometer on the balcony went from 31° Celsius (about 88° Fahrenheit) to 20° Celsius (68° Fahrenheit) within a really short time period.

Yeah, here derechos are associated with rapidly-moving cold fronts. When we see a drop like that, meteorologists call it a "pneumonia front".

Vangelis is dead.

alice wrote: ↑Thu May 19, 2022 1:49 pm Vangelis is dead.

I'm pretty sad too

https://www.rte.ie/news/2022/0529/13018 ... n-airport/

That was my morning. 3+ hours in line and didn't even make it into the terminal! Vacation continues, sort of.....

That's annoying. Sorry to hear it.

So today I bumped another car when opening the door and may have left a small scratch. I have no idea whether the scratch was already there. What are my legal and moral obligations regarding this? Does the law require me to notify them about a millimeter-sized scratch? I read somewhere that this could be prosecuted as a hit and run.

Nope. Don't fret about that. These things happen and there'll be no consequences whatsoever.

Cars ding one another all the time, and no one gets in trouble over it.

Travis B. wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 10:51 am Cars ding one another all the time, and no one gets in trouble over it.

True enough.

(At first, I misread the word "Cars" in your post as "Cats".)