PARK CITY, UT— Assuring himself that the most important thing to do in the present was to try to get his full eight hours of sleep, area man Greg Pappas, who was experiencing insomnia Monday night, reminded himself there would be plenty of time tomorrow to deal with the home invasion currently underway at his house. “I know my anxiety is telling me that dealing with this is the most important thing in the world right now, but it’s actually more important that I get the rest my body needs,” Pappas said of the burglar who loudly entered through his kitchen window, setting off an alarm before making his way toward the expensive electronics in the downstairs office. “If I try to deal with this now, I’ll end up self-sabotaging in a negative thought spiral about the intruder stealing my belongings—then, I’ll really be unproductive tomorrow. I just have to remember that I’ve dealt with every other intruder in the past, and this one will be no different, so long as I get a few solid REM cycles in first. Right now, my brain needs sleep more than it needs to call the police.” At press time, Pappas reportedly put his mind at ease by setting an alarm on his phone to remind himself to deal with the burglar in the morning.
READING, PA—Pushing back the order’s previously estimated delivery time of 8:30 this evening, an Amazon update reportedly informed 28-year-old Emily Frakes on Tuesday that her package would now be arriving when the sky shattered, the sun shone black, and rivers wept like men. “I only bought that humidifier because it said two-day delivery—now I’ve got to wait until all language is forgotten and the only sound remaining is the howling of the void?” said the disappointed Amazon Prime member, adding that she would have chosen to make the half-hour drive to Target had she known that raining stars would unite the kingdoms of earth beneath a banner of colorless flame before Amazon brought the household appliance to her door. “I’m definitely mentioning this in my review. It’s bullshit for them to promise one delivery time and then turn around and tell me it’s actually coming when the vengeful seas spit forth terrible leviathans and birth upon their waves a great tempest to wash away all that human hands have wrought.” At press time, Frakes told reporters that she should be entitled to a full refund if her humidifier did not arrive by the time the scalding light of the final dawn rent oblivion’s womb to be born.
(11:40 AM CT Update): PTC 9 has been upgraded to Tropical Storm Helene. No big changes have been made to the forecast. According to the National Hurricane Center, there is still a bit of uncertainty on the exact center location, and this means that despite the great model agreement, there is still a bit of uncertainty in the track forecast. Aside from that, everything else appears on track.
The Lower Keys were added to the Tropical Storm Warning with this advisory. Previous post follows.
Headlines
PTC 9 continues to fight off a little shear which is slowing its initial organization.
As that relaxes, rapid intensification and organization should ensue, with PTC 9 expected to become Major Hurricane Helene by Thursday.
Landfall is a little later on Thursday now, likely somewhere between Panama City and Tampa with a focus on Apalachicola through Cedar Key. There is still some uncertainty on this.
Storm surge from the Big Bend and Nature Coast through Tampa Bay is expected to be as bad or worse than what occurred during Hurricane Idalia in 2023.
Impacts from wind and rain will extend far beyond the landfall point with Georgia and the Carolinas likely to see strong winds and flash flooding.
PTC 9 this morning
PTC 9 continues to lack the ingredients necessary to be a depression just yet, but we continue to edge closer to that point.
PTC 9 continues to slowly organize in the northwest Caribbean. (Weathernerds.org)
What’s holding it back so far? There’s a bit of wind shear mixed in with all this from an upper low over the Yucatan. Tropical systems don’t like wind shear, and as long as that continues, the pace of development will be sluggish. That is not expected to be the case, however, as modeling weakens the shear in the next day or so, allowing PTC 9 to have a less hostile environment over some of the warmest water in the Atlantic basin. That should lead to strengthening and potentially rapid strengthening at that.
PTC 9’s forecast: Angles matter
The overall forecast for PTC 9 has not changed a whole lot since yesterday.
The forecast for PTC 9 continues mostly in line with what was predicted yesterday. (NOAA NHC)
The cone has narrowed a hair to between Panama City and Tampa. Hurricane Watches are now in effect for the Florida coast, as well as inland in the Panhandle. Tropical Storm Watches including Orlando are now posted as well. Expect some of these watches to expand later today.
On the surface, this looks like a pretty easy forecast: Tropical models are in generally good agreement on a track to the northwest, then north, then north-northeast. The clustering is pretty solid in the modeling in Apalachee Bay or near the Big Bend of Florida. So, simple right? For my college football fans: Not so fast, my friends.
The fundamental problem in predicting storms that turn is the angle at which it all happens. Generally, models handle the concept of this well, and indeed we have very good agreement right now in the models.
Tropical models for PTC 9 are in good agreement on the general track. Florida’s geography poses a unique challenge. (Tropical Tidbits)
Because of Florida’s unique geography with a peninsula jutting out to the south, the exact landfall point gets harder and harder to pin down when a storm comes in from the south or southwest. A shift of 10 to 15 miles out over the Gulf can lead to a shift of 20 to 40 miles with respect to landfall location in Florida. We often talk about not focusing on the exact track, and indeed there’s a reason for that as impacts extend far from the center. But for things like storm surge, that exact landfall point is crucial in determining how things will turn out. It also makes the difference for places even well inland to be on the “dirty” eastern side of the storm or the slightly less menacing western side.
As long as the tropical models are correct, we’re likely to see this chug north-northeast into Apalachee Bay or the Big Bend. However, if the models are not quite grasping the interaction with an upper low over Arkansas properly, well, that could change things a bit. There’s a path to get a storm much closer to Tampa, as we discussed last night and as the ICON model continues to show this morning with a track coming ashore near Cedar Key rather than Apalachee Bay. For now, the most likely window for landfall appears to be Apalachicola to Cedar Key, with lesser bands around that to Panama City on the west and Tampa on the south/east.
The takeaway here is that this is a storm where focusing on the entire cone makes a lot of sense.
In terms of intensity, not much has changed since yesterday. We still struggle with intensity forecasts. One needs to only look at Hurricane John yesterday, which came ashore after 9 PM as a 120 mph category 3 storm in Mexico while initially forecast to be a 70 mph tropical storm at 3 AM. (Credit to the NHC however for constantly stating in their discussions that there were higher risks, and even substantially higher risks than the explicit forecast showed).
But we still expect that PTC will become Hurricane Helene and a major hurricane at that. The National Hurricane Center has this as a category 3 storm at landfall. And model support is generally for a strong storm.
Model forecast intensities for PTC 9 still show a very wide spread in options, but most seem to agree on this becoming at least a category 2 or 3 storm. (Tropical Tidbits)
The takeaway: A powerful hurricane is likely to strike Florida’s coast late Thursday, likely somewhere between Apalachicola and Cedar Key but with risks extending just beyond those goal posts.
Impacts from Helene/PTC 9
We have our first look at storm surge today from the NHC advisory, and it’s not great news.
Storm surge as high as 10 to 15 feet above ground level is possible near and east of where PTC 9/Helene comes ashore in Florida. About 5 to 8 feet of surge is possible in Tampa Bay. (NOAA NHC)
Values of 10 to 15 feet in the Big Bend would be in line with or worse than what occurred in Idalia last summer. A 5 to 8 foot surge in Tampa Bay would also be in line with or worse than Idalia. So for planning purposes, those areas should consider Idalia as a benchmark for minimum impacts, with risk for something worse. The wind field and size of this storm is expected to be somewhat broader than in Idalia, which also is concerning from a potentially worse impact standpoint.
PTC 9’s forward speed is likely to aid in carrying tropical storm and hurricane force winds well inland. The map below shows roughly where, given the current track, tropical storm and hurricane force winds could extend. And that’s a huge area. Things get complicated on Florida’s east coast, including Jacksonville, as well as up toward Savannah where stronger winds are possible than in other inland areas near there.
A rough outline of where tropical storm and hurricane force winds could occur with Helene/PTC 9 as it comes inland. (Weather Bell)
The extension of hurricane force winds inland will depend on the intensity of the storm at landfall and its exact forward speed from there. But suffice to say this has the potential to be a destructive inland wind event too, extending from North Florida into much of Georgia and South Carolina and even parts of North Carolina.
In addition to the wind will be heavy rainfall, and that’s expected to cover a massive area of the Southeast.
While these aren’t the most extreme rain totals we’ve seen in recent years, the coverage and intensity of this rain is likely to contribute to widespread flash flooding in the Southeast. (NOAA WPC)
We’ve seen worse rain events, but spatially, this is going to put a lot of places at risk of flash flooding.
Obviously, isolated tornadoes are a possibility along and to the right/east of where this storm goes.
The takeaway: Significant impacts from PTC 9/Helene are expected to extend well inland from the coast.
We will update this post today as we can if anything changes. We’ll aim to have another post out early this evening with the latest.
The Department of Public Safety and the Department of State Health Services are no longer following court orders to update someone's sex on driver's licenses and birth certificates. Transgender Texans and advocates say this could put their community at greater risk of being denied certain services and threaten their safety.
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…
1. My coworker was penalized for feedback from me, but I never said those things
Recently, during my coworker Wendy’s performance review with her management team, she was denied a raise and demoted on paperwork to someone “still developing” instead of being listed as “meets/exceeds expectations.” The reasons for this were: a low customer loyalty score for our location (not an individual low score — and the other person in Wendy’s position was still given a raise and significant praise from management despite having the same score and Wendy having seniority), and because she’s been reported for “poor communication on Slack.”
When Wendy asked for specific examples of this, management couldn’t give her any, but included my name along with two others as the sources of this. I have never complained about Wendy to management, especially not in regard to Slack. The other two coworkers listed no longer work here, but I worked with one of them long enough to know she wouldn’t complain to management about something like this either. Our job is an in-person job in a small location, and I’ve noticed Slack is not the preferred mode of communication for many in Wendy’s position.
I feel extremely uncomfortable that my name was dragged into this. I want to escalate this in some way, to say I have never had a problem with Wendy and that I don’t appreciate being used in false accusations, but Wendy is apprehensive about potential retaliation. What should we do? What should I do?
You shouldn’t do anything without Wendy’s permission, but ideally you’d talk to your manager or hers and say, “I’m concerned there’s been miscommunication somewhere. Wendy spoke with me about concerns she thought I’d expressed about her communication over Slack but, as I told her, I’ve never raised concerns about her work or her communication and don’t have any. It sounds like someone misunderstood something somewhere. How can I get this cleared up so that she’s not wrongly penalized for feedback I haven’t given?”
But also — what’s going on in your workplace? Are they disorganized enough that feedback gets warped like this? Are they targeting Wendy for some reason? If this is at all part of a pattern rather than a one-time mistake that gets quickly fixed, I’d be concerned about what’s going on there.
2. My junior coworker constantly interrupts me in meetings
My junior report (who was moved to another manager last year) constantly interrupts me in meetings. I’ve tried multiple approaches to get her to stop. She’s white and mid 40s, I’m Asian and mid 30s. I’ve noticed she only does this to me and I’ve even had other members on our team say they’ve noticed it too.
The approaches I’ve tried:
– Speak over her and keep going when she tries to interrupt. This works sometimes but sometimes it doesn’t.
– Stop her and tell her I’m not finished yet. This has worked a couple of times but not always.
Other approaches I’ve considered:
– Talk directly to her and ask her to be mindful of the interruptions.
– Talk to her manager and ask him to talk with her about this behavior.
Talk to her one-on-one and name what’s happening and what she needs to do differently. For example: “I’m guessing you don’t realize it, but you frequently interrupt me in meetings. I haven’t seen you do this to other team members, but it’s frequent when I’m speaking. Please wait for me to finish speaking before you start talking.”
If that doesn’t work, then yes, flag it for her manager. It’s a big deal to regularly be interrupting a colleague, especially a senior one, and especially after she’s been spoken to about it and told to stop.
And going forward, every time she interrupts you from now on, hold up your hand in a “stop” motion and say, “Please stop interrupting me and wait until I’m finished.” It will get pretty awkward pretty quickly for her if you’re consistent about doing it.
3. Can I ask to be fired sooner?
After 18 years at a company, I was recently surprised at my mid-year review with a rating that I’m not meeting expectations. It was followed with a 60-day PIP. Originally, I told my boss that despite feeling surprised, I’m 100% committed to making changes. Since then, I have realized that I no longer want to work there but need to be able to collect unemployment in the interim while I’m looking for another job so I can’t just resign.
I have a hard time pretending to do a bad job but my mental health is taking a toll. Is there a script for me to discuss with my boss ending the PIP earlier so that I can be let go sooner and then start collecting unemployment while looking for a new job?
In some cases you could say something like: “I appreciate you being candid with me about your concerns. I want to be candid in return that I’m not confident about my ability to meet your expectations and I don’t want either of us to invest further time in the process if it’s unlikely to work out. Would you be open to wrapping up the process earlier and letting me go with an agreement not to contest my unemployment benefits?”
4. We’re switching to unlimited PTO and I feel cheated
My company allows up to five vacation days to roll over each year.
We recently underwent a compensation study and one of the results is that we will now have “open PTO.” No more separating of sick days, vacation days, personal time, or floating holidays. This will begin when our 2025 fiscal year begins.
The issue that many of my colleagues and I have is that they told us this with three weeks until the fiscal year begins. I was going to roll over 36 hours — between my already scheduled vacation days and the vacation days of my coworker (one of us has to be in our office at all times), there is not enough time for both of us to use all the time we were going to roll over. There is no compensation offered for our leftover time. HR claims that because the rollover time is the first time that gets used up and now we are unlimited, we will use it in FY25. My objection is that it is FY24 compensation that I am not receiving. Could this have been handled better?
Yes. They could have given you more notice of the change — at least six months, not three weeks.
The thing is, when you have a specific amount of accrued time off (rolled over or not), there’s no debate about whether you’ve earned that time: it’s there, it’s yours, you can take it. (That’s an oversimplification, since of course it’s subject to workload, coverage, etc. — but no one disputes that you have the time on the books.) When you just have unlimited PTO, there can be more of a question around it. For example, if you get four weeks off per year, and this year you have those four weeks plus a week that rolled over from last year … well, you’ve definitely got five weeks on the books. But when you switch to unlimited PTO, it may be harder to justify taking five weeks in a single year.
You and your coworkers should press for a longer notice period before the change is made.
5. What does this email from a recruiter mean?
I’ve been in a painstakingly long interview process with a well respected organization in my field for a senior level position. I’ve done a phone screen, hiring manager interview, and panel interview (all virtual). It was posted in early June and I applied right away.
I just received a baffling email from the recruiter and I honestly can’t decide what to make of it: “Thank you for your patience. Our team decided to move two candidates forward that have more X experience to the next rounds for now. You remain a strong candidate and still under consideration. I can provide another update in the next couple of weeks.”
What gives? The job would be a huge step up for me, an almost $70k/year raise at minimum so it’s not shocking (although I’m disappointed) that I’m not a finalist, but why not just reject me? The dangling / stringing along at this point is an huge bummer. Appreciate any insight or if this is a common practice with more senior roles?
That message means: “You’re not currently one of our finalists, but you’re strong enough that we’ll come back to you if neither of the two people we’re currently talking to pan out.” It’s actually very transparent! It’s not stringing you along; it’s letting you know pretty candidly exactly what’s going on.
The H5N1 bird flu appears to be stampeding through dairy farms in California, the country's largest milk producer. Over the weekend, the total number of confirmed infected cow herds stunningly doubled, going from 17 last Thursday to 34 Monday morning, according to state and federal officials.
With the new tally, California now ranks second among all affected states for having the most herds with avian influenza. Only Colorado, which has adopted bulk milk-tank surveillance, has more, with 64 herds confirmed. California's high ranking is despite the fact that it only reported its first three infected herds on August 30, while the dairy outbreak was first confirmed on March 25 and thought to have begun late last year.
To date, 232 herds in 14 states have been infected with the bird flu.
Thirty-nine teams competed for the prized Gold Bucket award. The team led by Zeigler Cooper Architects and Paradigm Construction took home the top prize with the Architect Insane Asylum design.
While I never used these bikes, Herman and other parks were full of people on them. I'm sad to see them go.
METRO's board of directors last September approved the $10.5 million agreement with Canada-based PBSC Urban Solutions, a company that has bolstered successful bike share programs in New York, Chicago and Boston.
The city’s minimum wage will increase from $15 to $18 over the next two years. Retirees over the age of 60 will be able to retain city insurance for five years or until Medicare eligibility.
Potential Tropical Cyclone 9 is likely to become a depression and/or tropical storm by tonight or tomorrow morning.
It will accelerate north toward the coast of Florida, with a landfall likely on Thursday somewhere between Pensacola and Tampa. Hurricane impacts will spread across Florida’s west coast and Panhandle.
PTC 9 or Helene is expected to be a significant storm and potentially a major hurricane (cat 3+).
Because of fast forward motion, PTC 9 or Helene will spread damaging wind far inland from the coast, across South Georgia, possibly into the Atlanta area (depending on track) and into the Carolinas.
PTC 9/Helene will be a significant, disruptive storm for the Southeast Thursday, Friday, and possibly beyond.
Give our site a bookmark and check back in later today and/or tonight for some additional updates to this post.
Potential Tropical Cyclone 9
The forecast track for PTC 9 suggests a storm tonight or tomorrow morning, and a hurricane by Wednesday, with impacts beginning in Florida by Thursday. (NOAA NHC)
We have our potential tropical cyclone now, and it will be known as PTC 9. Expect this to formally become a depression later today and a tropical storm tonight or tomorrow morning. This should take on the name Helene.
The first forecast track from the NHC is very much in line with strong model consensus right now, which takes Helene somewhere between about Pensacola and Tampa, with the majority of guidance favoring the Panama City to Cedar Key corridor, close to the Big Bend of Florida. One thing to be very, very clear about: There is still a fair bit of spread among individual ensemble and tropical model members. You can use the slider here to compare the 6z runs of the European and GFS ensemble member forecasts for Thursday around midnight.
The 6z European ensemble (white background) and GFS ensemble show clustering of tracks in the Panama City-Cedar Key corridor with some tracks as far southeast as Sarasota or Fort Myers and some back closer to Pensacola. (Weathernerds.org)
The latest tropical models are very clustered on the west side of Apalachee Bay, with a track very near Tallahassee once inland. So you can see that the model guidance is in great agreement right now on the broad picture of things. I would still watch this very closely in Tampa and Sarasota, as well as Pensacola, as those locations are in the “margin of error” as you might say.
There is also a fair bit of cross-track spread in timing, with some models showing landfall as early as Thursday afternoon and others more into Thursday night. Assume you have until Thursday morning to finalize your preparations on the coast. Anything beyond that is just proverbial icing on the cake.
PTC 9’s intensity outlook
One thing we are unfortunately continuing to be confident in is that this storm has a high ceiling in terms of intensity. There remains a significant spread within tropical model guidance with intensity, as some models suggest tropical storm intensity, while others are at the top end of major hurricane intensity, perhaps a higher end cat 3 or cat 4.
Model guidance shows a substantial spread in intensity forecasts with a handful just at tropical storm intensity, while some more hurricane-focused models show high end Cat 3 or Cat 4 potential. (Tomer Burg)
The NHC projecting a peak intensity of around 110 mph, just on the cusp of major hurricane strength is a good place to be right now, but do realize that the risk for a stronger storm is very much on the table. As we’ve been noting, this track is about the worst possible one a storm could take from a “fuel” standpoint in the Gulf of Mexico. PTC 9 is likely to travel over significant ocean heat content the majority of its life cycle, and water temperatures never really cool off much on approach to landfall. Given the anticipated forward speed of PTC 9, we are likely to see this storm come ashore at or near peak intensity.
The forecast track from the NHC underlaid by ocean heat content and water temperatures shows a storm that is likely to spend most of its time over some of the warmest water in the Gulf or Atlantic. (Tomer Burg)
Folks in Florida should be preparing for a major hurricane impact in the Big Bend or Apalachee Bay with all the threats you’d expect: Surge, wind, waves, flooding, etc. This has the potential to be as bad or worse than Idalia and much worse than Debby in the Big Bend.
Inland risks
The threats from PTC 9 are going to extend much farther inland than usual. The storm will be hauling as it moves inland. Even if it comes ashore weaker than forecast right now, it is likely to carry tropical storm and hurricane force winds well inland from the coast. Those impacts should begin Thursday night and continue much of Friday. This includes much of South Georgia, as well as possibly South Carolina, north Georgia, and portions of North Carolina or Tennessee. The map below shows wind gusts as forecast by the GFS model earlier today. Keep in mind that the final track will determine exactly where those winds occur. A track closer to Tallahassee will shift this farther west. A track closer to Cedar Key will shift this a little to the east.
Tropical storm force winds are likely to extend far inland from PTC 9, with widespread wind damage possible across Georgia and into South Carolina. (Weather Bell)
This is important because this type of scenario could mean widespread, significant power outages and wind damage across Georgia and South Carolina. Metro areas, including Tallahassee, Atlantic, Macon, Savannah, Columbia, Charleston, Greenville-Spartanburg, and Charlotte should be prepared for this scenario and prepare with at least a few days of food and water should this come to fruition.
In addition, heavy rainfall will occur with PTC 9, and flash flooding will be possible, especially in mountainous areas well inland from landfall.
Significant rainfall is likely well inland from landfall with PTC 9, and flash flooding is likely. Thankfully, the forward speed may help mitigate total rainfall a bit. (Pivotal Weather)
This is going to be a significant, disruptive storm for portions of Florida and the Southeast U.S., in addition to perhaps western Cuba and the Cayman Islands where 10 to 12 inches of rain may fall. Impacts will be widespread and damage could be significant. Folks should begin preparing immediately and follow forecast changes closely in the days ahead.
Amalia Mesa-Bains is known for transforming the art of the altar. While some of her earlier pieces follow more traditional altar practices, over time her work has expanded the concept of what an altar can be. Archaeology of Memory is a beautiful retrospective organized by María Esther Fernández, the Artistic Director at the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum, and Laura E. Pérez, Professor of Chicanx, Latinx and Ethnic Studies and Chair of Latinx Research Center, UC Berkeley. The show debuted at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in February 2023 and has since been presented by El Museo del Barrio and the Phoenix Art Museum. The current iteration is at the San Antonio Museum of Art.
As you might imagine from the title, Archaeology of Memory is a deep and rich exhibition layered with personal ephemera as well as found, natural, and crafted objects. Walking into each room is like walking into a new world, though there are strong themes that connect the spaces, most notably the idea of larger-than-life women who refuse to be contained by the restraints of society. As the mother of a strong-willed daughter, it was therapeutic to see these depictions and learn the stories behind the works.
Amalia Mesa-Bains, “Circle of Ancestors,” 1995, mixed media installation including candles and seven hand-painted chairs with mirrors and jewels, 168 inches diameter. Photo: Raul Rodriguez
Because the show is so bountiful, there are a multitude of rabbit holes one could dive into and perspectives from which to view and consider Mesa-Bains’ oeuvre. With this in mind, I narrowed in on one particular idea rooted in her 1995 work Circle of Ancestors.
Amalia Mesa-Bains, “Circle of Ancestors,” 1995, mixed media installation including candles and seven hand-painted chairs with mirrors and jewels, 168 inches diameter. Photo: Raul Rodriguez
The altar installation features a circle of eight chairs, each representing a female figure, including relatives of the artist, Judy Baca, an anonymous migrant worker, and the artist herself. Each chair back has been replaced with a mirror, and in Mesa-Bains’ unique style, from behind each mirror an image emerges. Each chair seat is adorned with objects. At the center of the circle, a dozen of lit candles sit on the floor. The environment evokes a sense of convening; a gathering for dialogue in a space with a spiritual undertone.
As I stood in front of the work Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party, came to mind. Last year I wrote about Chicago’s piece in relation to contemporary North Texas women artists working in themes of women’s societal roles and how society treats women. But, what connects Chicago’s piece to Mesa-Bains’ Circle of Ancestors is that both works honor important women and set a space for them to gather. However, where Chicago has set a formal and intricate space, Mesa-Bains has created an informal, communal space, in part by removing the table altogether.
The phrase “a seat at the table” comes to mind… a phrase often used by historically excluded groups who have been systematically and systemically kept from positions of power. But rather than demanding a seat at a table that was never meant for us, Mesa-Bains prompted me to consider if we should be asking the larger question of “Do we even need the table?”
Amalia Mesa-Bains, "Venus Envy I (or The First Holy Communion Moments Before the End)," 1993/2022. Photo: Raul Rodriguez
Amalia Mesa-Bains, “The Library of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz from Venus Envy Chapter II: The Harem and Other Enclosures,” 1994/2021. Photo: Raul Rodriguez
Amalia Mesa-Bains, “Venus Envy Chapter IV: The Road to Paris and Its Aftermath, The Curandera’s Botanica,” 2008/2023. Photo: Raul Rodriguez
What is the function of a table? Various tables show up throughout Mesa-Bains’ installations: a vanity, a table for one person to engage in self-care; a desk, a table for one person to engage in research and scholarship; a laboratory table, a table intended for experimentation. Yet curiously, at this circle where voices come together, there is no table. I think of all of the formal meetings I have had in workplaces, where the table serves as a functional object on which to present information or to take notes, but in another sense, it acts as a barrier between people. Chicago’s Dinner Party, while beautiful and impactful, ultimately has a finite number of place settings. Mesa-Bains’ Circle of Ancestors, has the ability to expand over time, one need only pull up their own chair to join the conversation.
Amalia Mesa-Bains: Archaeology of Memory will be on view at the San Antonio Museum of Art through Sunday, January 12, 2025.
It's refreshing to know there are some places where Canadian Tourist are just as hated as US Tourist ...
Are your local vacation pics not generating enough hate online? Are you feeling stuck in a rut of angering only your neighbours and want to try getting yelled at by different cultures in exotic locales? If you have more money and time than you have shame, here are a few vacation spots for those looking […]
“‘I will protect women at a level never seen before. They will finally be healthy, hopeful, safe and secure,’ Trump said. ‘Their lives will be happy, beautiful, and their lives will be great again. So women, we love you. We’re going to take care of you.’ The former president said women won’t have to think about abortion because decisions about regulating it are now left to the states.” — Los Angeles Times, 9/21/24
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The people of Dune are thirstier, sandier, less safe in the dunes, and unhappier now than they were four years ago. I am also unhappier now than I was four years ago. That’s the last time I ruled this planet, or, as you may recall, the last time Dune (or “Arrakis” to be “politically correct”) was great, again.
Things have fallen apart since I was deposed. Everyone says so. All of the Great Houses of the Landsraad agree with me. Some of the Bene Gesserit too. I’m friends with many of them. Wonderful women. They actually wanted my daughter to join their order, but she’s allergic to Gom Jabbar and other foreign substances.
But I will fix everything fast, and at long last, this interstellar nightmare will be over.
To the people of Dune, here is my promise to you: You will be happy and hydrated once again, just like you were four years ago. You will no longer be thinking about water. And no offense, you people are a bit obsessed. I like water, but have you tried Diet Coke? If I had ten grams of spice for every time I had to hear one of you drone on about “reclaiming water” and “dying of dehydration,” I wouldn’t be running an intergalactic election, if you know what I mean. (I’d be buying it.)
But you won’t have to worry anymore, because the whole issue of water will be where it always had to be: with politicians who never had to worry about water in the first place. In some cases, these new decision makers won’t even be that familiar with water; I’ve been talking to some very smart, very talented android political leaders who are aware of water as a concept, but have never needed it themselves, since they are made of metal and run on batteries.
As an example of how carefree life will be under my rule, I can confirm that if you are really, really thirsty, you will be able to get access to water. Think of it as a powerful exception to “who gets water and who doesn’t get water,” as long as you are literally about to die of thirst. And maybe not even then. This is fair and just, and the details of these rare exceptions will be worked out by the aforementioned robots, who, again, are intellectually familiar with the elements that make up water but have never ingested, touched, or seen the liquid themselves. I believe this makes them more objective about the water issue. By being so removed from water as a matter of survival, they can make decisions driven by money not morality. That’s the Dune dream.
Also, I will not, under any circumstances, allow any of you, my dear, dear poverty people of Dune, to be drowned by water, no matter how thirsty you are. This is a real policy that my rivals, House Atreides, practiced or definitely want to practice. It was terrible. They drowned them. That’s what I’m hearing.
I know a lot of you like to say that “fear is the mind-killer.” I think that’s very smart, very wise. I’m never afraid. And I don’t want you to be either. Stop fearing that your rights to water will be taken away. Will they be taken away? That’s fear asking. Don’t answer! That fear will murder your mind before the lack of water will. So just be happy, like you were four years ago. Remember?
When I am your ruler, I will protect you at a level never seen before. Just trust me on this one. You will finally be hydrated, healthy, safe, and respected. Because you may be poor crusty sand people, but you’re my poor crusty sand people. I love you, and I’m going to make our lives great again—all of our lives, starting with mine and ending, if necessary, with yours.
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
A reader writes:
I am a stay-at-home mom of very young children. My husband works from home one day per week, occasionally two. When he works from home, he watches our baby while I take the older ones to and from school/preschool. Other than that, he works in our home office and I rarely see him for more than a few minutes at a time. My point is that he is definitely working when he works from home.
Except sometimes we have sex while the baby naps. I feel like this is fine! But we were laughing about it recently because, well, if someone left work to go have sex, I think we would all question their judgment. I can’t explain why I don’t think there’s anything unethical about this. Am I alone in that? It’s not like we can check with his boss to see if he’s fine with this. We can’t ask any of his coworkers if they do this too because then we’re just asking about people’s sex lives.
To be clear, I don’t really care even if his boss or colleagues did have a problem with it. It’s none of their business! Or is it? Because it’s during the work day? What are your thoughts on sex while working from home?
Oh.
Hmmm.
I don’t think you should be having sex during the work day. But in purely practical terms, I can’t argue that sex while working from home is all that different from doing laundry while working from home (and I never thought I would compare sex and laundry). The laundry standard is that if it only briefly takes you away from your work, you’re getting all your work done and done well, and you’re available when your team needs you, no one needs to know.
So I suppose it depends on whether those things are true. Is this a lengthy encounter or a brief one? Is he doing well at his job? Does he return to his desk to find people were trying to reach him while he was otherwise occupied or do people find him appropriately accessible?
If the sex doesn’t add up to any more time away than, say, a couple of coffee breaks and chats in the office kitchen, I can’t give you any good reason why it’s more improper. Obviously it’s improper if people know about it, but it’s the knowing that would be far more improper than the act itself.
And of course, if it’s his lunch break, that’s his own time and you may get it on with impunity.
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
A corporate “hiking retreat” made headlines last month when a participant was left stranded overnight on a 14,230-foot mountain. The employee was on a day-long “team-building” hike, and he was left behind after the rest of his colleagues made it down the mountain safely. Emergency responders found him stranded in a gully the next day.
A corporate team-building event ending in disaster will come as no surprise to anyone who’s been forced to participate in one. While most don’t leave employees literally stranded in the wilderness, they do frequently put them in physically or emotionally uncomfortable situations.
At Slate today, I wrote about where these activities go wrong — and what would be more effective. You can read it here.
I used to think the cure for burn-out was lots of downtime and relaxation — and sometimes it is — but what’s worked better for me personally is regularly using my brain for something completely different. Otherwise you’re just wearing the same grooves into it all the time and (at least for me) that’s been where my worst burn-out has come from.
Would you be willing to do an entire post on this advice? This was mind blowing for me, and so useful! I’d really love to hear further perspective from you on it.
I’ve found it mind-blowing too. Here’s my experience with it.
Some years ago, I started a work advice column as a fun side hobby.
Then I accidentally monetized it.
Some time passed and the revenue grew enough that the column began to feel like a significant part of my work obligations. It was no longer just a fun hobby; it became a significant piece of what I do professionally, with deadlines and pressure to publish a certain amount of content on a certain (and frankly bananas) schedule.
It was also very similar to the rest of what I was doing professionally (management coaching — so in many ways the column was the written version of what I was doing with the rest of my time).
But I still really, really loved it, so all seemed okay. If anything, I felt like I was living the dream — everything I was being paid to do happened to be things I loved.
But somewhere around 2017, I realized I was overextended. I had constant deadlines, both here and for clients. I had to write on demand, every day, whether I felt like it or not.
And then I did many more years of that.
I was cranky, exhausted, and stressed out all the time. So I tried cutting back by jettisoning a bunch of clients. It didn’t work.
Every year, I would take the whole month of December off, thinking that a big chunk of time doing nothing would fix this. During that month, I could disconnect, relax, not think about work — logically, it felt like of course that should help. But every January 1, I’d realize that it hadn’t helped that much. I would try to figure out why; in fact, every year I’ve written myself a note to consult the following December, with ideas about how to make it more relaxing next time. But nothing worked.
I want to be clear: throughout all of this, I have loved my work, both here and for clients. I’m so happy to be doing it. It’s rewarding on a ton of different levels. So it was hard to understand why I was so exhausted, other than the sheer volume.
Then, early this year, I took on a new volunteer project that used a completely different piece of my brain. I don’t know why I thought this was a reasonable decision — I was already stretched so thin and didn’t think I had time for anything additional. But something in me really wanted to do it. (I can’t discuss this fully without saying that as a Jew I had been in a very, very dark place since October 7 of last year — very close to giving up on humanity in many ways — and this new volunteer work made me feel joy again, so I didn’t apply the “do I have time for this?” screen that almost certainly would have knocked it out of consideration otherwise.)
The volunteer work is weirdly perfect for me: I do it from home so I don’t have to go anywhere. It can be done at all hours of the day and night; I don’t have to commit to a specific schedule and can do it at 2 am if I want. It’s in many ways an F-you to big pharma, which I enjoy. It saves cats’ lives.
And it uses a completely different part of my brain than I’ve been using for years. I’ve had to learn a ton of new things, I have to do math, I have to think about science and medicine, I’ve had to learn to read bloodwork … it’s nothing like the rest of what I do.
And I haven’t felt burnt out once this year, even though I’ve added work to my life rather than subtracting it.
For years it seemed self-evident that I’d need to do less work, not more, if I wanted to feel less burned out. But somehow, after just adding something entirely different, I am no longer cranky, exhausted, or stressed out.
That’s what I meant when I talked about wearing the same grooves into your brain over and over. That’s the part that had run me down, not the busyness itself. I started some new grooves, and my brain feels … recovered. From adding work, not subtracting it — the exact opposite of what I had always assumed about burn-out.
I don’t think this will work for everyone. I think often downtime and relaxation is the answer. But I’d been trying that for years without success, and this worked like nothing else.
Instagram launched “Teen Accounts” last week, a new effort aimed at protecting users between 13 and 17. Here are some of the features the social media giant has developed to protect minors on the platform.
Beheading limits: Instagram will now nudge teen users once they’ve reached their 60 minutes of daily execution content.
Grooming timer: Parents will now have the ability to restrict the amount of time their children spend talking with middle-aged perverts.
Sleep mode: When a teen tries to open the app between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., Mark Zuckerberg will appear on their screen and sing a lullaby.
Parental ideology selector: Parents can choose which extreme ideologies they’d like their kids to see content for, and which should be algorithmically suppressed.
Sounds only teens can hear: Teens will be able to add high-pitched tones to their reels and stories that only young ears can detect.
Matt Gaetz auto-block: Underage Instagram users will be automatically prohibited from interacting with the Republican congressman.
Life-clock crystals: All teens will have their palms implanted with a glowing crystal indicating their age according to Meta. At age 18, they will have it removed by undergoing the Rite of the Carousel—or they can take their chances by running.
Loser mode: Teens who are way out of the loop and never know what the fuck everyone is talking about will finally have a fast and easy way to catch up.
A 60-year-old woman received third-degree burns while walking her dog off-trail in Yellowstone National Park thermal area, the incident occurring when she broke through a thin crust above “scalding water.” What do you think?
“This is exactly why I left Earth.”
Lara Wallach, Corporate Mortician
“Nature better lawyer up!”
Grant Benson, Cracker Salter
“That should satisfy the gods for the rest of the year.”
BRATTLEBORO, VT—Expressing frustration with the writer’s ambiguous imagery and nonlinear writing style, sources confirmed Monday that it was unclear what the fuck the poet they were reading was on about. “He keeps describing the ‘bright ovals’ of someone’s eyes, but he never says who the person is or how we’re supposed to feel about her—it’s total bullshit,” said reader Kelsey Graves, telling reporters the dickhead poet had left no indication why his untitled poem was written in all lowercase letters or why it used dashes and no other punctuation. “Christ, come on, some of these lines have like 10 words in them, and then these three are just the word ‘falling’ repeated again and again. What the hell? Then, over here, he’s putting a goddamn line break between “wheel” and “barrow” like a total fucking maniac.” At press time, Graves had reportedly decided to just chalk the poem up to being about the death of America’s innocence and call it a day.
In brief: After an extremely warm spell over the last 10 days, some relief arrives this week in the form of a decent front (for September). Helpfully, we’ll also see some rain chances on the rise, although we’re not going to see inches of precipitation. The weekend looks sunny and warm.
Beginning to transition to fall
Houston’s streak of days with temperatures above 95 degrees continued through the weekend as our region’s anomalously warm pattern continued. We may get day number 10 today. However, some relief really is on the way the a cool front arriving on Wednesday, with some decent rain chances, and then cooler weather for the rest of the week. It’s still September, so don’t expect miracles. But daytime highs in the 80s and drier air will make for a nice pattern change for a few days. Another front is possible during the first week of October—so while it won’t feel cool and crisp like fall, we’re definitely entering a pattern during which we’re beginning to transition to fall.
Rain accumulations won’t be great, but most of the region has a shot at some rain through Wednesday. (Weather Bell)
Monday and Tuesday
For the next two days we’re going to be stuck in the cool front waiting room. Highs for most locations should top out in the lower-90s, but some inland locations could reach the mid-90s again. Skies will be mostly sunny. What will change is that increasing atmospheric moisture levels will lead to some decent rain chances. Overall odds will be best for coastal locations, perhaps as high as 50 percent on Tuesday. The likelihood of rain will be lesser for areas further inland.
Wednesday
Some time on Wednesday we should see a line of showers, possibly broken, heralding the arrival of a front. Highs on Wednesday will likely still reach about 90 degrees, with sunny skies following the front’s arrival. Lows on Wednesday night will drop to around 70 degrees in Houston.
Low temperatures should reach the 60s for all locations but the coast on Friday morning. (Weather Bell)
Thursday and Friday
These will be a pair of days with high temperatures likely in the mid- to upper-80s for most locations, with sunny skies. Winds from the north will knock dewpoints into the 50s, which will mean the air feels much drier and the mornings and evenings will be quite pleasant. Low temperatures will fall into the mid- to upper-60s for most locations. This is the way of these September fronts—they tease us with fall, they never last long, but after a long summer even a modest change feels great.
Saturday and Sunday
The weekend should be warm and mostly sunny, with rising humidity. I cannot rule out some rain chances, but I’d put them at 10 percent or less, so probably not impactful. Highs will be around 90 degrees on Saturday, and perhaps a tick warmer on Sunday.
Next week
We are likely going back into the low-90s, with sunny skies, for the first half of next week. However, there is a decent amount of support for another front by next Wednesday or Thursday. Please just pencil this one in, however, as it’s still not a sure thing.
Super-ensemble forecast for the track of the Gulf tropical system. (Tomer Burg)
Tropics
A tropical system is likely to move into the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, and it may strike Florida by as early as Thursday evening. It poses no threat to Texas. However, I am increasingly concerned about this becoming a powerful hurricane in the very warm eastern Gulf of Mexico. We’ll have continuing coverage of its development and impacts on The Eyewall.
As for what’s next for Texas and the tropics, be sure and check Space City Weather tomorrow for an update on that.
At least three people have drowned in the nearby waters of the sports park just this year. In June, crews recovered the bodies of a 38-year-old father and his 14-year-old daughter after they failed to resurface.
