Cowboy Who?

Earlier this month, startup Embodied announced that it is going out of business and taking its Moxie robot with it. The $800 robots, aimed at providing emotional support for kids ages 5 to 10, would soon be bricked, the company said, because they can’t perform their core features without the cloud. Following customer backlash, Embodied is trying to create a way for the robots to live an open sourced second life.

Embodied CEO Paolo Pirjanian shared a document via a LinkedIn blog post today saying that people who used to be part of Embodied’s technical team are developing a “potential” and open source way to keep Moxies running. The document reads:

This initiative involves developing a local server application (‘OpenMoxie’) that you can run on your own computer. Once available, this community-driven option will enable you (or technically inclined individuals) to maintain Moxie’s basic functionality, develop new features, and modify her capabilities to better suit your needs—without reliance on Embodied’s cloud servers.

The notice says that after releasing OpenMoxie, Embodied plans to release “all necessary code and documentation” for developers and users.

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Was reading a book that pointed out that everything kid understands the idea of 'that's mine,' but has to be taught 'that's yours'

Today's News:

Millions of parents across the U.S. are scrambling to complete their holiday shopping. In honor of the season, The Onion looks at the history of the most popular Christmas toys. 

1877: Millions of trees are felled across the country to keep up with children’s demands for woodcuts of President Rutherford B. Hayes.

1933: Do you think papa wanted to give you an old potato skin for Christmas, son? Look at me. Look at me, son!

1945: Children across the country were ecstatic to receive a Slinky—a goddamn giant spring. And now they expect me to shell out for an Oculus? 

1959: The six-decade-long marketing campaign for Greta Gerwig’s 2023 summer blockbuster begins with the introduction of the Barbie doll.

1963: The Easy Bake Oven is released, priming the nation’s socially inept children for years of preparing single-serving meals.

1975: The Pet Rock skyrockets in popularity among drunk dads stumbling their way home on Christmas morning without a gift.

1993: The Beanie Baby is introduced to the world, definitively showing the triumph of capitalism over communism.

1998: A nation becomes obsessed with Solve My Murder Elmo.

2009: Anyone who’s anyone at school is rocking Le Creuset’s Signature Enameled Cast Iron Braiser.

2027: Hasbro’s Immigrant-Catching Net gives a generation of thoroughbred American children a chance to get in on the action. 

The post Timeline Of Trendy Christmas Toys appeared first on The Onion.

Some Texas lawmakers including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick slammed the Biden administration over the auction of wall materials. But the sale was directed by Congress — and Texas has already bought some of it.

The naming won’t take effect immediately due to an executive order dating back to 2003. Erica Lee Carter said the move represents “a lasting reminder of her dedication, her legacy, and her unwavering commitment to Houston and the United States.”

Russian Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who was chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed outside a Moscow apartment building when a bomb hidden in an electric scooter went off, with Ukraine taking credit in the most high-profile killing of its kind. What do you think?

The post Top Russian General Killed By Bomb appeared first on The Onion.

First lady Jill Biden announced that she is stepping down from her teaching position at Northern Virginia Community College, capping off over 40 years of teaching in both high school and community college classrooms. What do you think?

The post Jill Biden Leaves Teaching Post appeared first on The Onion.

Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon, has refused to withdraw his nomination amidst allegations of financial mismanagement and sexual misconduct. Here is what you need to know about the Defense Secretary nominee’s background.

Marital Status: Third wife, 12th affair 

Military Rank: Goon

Speaking Style: Eight drinks in 

Hairstyle: Speaking role in American Psycho

Tattoos: A small heart on his ankle and absolutely nothing else

Favorite War Crime: Making captives play Russian roulette

Perfect Date: Unconscious

Biggest Pet Peeve: Consent

Greatest Achievement: Able to live with what he’s done

The post Political Profile: Pete Hegseth appeared first on The Onion.

MILWAUKEE—Noticing the discolored places where different letters had once adorned the decoration, area woman Paula Jackson observed Friday that the faded outline of an ex-girlfriend’s name was still visible on the Christmas stocking given to her by her boyfriend’s mom. “At first I thought maybe ‘Jessica’ was just the brand name of the stocking, but after I saw how quickly Mark tried to distract me when I gave it a closer look, I put it together that this lady must have been his girlfriend at some previous Christmas,” said Jackson, noting the meticulous effort that seemed to have gone into obscuring the original name on the Christmas stocking. “We never really talk about our exes, but this is an interesting piece of the puzzle. They must have been pretty serious if she got invited to family Christmas. Huh, I wonder why they broke up? Maybe I’ll ask Mark about her later.” At press time, Jackson reportedly gushed in gratitude while unwrapping a Chico’s scarf that she suspected was a re-gifted present from Jessica to Mark’s mother.

The post Faded Outline Of Ex-Girlfriend’s Name Still Visible On Stocking appeared first on The Onion.

EDMONTON – In an effort to be the most responsible driver he can possibly be, John Carnaby is making sure he obeys the speed limit when he cruises through school zones and beans kids with his 2019 Ford Fiesta. “It amazes me that some people will speed right through school zones, like the world will […]

The post Conscientious driver slows to 30 km/h in school zone while hitting children with car appeared first on The Beaverton.

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Sadly, the patreon subscriber ideas were all better than mine.

Today's News:

The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily banned drones over parts of New Jersey yesterday and said "the United States government may use deadly force against" airborne aircraft "if it is determined that the aircraft poses an imminent security threat."

The FAA issued 22 orders imposing "temporary flight restrictions for special security reasons" until January 17, 2025. "At the request of federal security partners, the FAA published 22 Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) prohibiting drone flights over critical New Jersey infrastructure," an FAA statement said.

Each NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) affects a specific area. "No UAS [Unmanned Aircraft System] operations are authorized in the areas covered by this NOTAM" unless they have clearance for specific operations, the FAA said. Allowed operations include support for national defense, law enforcement, firefighting, and commercial operations "with a valid statement of work."

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What do you get if you take something that’s infinitely massive and combining with something else that’s negative infinitely massive? You get a single electron, at least that’s what it looks like in our most precise way of describing the quantum world.

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This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. Here are five updates from past letter-writers.

1. My boss says people can’t be good at their jobs if they have kids or sick relatives

I’m still at the job. I think part of the issue was that Aria was really overworked and stressed out and I was coming off as too blase. She’s since come to trust that I actually know what I am doing and get stuff done so I had a good annual review and we get along. We also hired more staff for our team, so she has more support. I’ve been pretty firm with my boundaries and allowing my reports to prioritize their health and family when needed. I’ve also taken time off for family emergencies, unapologetically, even missing important meetings to do so. It was a rocky start but things are manageable now and I’ve learned I need to present as more serious moving forward. I am looking for a new job that will allow me to prioritize my family more, the job market is tight in my field so that might take another year or two.

Thanks for publishing my letter and to the commenters who correctly noted that it wasn’t a great environment and that I also might be giving off flaky vibes.

2. How do I ask for things and get people to actually help me (as a manager and as a volunteer)?

I have to report mixed results. First, thank you to you and your readers for your comments. I had read the post, and spent a long time reading all of the comments. Thank you to all of you who took the time to respond. I wasn’t able to respond in the comments in the way that I wanted, but I did read them all. Something that I had mentioned to Alison afterwords, but didn’t put in my initial question, is that I am a Black woman, and I wondered how much of my inability to get help from people was due to my communication style, and how much wasn’t. I know that it’s both.

Some things have changed, and some have stayed the same. I have taken from Alison and the commentariat to be specific in my requests for help. In my work, I continue to find that while the people who report to me lend a hand, the same does not extend to my direct manager nor the people who are at the same level as me. However, a new person joined our team this year, and he has been great about helping me. For example, I asked my same level colleagues to please help me with a specific, time-sensitive task (for example: “these teapots need to be glazed, and there’s no one available to do it. I need you to join me on Tuesday at noon to get them glazed, as they are being fired on Wednesday morning. It should take about 10 minutes to get the teapots painted”). No one responded to my messages, but he showed up to help paint the pots. I’m hoping that this help will continue. Unfortunately, I have learned that I will simply not get the help from the rest of my colleagues, but have learned who in other locations I can reach out to for help or advice.

As for my board, the lack of willingness to help is part of a larger issue that we see with a lack of engagement by the board members. That is something that we have been trying to work on with the members. I did find out that one of the reasons that people didn’t respond to my message asking for help with fundraising is because they couldn’t access the link (not because it was sent on a Friday — it’s a volunteer board, and I can’t send messages during the work day). Again, I have been working on being specific about what help I need. This year, I was clear that I couldn’t help with fundraising, and could only do one specific task, and let everyone else be responsible for the other things. I also exit-counselled one of our board members off the board (after she stopped taking minutes, tone policed me after I called her on it, then stopped attending meetings) and found new board members. I decided that last year was going to be my final year as chair and recently stepped down. This is my final year on the board, and I will move on to new opportunities.

I will continue to work on clear, specific requests for help, and hope that things get better.

3. My coworker announced she’s quitting and now is upset that she wasn’t invited to a conference (#3 at the link)

So, our coworker did not move out of state to be with her boyfriend immediately and actually moved only a week ago (10 months later) because her job search was so difficult. In the meantime, she actually did go to the conference!

From information I didn’t have at the time (but now know) is that other staff who were chosen for the conference were also planning on quitting sooner than her but for graduate school. My boss at the time equated their departures for graduate school as more worthy of professional development than her departure … which frankly was completely unfair. She brought this up and he agreed and rectified it by giving her his place at the conference. All was done right by Helga.

Since then there were some major changes on our team. Our boss moved into a new position in a different group as part of a promotion and I was placed into an interim supervisor role for my group. To hopefully ease some of the frustrations people had with this situation I’ve been more transparent in getting people more equal access to conferences and making sure they know which ones are on our radar so they can be better informed ahead of time and decide based on personal lives what will work best for them. I recently sent out a big list to employees which conferences we can go to and all the details — then I had them send back a ranked list of ones they could attend and were most interested in. I think overall everyone appreciates being able to choose and figure out what works for their life better even if they know they won’t be able to go to more than one or so in a year. And to Allison’s advice also not give off a perceived preference towards people on who ends up going or not.

4. Coworker’s office is gun-themed (#2 at the link)

I loved reading the comments and discussion on this topic. Home office decor is highly personal, and with that thought, I decided to not say anything (and, the co-worker in question was assigned to a different project and we didn’t have many meetings together). However, in the last month our work got closer again – and now this co-worker uses an aggressive background blur. So although I didn’t say anything to him in the end, I imagine someone else did.

5. Is this too many interviews? (#3 at the link)

Thank you for answering my question. Commenters clearly have very strong feelings about the interview process! Lots of speculation but I assure all that this was very much an entry level role and we’re not trying to sneakily underpay a mid-level. We hired someone fresh out of university with a few internships under their belt.

For context, my hiring process was happening in the midst of a wider organizational rejig of the hiring process so there was not a lot of up to date guidance. My team is small and retention on it is high, but this is the first entry level we’ve hired for in several years and was trying to avoid some pitfalls I saw on other teams and ended up trying to over engineer slightly.

After I flagged candidates from review of CV/cover letters, I did round one interviews with six people with a colleague and moved 3 candidates to a written skills assessment (short, discussed in interview, explicitly designed to take 30 minutes, really important for the role). That actually cut down our field to one person, so was a really useful tool! I still had the candidate meet with the ED as the hire would partially support him (20% of role) and thought it was important for the candidate to have the chance to connect before the role started given that they would be working together. The new hire has been in the role for five months and is doing very well and looking forward to supporting his further growth in the role and wider team.

MINNEAPOLIS—Looking glumly at the mess of candies and royal icing, local 44-year-old Anthony Renton told reporters Thursday that building a shitty gingerbread house was just making his depression worse.  “Nothing will stick—the gumdrops, the Twizzlers, the candy canes, the Hershey’s kisses—they all reject the frosting, just as life has rejected me,” said Renton, who stared into the dead confectionary eyes of the smiling gingerbread man that lay flat on its back outside the smeared, ramshackle creation he had begun building in a misguided attempt to conjure some holiday cheer.  “What’s the point? I’m not even going to eat it when I’m done. It’s just going to sit here on this table until it grows stale and starts to rot or, worse, is devoured by animals.” At press time, Renton was reportedly feeling much better after deciding to give up on trying to do anything ever again.

The post Building Shitty Gingerbread House Just Making Depression Worse appeared first on The Onion.

The post Ho, Ho, Ho, I’m Regrowing My Foreskin! appeared first on The Onion.

It was Christmas in Whoville, time for roast beast and cake.
As the sole home insurer, I earned this long break.

Finally, a day without contracts or quotes—
just presents, and wreaths, and big winter coats.

So imagine my shock when my phone started ringing,
with claims pouring in and not holiday singing.

At the first call, I thought, oh my gosh—what a mess.
The Who family was robbed, and on Christmas, no less!

Then the second came in, from the Whos (no relation).
They’d also been robbed and were seeking salvation.

By the third claim, I knew something must be afoot,
if the whole town was hit, my firm was kaput.

There was simply no way I could pay all these Whos,
I’d go bankrupt for sure; I’d just have to refuse.

I pulled out each policy for a loophole, I searched—
any excuse to leave Whos in the lurch.

Does a dwelling contract really cover a robbing?
Apparently so, which left me there sobbing.

This business was built on making me wealthy.
Could that all be undone by a burglar so stealthy?

“No payments will be made,” I’d just have to instruct,
or else I’d simply be totally fucked.

No reimbursements for trees, none for decor.
We won’t cover Who-hash or crumbs left on the floor.

The Whos would revolt, and I’d go down for fraud.
I’d just have to skip town, perhaps travel abroad.

But just when I feared I must burn it all down,
the Grinch in a sleigh rolled right into town.

He returned all the presents he took with no trace,
every last item I would’ve had to replace.

The town celebrated and broke out in applause,
and my Christmas was saved by a Grinch, not a clause.

OTTAWA – Local man Matthew Kearns has admitted that, despite despising Trump and wanting Canada to remain independent, it would almost be worth becoming the 51st state just to watch American politicians and media try to wrap their heads around Quebec. “I’m a proud Canadian and wouldn’t sacrifice our independence and heritage for anything,” said […]

The post Canadian man tempted to support annexation just to watch Americans try to deal with Quebec appeared first on The Beaverton.

CHICAGO—Stressing that the procedure offered affected individuals their best chance at recuperation, experts at Northwestern University’s medical school issued a recommendation Thursday that severely injured people should be placed into some sort of cylindrical tank filled with fluid. “Our data indicate that almost all wounds and maladies can be mitigated, if not outright reversed, by placing the patient into a kind of high-tech metal tank with swirling liquid inside,” said Dr. Kim Lassen, who confirmed that locking someone in a tubelike structure brimming with an unspecified glowing ooze could eliminate illness, bodily injury, and potentially even death. “We expect to see a much higher likelihood of complete convalescence if the tank makes a hissing or whooshing sound when it’s opened, but at the very least there should be mist or fog emanating from inside the chamber, suggesting that freezing is somehow involved in the process. When these conditions are met, the patient should expect a recovery time of between three seconds and several centuries.” Lassen added that side effects, such as the individual becoming a psychopath with superhuman strength or bringing something back with them from the other side, were relatively rare.

The post Experts Recommend Putting Injured Person In Some Sort Of Cylindrical Tank Filled With Fluid appeared first on The Onion.

NEW YORK—NFL referees announced Monday they had started a new tip line to which penalties could be reported, part of an effort to streamline the video review process and provide an opportunity for fans to help with the enforcement of rules. “Starting today, we will have a dedicated team of volunteers standing by to collect any information you may have about chop blocks, pass interference, or a delay of game,” said referee Brad Hussey, emphasizing that tips would remain anonymous to protect the identity of those who witness and report potential game-changing infractions such as unnecessary roughness or unsportsmanlike conduct. “We take the integrity of football very seriously, which is why we ask for your help in bringing pass interference violators to justice. Any successful tip that results in a defender being ejected from the game comes with a reward of a free meal voucher at the stadium of your choice. We ask that if you or anyone you know has observed a neutral zone infraction, please call 1-800-OFFSIDE.” At press time, the penalty tip line was down after reportedly being overwhelmed with calls from drunk fathers claiming to have witnessed a false start.

The post NFL Referees Share New Penalty Tip Line Number appeared first on The Onion.

CHARLOTTE, NC—Screaming at the TV and remarking to himself that none of this made any sense, local football fan Sean Greene criticized an unrealistic NFL commercial Thursday for depicting a Carolina Panthers fan watching a game with his friends. “It’s crazy enough they want me to believe these guys root for the Panthers, but they also want me to think they go out and spend their money on merch?” said Greene, who added that most of the Charlotte-based team’s fans he knew watched the game drunk, miserable, and alone in their apartments. “I don’t get it. They seem happy, excited, and proud to root for the Panthers despite their 3-11 record. One guy even painted his face blue! Oh, maybe we’re supposed to think it’s funny that they are all hanging out. Yeah, that must be it.” Greene also went on to say that the commercial totally went off the rails when it portrayed a single human on Earth that supported the Tennessee Titans.

The post Unrealistic NFL Commercial Depicts Panthers Fan Watching Game With Friends appeared first on The Onion.

Lewis began by conveying appreciation to the upper management team for the way they had all rallied together despite the unpleasantness of recent events and expressed he was more confident than ever in the future of the company. It was, however, time to move on to the next era of UnitedHealthcare, and in the interests of getting back to business, he was pleased to announce that Larry would be taking over as the new CEO of the company.

The announcement was met with scattered applause emojis as Larry thanked everyone and said that while this was certainly a proud day for him, and he was thankful for the honor, he felt Kevin would be the best hire for CEO instead.

Kevin seemed taken aback by this turn of events and said no, no, no, and reiterated that Larry was the right man to be the next CEO of UnitedHealthcare and that Larry had his full support.

Larry sputtered out that Kevin was far more qualified than he was and that it was Kevin’s strategy of increased litigation to fight repayment fees that had dramatically increased Q3 profits, so Kevin definitely deserved to be CEO.

To which Kevin said whooooa, whoa, whoa, whoa, that wasn’t his idea, and Larry said that at the time, he was more than happy to take all the credit. Kevin praised the acquisition of NeverHealth under Larry’s direction, enabling algorithmic care recommendations for sick patients based on the NeverHealth value-based system.

Then Stacy interjected that the algorithm did have a known error rate of 90 percent, at which point inaudible murmuring spread throughout the call until Greg said as chief legal adviser he could attest that internally, yes, they did know the error rate existed, but they had thus far found ways to dismiss each of the lawsuits in court so the whole thing was actually something of a success.

Kevin hollered and whooped his arms in a frenzy and said, yes, let’s hear it for Larry, and tried inciting a thirty-second chanting of Larry’s name, which no one else took part in.

Larry sat very still in his seat until Kevin’s chanting died down. He calmly stated that everything was fine and that his first act as CEO would be stepping down and giving the job to Kevin.

Kevin said no, no, no, and that Larry couldn’t do that, however Lewis expressed a desire to wrap this up, which everyone agreed with, and gave the order to send out the press release announcing Kevin’s promotion.

Kevin began openly weeping and saying dear god, please don’t do this. Lewis attempted to console Kevin and raised the point that CEO was the most prestigious position in the company, and between the pay increase and networking opportunities, Kevin would be set for life.

Larry repeated the phrase “for life” while using his fingers as air quotes, and Greg responded with a laughter emoji. Kevin blubbered to Lewis that if he thought being CEO was so great, then maybe Lewis should be CEO, and Lewis laughed for an unusual amount of time and finally said there was no chance in hell of that happening.

Stacy announced the press release had been sent out. Lewis congratulated Kevin and told him he was now the face of UnitedHealthcare.

Kevin stared in silence with sad emoji, which Lewis took as a cue to conclude the call.

A few of the members offered support for Kevin before logging off, saying things like tough break, kid, and Larry expressed to Kevin that now was probably a good time to make sure Kevin had the best most comprehensive insurance available.

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past.

There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day.

Remember the letter-writer asking how to tell her boss that his second-in-commands were making it impossible for her to do her job (#5 at the link)? The first update was here, and here’s the latest.

I thought this saga was over, but I have yet another, now definitely final, update to this mess.

YOU WERE ALL RIGHT AND I WAS WRONG BUT NOT FOR THE REASONS YOU MIGHT THINK.

Long story short — I’m no longer working at that company. I was white-anted and thrown under the bus, but not by either of the Goons, in fact, Goon 2 reached out to me after I resigned to send his well-wishes.

The Judas among us was my admin. Who I had hired, trained, and covered for countless times whilst wondering how on earth she was so “overwhelmed” with her workload whilst I was trying desperately to take things off her plate to lighten her load whilst drowning under my own workload. Well, it was because she was spending all her time actively subverting me to my peers and my director.

I could never understand why it was that despite my work being of a high quality, a proven record of saving the company tens of thousands of dollars in my first few months there, and external counterparts singing my praises, I still persistently was being undermined, not listened to, and generally bullied by a few of my colleagues. I then started being “performance managed” by the director, despite my work quality staying the same and still garnering praise from other colleagues. The director could never explain exactly why he was performance managing me, and I was never placed on a PIP, he just made it exceptionally difficult for me to do my job effectively.

It was because my admin had been spreading abhorrent lies about me in an effort to find herself in my chair, without understanding exactly how uncomfortable and soul-sucking that chair was.

I had been asked to find a confirmation email in the inbox that I shared with my admin, but when I searched for it, another email popped up from my admin to my director which was filled with accusations about me which were either greatly exaggerated or outright lies. An example of an exaggeration was her assertion that “MyName demanded I tell her whether I’m planning to have another baby and when, which made me feel intimidated and is illegal to ask.” What had actually occurred was that she told me one day that she was thinking of having another baby, and I had made a joke that she should let me know when so I could get pregnant at the same time and we could have maternity leave together and have a break from work. She laughed, I laughed, I thought that was the end of it. An example of an outright lie was that she said that at an industry awards night, I had gotten so drunk that I attempted to proposition her husband. In reality, I had two glasses of wine that night, and I’ve never met her husband.

She also accused me of taking credit for her work, which had absolutely never happened, in fact, I frequently, in a misguided attempt to help boost her confidence, gave her credit for my work.

The email was about 3 pages long, concluding with, “I don’t even know what she does, but you’re paying her a lot of money to do nothing all day.”

As I finished reading it, everything made sense. I decided then that if she wanted my job so badly, she could have it, and typed out my letter of resignation with immediate effect.

The reason she didn’t know what I did all day was because it was way out of her scope of understanding. I didn’t tell her what I was doing because she was not capable of assisting me with it. Whilst she was dressing up as an office mascot and writing the office newsletter, I was desperately trying to fill all the compliance gaps that if discovered would have the company shut down.

So I left. I told a few of the office big mouths what had happened, and I’ve since heard that the story has gotten out, they have indeed lost an important accreditation (that I initially secured for them), and that their financial situation is not great. Meanwhile, I’m now working in consulting, and am slowly but surely recovering from the horrific burnout and depression that that company left me with.

I never realized just how toxic that workplace was, but your readers did. I should have listened then, and I would’ve saved myself much heartache and ill-health. But things are looking up now, and I hope that if I ever find myself in an environment like that again, I’ll spot it sooner and GTFO.

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. Here are four updates from past letter-writers.

1. I don’t want to be pied in the face for work

Thank you again for the response to my letter and situation. It was really nice to see that I wasn’t unhinged for thinking it wasn’t acceptable to be pied in the face, and you had some very good advice regarding not needing to be a top performer to be exempt from humiliating work affairs. It’s something I would certainly believe for others, but not for me—so I needed the reality check that I could count myself in the “no one has to be pied in the face if they don’t want to!” category. The commenters were also quite kind and I truly did appreciate the solidarity from most folks.

My update isn’t very exciting beyond good news, which is I have moved on from this workplace before anything came of the pies. This was just the tip of the whipped cream iceberg of a foundational mismatch between me and other managers at the previous place. I am much happier now that interactions like that one are not my daily norm.

I’m not sure if the pies are still happening, but we can only hope that if it is, it’s opt-in, not opt-out. I opted out more permanently. :)

Cheers for the advice and nice aim!

2. My coworker made a creepy pass at me (#2 at the link; first update here)

I am a religious reader of AAM and love update season. I thought you all might enjoy another update on my situation with Mac. I can’t believe it’s been over a year!

Mac never said anything sexualizing or out of line to me again. We never got back to the kind of easy work friendship we had previously, but things were cordial and while not necessarily warm they weren’t chilly either.

Unfortunately something eventually came out that likely cements his comments as less innocent than he portrayed them in his apology: he was having an affair and his wife is divorcing him. He’s moved out of the neighborhood and no longer works here, which I’m grateful for. This new development definitely made it harder to assume he didn’t know exactly what he was doing with his comments.

Thanks again for opening my eyes last year and to all the commenters that helped me find my gumption. I still can’t believe I pulled that line with a straight face, and it still feels amazing that I did. And thanks for all the wisdom and entertainment over the years! Can’t wait to keep reading more.

3. Are these interview red flags? (#3 at the link)

Thank you, Alison and the commenters, for giving me a gut check. Shockingly, the day after I wrote to you, I heard from HR that they were proceeding with putting together an offer for me, and asked for my references. HR told my references that they were giving me an offer, and let me know that all the reviews of me were glowing and the team was really excited about bringing me on.

After you posted my letter, I was thinking about withdrawing my candidacy, but decided that having the information on what compensation they’d offer me for the role was worth having, so I planned to hang in there until that point, when I could decline. Well, the joke was on me. For another six weeks I kept being told that the offer was forthcoming, delayed for various approvals (it was with leadership, with the new CEO, with the parent company). Finally I called HR after two weeks of radio silence and asked for an update. At that point they told me that they might not in fact be giving me an offer after all, because the hiring manager had identified someone else they were now interested in and wanted to interview. I thanked them for their time and the following Monday withdrew from consideration. The entire process took four months, and I never once heard from the hiring manager or the team, everything was run through HR (yet another huge red flag).

The process was eye opening in its own right and a really great reminder that if a company treats you badly and is a complete mess during the hiring process, it can only go downhill from there. Thank you to the AAM community such great perspective!

4. Communicating with a team that doesn’t read email (#2 at the link)

As some of the commenters correctly guessed, management wasn’t a good fit for me. I made a lateral move to a non-management role at the same organization. I’m making the same amount of money (still, uh, not a lot) but I’m MUCH happier in my new role and I have all kinds of ideas for how to improve my little corner of this place!

OTTAWA – With Justin Trudeau facing perhaps his greatest political challenge, the ghost of his late father, former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, appeared before him to ask the pressing question of whether former girlfriend Kim Cattrall is still foxy as hell. “Dad, please, my own Economic Minister just quit and I’m polling to lose […]

The post In darkest hour, ghost of Pierre Trudeau visits son to ask if Kim Cattrall still got it appeared first on The Beaverton.

Yoga for Young Adults Who Did Something Weird to Their Backs

Fifteen-Minute Yoga for the Modern Woman Who Spent the First Ten Minutes of Her Free Time Having a Panic Attack (Actually Only Five Minutes of Yoga)

The Exact Amount of Yoga You Need to Do to Tick That Box Where You Can Confidently Tell Your Doctor and Your Therapist That You’re “Doing Yoga”

Yoga for Reading Any Email That Begins with “People Are Trying to Reach You on LinkedIn”

Breathing Exercises for Checking LinkedIn and Seeing That No Less Than Seven Recruiters Think You’d Be a Great Fit for Business School at Full Sail University

Cooldown Techniques for the Five Minutes You Think Maybe They’re onto Something, Look into Applying to Business School, and Realize You Can’t Actually Afford Tuition

Benji the Dog Fan Cam

Yoga Video Where Adriene Loudly Says, “Wow, Good Job on All Those Planks!” to Impress Passersby (No Actual Planks)

Seven Hours of Corpse Pose, Which Is Definitely Not An Excuse to Take a Nap

Standing Warrior Pose Flow for the Empowered Woman Who Just Learned She Was Supposed to Be Cleaning Her Yoga Mat This Whole Time

Yoga for Using a DIY Mat Spray You Looked Up Online That Doesn’t Clean Your Mat but Does Slick It in Tea Tree Oil, So Every Time You Do Downward Dog, You Sort of Just Slide to the Floor and Regret Your Life’s Choices

Yoga for Shamefully Giving Up on the Whole Cleaning Your Mat Thing and Just Buying A New Mat (Use Code BENJI for 20 Percent Off at Checkout)

Yoga for Getting onto a Packed Subway Car During Teen Rush Hour

Calming Breathing Exercises for the Moment When Teens Walk by, and You Can’t Remember If the Jeans You’re Wearing Are Good

Mindful Meditation for Remembering That When You Were a Teen, All Adults Were Basically Invisible to You, So You Have Nothing to Worry About but in a Very Sad, Non-Reassuring Way

Yoga for Grappling with Your Impending Irrelevance, but Make It Something Inspiring About Being Humble and Present Because Otherwise, You Can’t Live with These Uncomfortable Feelings

Yoga Where We Turn the Camera Around Just Once—Not Creepy; We Just Want to See What the Rest of Adriene’s House Looks Like, Because She Has Nice Indoor Plants

Yoga Where Adriene Reminds Us That Someday, Many Years in the Future, She Might Not Want to Make Yoga Videos Anymore, but Not for a Very, Very Long Time, So There Is No Point Worrying About It Yet

Yoga with Adriene, Where You’re Adriene, Because You’ve Body Swapped in a Freaky Friday Situation to Learn an Important Lesson About Life and Love

Yoga Where Adriene Moves to Your Town and Decides to Be Your Friend In a Very Natural and Organic Way

Maybe You Meet at a Coffee Shop or Something and End Up Ordering the Same Thing (Dirty Chai with Two Shots of Espresso)?

Sure, That Doesn’t Sound Realistic, but Sometimes You Just Hit It Off with People and Have to Go with It

People Can Bond over All Sorts of Things—It’s Best Not to Overthink It

Maybe You Start a Small Business Together? Something to Do with Gardening?

Or You Go in Together on Tickets for a Taylor Swift Concert? You Could Split a Hotel Room and Share a Continental Breakfast in the Morning

Yoga with Adriene, Where You’re in the Video Together Even Though You’re Not Actually a Qualified Yoga Instructor, It’s Just a Hobby You Sort of Lean on When You Spiral

Yoga with Adriene, Where She Lets You Sit on Her Mat and Pet Benji (His Fur Looks Very Soft)