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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: June 16th, 2023

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  • Right after Melon Husk bought Twitter, I posted something about Howard Schultz (CEO of Starbucks) while he was questioned about his anti-union activities in front of Congress. I wanted to slap the smile off his face into next Tuesday. That got me a 7 day ban. I didn’t log in for a month. When I came back, my feed was just as nasty. I moved everyone I followed to Mastodon if they had an account. Same with Facebook. That was over 2 years ago. When BlueSky started using their posts for LLMs, I deleted my account.

    Mom told me this story about a little old man that a reporter saw praying against the Western Wall (of the original Temple) in Jerusalem. The man was there for over a week during the morning and afternoons. The reporter wanted some insight into this man’s devotion, so he asked him about it.

    The old man pondered the question then said “In the mornings, I come and pray for peace. Then I have a bit of a nosh and come back in the afternoon I pray again for peace.”

    “Well, given what’s happening right now, what’s that like?” asked the reporter.

    “It’s like talking to a wall.” said the old man sadly.









  • You gotta remember that OR was where a local city thought the way to get rid of a dead whale on their beach was to blow it up with dynamite. Left cars in the parking lot crushed by 1000lb chucks of whale blubber. Imagine filing that insurance claim. Anyway, this is just their grandkids keeping up the same tradition of mediocrity.



  • NEVER BUY STEW MEAT. It’s usually round steak (gluteus) which gets tough when you cook it unless you use meat tenderizer. Buy center blade chuck steaks and cut it up into large chunks as they shrink. CostCo has them. Safeway probably not. And why would you buy from meat counter that stinks?

    Don’t just toss everything into the instant pot. It doesn’t brown which creates flavor. Brown the meat in the pot, then add the spices for a minute to let the “bloom”. Water is fine but a dry red wine is so so much better.

    At the very least buy the right meat and brown it. That will make all the difference.







  • Showed up for one summons and was told the trial they were trying to seat would run 4-8 weeks. I said “nope”. The woman didn’t even bat an eye and said “we can reschedule you one time for 6 months.” 6 months later, I was excused the night before.

    The only time I was a possible candidate, the judge asked those who claimed hardship to write out why. I gave the listing of client sessions that I’d have to cancel for the 10 day trial costing me $1600. She excused me.

    Someone else told me that during the voir dire screening, she stated that as a former IRS auditor she could tell when people were lying to her. The defense attorney excused her. I could use the same statement, as a senior IT system administrator in my job, I’m used to people lying to me about why their computers aren’t working. I’ve heard that attorneys don’t like engineers because they’re not easily swayed by emotion and tend to make decisions on rational facts. That could go either way depending on how prosecution or defense are planning on arguing a case.

    I’m over 70, I’m exempt in California. Apparently as of 2024, there are 41 states with an age exemption.

    https://www.aarp.org/government-elections/jury-duty-age-exemption-2024/