EVERYWHERE—Emphasizing that the creature was nowhere to be found, every child at every zoo exhibit across the planet reported Wednesday that they couldn’t see the animals. “Where is it? Where is it? I can’t see!” said 6-year-old Oliver Saladino, echoing the sentiment of children around the world while pointing an outstretched arm at the enclosure and complaining that he wanted to look at the giraffes, chimpanzees, rhinos, and penguins, but he couldn’t find where a single one was located. “Lift me up, lift me up! I wanna get a better look! Is it hiding? Is it sleeping? Is it behind the log? Can you tell them to come out? Make the animals do something!” At press time, every child at every zoo exhibit had reportedly jumped into the enclosure to get a better look.
NEW YORK—Noting that the 5-year-old purebred ultimately meant more to them than any of their ungrateful, deadbeat children, the nation’s baby boomers reportedly decided Wednesday to leave their entire $78.55 trillion fortune to a single spoiled Pomeranian. “Upon our death, we formally request that our whole estate be left to dear Mitzi, the only one who has ever truly loved or cared for us,” read the baby boomers’ last will and testament, which specified that rather than making their Gen X or millennial offspring the recipients of the largest transfer of wealth in human history, the inheritance should instead be used to fund Mitzi’s lavish lifestyle, including her organic dog food and luxury grooming, as well as a private residence in Manhattan just for her and her private butler. “Mitzi, for the rest of her life, shall reside in a penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park and be transported daily via stretch limo to her favorite activities, which include eating steak tartare at her favorite dog-friendly cafe and shopping on Fifth Avenue. No matter how much the younger generations whine and beg, they shall be entitled to no part of our massive fortune. If they wanted our money, maybe they shouldn’t have called us a bitch or blocked us on Facebook.” At press time, a Manhattan judge had thrown out the offspring’s latest attempt to sue, clarifying that any remaining funds were to be used to eventually bury the Pomeranian next to the baby boomers in their opulent, sprawling mausoleum.
Saying Gaza had experienced the worst death and destruction he had seen in his nearly eight-year tenure, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres demanded an end to the hostilities and offered U.N. support for any ceasefire. What do you think?
“Yeah, but as the head of the U.N., he has to say stuff like that.”
Piers Kaplan, Noise Meterman
“Smart—flatter Netanyahu, and he might agree to a deal.”
9 PM CT Update: Severe flash flooding is ongoing in the New Orleans metro area. There is a flash flood emergency posted for portions of Orleans, St John the Baptist, St Charles, and Jefferson Parishes. The NSSL’s MRMS tool is useful because you can quickly see areas where excessive rainfall is likely occurring or has just occurred by using the CREST product. Blue and white coloring is about as bad as it gets.
(NOAA MRMS)
And that’s what we have over the western portions of the New Orleans metro area and south shore of Lake Pontchartrain right now. The flash flood emergency goes until 11:45 PM CT. Some videos I’ve seen circulating on social media show some pretty wicked flooding ongoing due to the rainfall. Shelter in place until things settle down. The good news is that the worst of the rain is exiting, but it will take some time for all the water to flush through the system. Flash flooding concerns will expand to the Northshore and into Mississippi.
(RadarScope)
Francine is down to 75 mph as of the 8 PM position report and should be at tropical storm strength with the next advisory. That said, winds are still gusting to 60 mph in the New Orleans area and even 64 mph back west toward Donaldsonville. Almost 300,000 customers are without power now.
This will be our last regular update of the evening. We’ll have a full recap and post on what else is going on in the tropics tomorrow morning. Thanks for following along! -Matt
7 PM CT Update: We’ve seen wind gusts up and over 60 mph now on the southwest side of the New Orleans metro area. Entergy is currently reporting about 125,000 customers without power right now. According to poweroutage.us, there are about 140,000 out statewide. Radar as of 7 PM shows intense rainfall occurring just southwest of New Orleans, along Highway 90 moving into St. Charles Parish. Intense rainfall will move into metro New Orleans over the next hour or so.
(RadarScope)
Francine’s winds are down to 85 mph, with continued weakening expected through the night.
5:30 PM CT Update: Francine has made landfall this evening in Terrebonne Parish south southwest of Morgan City as a category 2 hurricane. The storm is moving inland now, and it appears that it is tracking a bit east of where it was expected to go. The northeast portion of the eyewall is about to move into New Orleans. We’ve seen wind gusts mostly in the 50 to 65 mph range with this areas as it comes northeast, but it will get a bit nasty in New Orleans over the next hour or two.
(RadarScope)
The highest wind gust I found was 105 mph near Eugene Island in Atchafalaya Bay. Heavy rainfall is occurring with this as well as it comes northeastward, leading to a few flash flood warnings southwest of New Orleans. These will likely expand northeast in time as well. Hunker down in southeast Louisiana and the New Orleans area for the next few hours.
4 PM CT Update: Francine is now a category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph.
3:30 PM CT Update
Francine was about 60 miles SSW of Morgan City, LA and approaching the coast with its eyewall.
The eyewall of Francine approaching Morgan City and Houma, LA. (RadarScope)
Conditions will rapidly deteriorate as this area moves ashore. The eyewall contains the strongest winds of the storm, so look for wind gusts to kick up in the area around Morgan City, Houma, and elsewhere in southern Louisiana soon.
Wind gusts have hit as high as 70 mph near Eugene Island, LA. New Orleans is in the 40s to near 50 mph now. Offshore oil platforms have registered 100 mph, but given their elevation, it is likely that those winds are a decent bit lower at ground level on land.
Wind gusts as high as 70 mph have occurred in far southern Louisiana. Winds in New Orleans have gusted close to 50 mph. (NOAA)
Francine is moving off to the northeast, if not east-northeast around 17 mph, and it should make landfall within the next 90 minutes to 2 hours, probably just south of Houma. It will then steadily weaken as it moves inland. That said, the eyewall will come close to the New Orleans area, so winds may ramp up there further in about 2 hours.
1 PM CT Update: Tropical Storm warnings dropped west of Cameron, LA
12:30 PM CT Update
Hurricane Francine continues to approach the Louisiana coast this afternoon.
Francine’s en route to the Louisiana coast near the Atchafalaya Basin (College of DuPage)
Thus far, wind gust reports have been relatively pedestrian with only 30 to 40 mph reports on the immediate coast. Oil platforms offshore are elevated and poor barometers of surface winds, but some of those have seen 80 to 100 mph gusts at times, so Francine remains capable of producing some pretty nasty wind. Still, it’s tough to not notice that it’s struggling somewhat due to dry air and shear. So hopefully the outcomes will be manageable, given the situation.
Peak wind gusts so far today have maxed out around 30 to 40 mph in portions of southern and southeast Louisiana. These will increase in the coming hours. (NOAA)
Conditions will continue to deteriorate across southern and southeast Louisiana this afternoon, so it’s probably a good idea to get where you want to be during the storm very soon and stay there til it passes tonight.
10 AM CT Update
No major changes in track or intensity with the 10 AM update from NHC. Francine is stated to have an open eyewall, as it’s beginning to feel some of the significant wind shear on the Gulf Coast. While Francine will remain a significant, dangerous storm, its intensity may have peaked now.
Francine’s eyewall showing up at the bottom of the Lake Charles radar image this morning. (Weathernerds.org)
Francine is still on track for a landfall near the Atchafalaya Delta or just east late this afternoon or early this evening.
Our previous post from 7 AM follows below:
Headlines
Francine make its initial approach to the Louisiana coast as a high-end category 1 hurricane.
Francine will make landfall late this afternoon or evening, likely between the Atchafalaya Delta and Port Fourchon.
Significant wind and surge issues are likely at the coast with lesser impacts inland but tropical storm force winds and power outages a good bet between Lafayette and coastal Mississippi.
4 to 8 inches of rain expected in Louisiana and southern Mississippi with flash flooding likely in spots.
Francine will slam on the brakes near Memphis but should basically just die off in place with scattered rains the rest of this week across the Southeast.
4 AM CT advisory, warnings, and track. (NOAA NHC)
Francine now
Hurricane Francine has 90 mph maximum sustained winds this morning, as it did some work overnight to get more organized. It has a few hours left to gain some more intensity before it runs into dry air and wind shear that will likely take its toll on the storm.
Hurricane Francine is not the most well-organized storm we’ve ever seen, but it did some work putting itself together overnight. (Tropical Tidbits)
Francine’s outer rain shield has pushed ashore, mainly south of I-10 in Louisiana so far. Rain will continue to spread inland today.
Francine’s forecast and impacts
As of the 4 AM CT advisory, Francine was moving northeast at 10 mph. This speed should pick up some through the day. On its current track, a landfall between the Atchafalaya Delta and Port Fourchon seems most likely. That should occur late this afternoon or evening. As noted, rain has begun to overspread Louisiana, mainly east of Cameron and Lake Charles, and that will continue today. Rain totals of 4 to 8 inches in the Atchafalaya Basin and into parts of Mississippi. Rainfall will be 4 to 6 inches in New Orleans east to the Florida Panhandle.
The rain forecast for Francine shows peak totals west of New Orleans. (NOAA WPC)
Flash flooding is likely in spots, and the Weather Prediction Center has a moderate risk (level 3 of 4) for flash flooding risk in much of southeastern Louisiana and portions of southern Mississippi.
A moderate risk of flash flooding (level 3/4) is in place for eastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi today. (NOAA WPC)
In addition to excessive rainfall, we expect to see isolated tornadoes today, and a slight risk (level 2/5) for severe storms exists in eastern Louisiana, extending east to the Florida Panhandle.
In terms of wind, the highest risk will be right at the coast, obviously. As you push inland, we’ll see hurricane-force wind risk extend into Morgan City, Houma, and perhaps extreme southwest portions of the New Orleans metro. New Orleans proper should see moderate to high-end tropical storm force winds, as will Baton Rouge, perhaps Lafayette, and up into portions of southern Mississippi.
Wind risk is highest on the immediate coast near landfall with hurricane force winds extending into portions of southern Louisiana, mainly south and southwest of Baton Rouge and New Orleans respectively. (NOAA NWS)
As we did yesterday, here are the current forecast maximum wind gusts as of 6:45 CT based on official National Weather Service forecasts.
Storm surge will continue to be an issue as well with 5 to 10 foot surge expected on the Louisiana coast between Vermilion Bay and Port Fourchon. While the surge drops off east of there, it remains fairly substantial all the way to the Florida border, including a 2 to 4 foot surge in Mobile and 4 to 6 foot surge in Mississippi and in Lake Pontchartrain.
Storm surge will be at maximum between Vermilion Bay and Port Fourchon at 5 to 10 feet. Lake Pontchartrain should see a 4 to 6 foot surge. (NOAA NHC)
Beyond the coast, Francine will accelerate north into Mississippi, but it will slam on the brakes (as a non-tropical storm) just south or west of Memphis. As it just sort of sits, spins, and dies off, periods of scattered showers and storms will impact parts of the Southeast through the rest of the week off and on. No serious flooding is expected at this time, but it’ll be a good idea to keep tabs on things in Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama perhaps heading into the weekend.
No other land concerns in the tropics right now. We’ll have another update before evening today.
BABY NAMES Matilda Archibald Benjamin Katherine Theodore
CHILDHOOD NICKNAMES Tilly Archie Benji Kat Teddy
NAMES FOR A JOB INTERVIEW Maddie Arch Ben Kate Ted
NAMES FOR A REBELLIOUS TEENAGER Madison Ash Benny K Spyder
PEN NAMES M. K. A. W. B. R. R. K-C T
WRONG NAMES CALLED OUT BY A BARISTA Melinda Arnold Ken Cameron Todd
NAMES TO USE WHEN ORDERING AT A COFFEE SHOP TO AVOID THE BARISTA CALLING OUT THE WRONG NAME Emily Ben Ben Emily Ben
NAMES ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL BIRDING ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA REGISTRY Matilda Archibald Benjamin S. Keymore, Associate Member, Expert Trail Guide, Golden Feather Recipient 2021 Katherine Theodore
NAMES FOR PARENTHOOD Mrs. M Mr. A Mr. Ben Caroline’s Mom Sir
PHILADELPHIA—Pointing proudly while his wife took the lectern at the presidential debate, Doug Emhoff reportedly asked “So, which one’s yours?” while trying to make small talk with former first lady Melania Trump backstage. “It’s so nice to meet you, Melania, welcome to the group—does one of these little rascals belong to you, too?” asked Doug who, during breaks in conversations, waved at his wife, pointed at his face while miming a smile, and shouted out , “Go Kamala, you got this honey,” before turning to Melania Trump and whispering “She’s so embarrassed by me.” “I don’t know about you, but I just love these things, everyone looks so adorable on stage in their little suits with their flag pins and microphones. Oh, yours is a feisty one, huh? Let’s see how he fares against my girl!” At press time, Emhoff and Melania Trump could be seen chastising their spouses after Donald Trump lunged at Kamala Harris in the middle of a difficult debate question and bit down hard on her arm.
PHILADELPHIA—In an effort to throw his Democratic opponent off balance, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump reportedly attempted to rattle Kamala Harris during Tuesday evening’s debate by turning his eyelids inside out. “Kamala, hey Kamala—look over here,” said the former president, who waved his arms and slapped the top of his lectern in a bid to get the attention of Harris. “Look at me. Kamala. Stop talking about the middle class. Look at me, aghhh, I’m a scary guy. Are you scared? Aren’t you scared of the scary guy?” At press time, Trump was said to be calling the vice president’s name while sticking his index finger out of his unzipped fly.
WASHINGTON—Noting a distinct lack of energy and focus from the incumbent, Democratic Party officials were reportedly alarmed Tuesday by President Joe Biden’s poor performance as a debate viewer. “Confidence is waning among party leaders after the president’s uninspiring attempt to focus during the debate tonight,” said a high-ranking Democratic official, who remarked that it was “almost hard to watch” as the commander-in-chief tried and failed to find a comfortable position in his chair, and barely responded to any of the lights or sounds emanating from the television. “It was essentially one long awkward pause for the entire 90 minutes as he just sat there, glazed-over, staring at the screen, saying nothing. He barely murmured anything beyond asking Jill to turn up the volume, which did little to assuage voters’ concerns about his declining health. We’re not going to sugarcoat it—it seemed like he had a pretty hard time following along without closed captioning.” At press time, President Biden had released a statement calling the debate the most boring episode of M*A*S*H he’d ever seen.
PHILADELPHIA—Deflecting moderators’ efforts to pin down his policy positions during Tuesday’s presidential debate, Donald Trump reportedly avoided difficult questions throughout the evening by pretending he had just taken another bullet to the ear. “What? I honestly can’t hear you right now because someone’s trying to murder me and I’ve been shot in my ear—again!” the former president replied when asked by ABC’s Linsey Davis about his shifting stance on reproductive rights, later pointing to his ear and moaning loudly when invited to explain why voters should support him in 2024 given his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. “Ouch, ouch, this really hurts! You seriously expect me to talk about the four different criminal cases against me when I’m up here bleeding because of an attempt on my life? You should spend less time asking about Project 2025 and more time finding the guy who definitely just shot me. Wait, there he goes! I’ll go after him!” At press time, reports confirmed moderator David Muir had been shot and killed by Secret Service agents tasked with protecting Trump.
PHILADELPHIA—Pummeling the hanging piece of meat repeatedly with profanities and jabs, former President Donald Trump was reportedly training for the presidential debate Tuesday by arguing with a side of beef. “You’re a terrible side of beef—maybe the worst side of beef I’ve ever seen,” said Trump, who wiped sweat off his brow from the exertion of shouting down the raw beef, his breath leaving clouds in the frigid air of the meat locker. “Disgusting. The American people don’t want you for dinner. You’re not qualified to serve in the steakhouse. You’re not even qualified to be a burger. You have no marbling, unlike me. Everyone knows I have the most beautiful marbling.” At press time, the Republican nominee was accusing the meat of turning to beef after a long history of being pork.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney, a lifelong Republican, announced he will vote for Kamala Harris for president, claiming that, “In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump.” What do you think?
“Maybe I need to look at Harris’ policies again.”
John Srail, Napkin Designer
“Looks like Harris has the 2008 republican primary all sewn up.”
Hunter Mashburn, Refuse Disseminator
“This is really testing my belief that every vote matters.”
America has been getting more and more dangerous for pedestrians over the past few years. It's a trend with several contributing factors—our built environment prioritizes passenger vehicle traffic and encourages speeding, and traffic enforcement is virtually absent in many cities. But it's undeniable that vehicle design—particularly of large pickup trucks and SUVs—has been causing excess casualties. For example, a study published in January found that an increase in hood height of four inches (100 mm) translated to a 28 percent increase in pedestrian deaths.
Today, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that vehicle design needs to change to reduce the number of pedestrians killed or seriously injured in crashes. The notice of proposed rulemaking, which is open for public comment for the next 60 days, wants to harmonize federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) with a global standard already in effect in many countries around the world.
"We have a crisis of roadway deaths, and it’s even worse among vulnerable road users like pedestrians. Between 2013 and 2022, pedestrian fatalities increased 57 percent, from 4,779 to 7,522. This proposed rule will ensure that vehicles will be designed to protect those inside and outside from serious injury or death. We will continue to work to make our roads safer for everyone and help protect vulnerable road users,' said Sophie Shulman, NHTSA’s deputy administrator.
The standalone rcpp.exe program may very well have begun as the C preprocessor, but it existed only in the 16-bit SDK. The 32-bit Resource Compiler uses a built-in preprocessor; there is no 32-bit rcpp.exe.
Even though a lot of the preprocessing machinery is the same, the two have diverged. For example, the only #pragma directive supported by the Resource Compiler is #pragma code_page(n), which is a pragma not supported by the C preprocessor at all.
Bonus chatter: Even though you can ask the C compiler to produce a preprocessed file, the C compiler internally doesn’t write the output to a file and then read it back. That is just a waypoint in the overall process of compiling. Internally, the tokens in the preprocessed output have hidden attributes (known informally in standards circles as “blue paint“) that don’t show up in the output, so it is not strictly the case that taking the preprocessed output and feeding it back into the compiler is a full fidelity representation of the output of the preprocessor step.
The pulp novel doesn’t hit like it used to. Compared to today, from the 1950s through the 70s — the decades of post-war consumption, bubbling social strife, and the beginnings of a marked break from a monoculture — there were fewer elements of escapism. Not to be reductive and say life was simpler back then, but diversion-wise, without the ubiquity of the internet, seeing the world outside of oneself required more effort. Pulp novels, with their over-exaggerated storylines, sexed-up scenes, and sci-fi bents, were a cheap and accessible way for the masses to get out of their own heads. The books were imagination starters, create-your-own-world scripts, save for the one image on their covers which set the scene.
Installation view of “CLICKBAIT! A Treasure Trove of Pulp Fiction Cover Art” at the Martin Museum of Art in Waco, Texas
Because these illustrations were the only grounding for pulp stories, they were disproportionately important. When seen isolated on a shelf, the covers depict unique worlds, dominated by American ruggedness, individuality, exoticism, and grit, but taken together in a group, their stereotypical underpinnings come out in full force. The scenes are only vaguely grounded in reality, oftentimes featuring variations of the same (pre-Fabio) hunky dude, who is thrust into different situations — wielding a gun, rescuing a damsel, ogling a mysterious woman, and/or wielding power as a working professional.
Installation view of “CLICKBAIT! A Treasure Trove of Pulp Fiction Cover Art” at the Martin Museum of Art in Waco, Texas
More than 30 of these pulp illustrations — commissioned for books and magazines — were collected in CLICKBAIT! A Treasure Trove of Pulp Fiction Cover Art at the Martin Museum of Art in Waco, Texas. The museum didn’t bury the lede — their press release went straight into the meat of the show: “Sex, war, communists, cowboys, and killers. What do these all have in common?”
Artist Unknown, “Summer House Affair Book Bonus,” a cover for “Man’s Magazine,” May 1969
The covers came from Baylor University’s archives; though the show never explained how this collection was amassed, the works are the perfect objects for an art department to own, because they collapse conversations around painting, product design, audience, and graphic illustration. On their most base level, they’re sensationalistic and of their time — since they were created to appeal to the primal instincts of readers, they lean into the idea of judging a book by its cover. Every painting in the show was dynamic: a few were abstract and ethereal, some depicted the peaks of climactic events, and others left blank spaces that, as illustrated by accompanying images of the finished covers, were later filled with blocky title letters. A few of the works seemed to prefigure series by contemporary artists — Richard Prince’s nurse paintings and Lisa Yuskavage’s women came to mind.
Installation view of “CLICKBAIT! A Treasure Trove of Pulp Fiction Cover Art” at the Martin Museum of Art in Waco, Texas
The mainspring of these paintings was their ability to sell not only a story, but a moment of escapism. While many of the works felt slightly unfinished, as if they were hurriedly produced on deadline, this only added to their appeal. Even in their slapdash nature, it was clear the artists (some of whom were unnamed in the show — these pieces after all weren’t designed to make them famous) were keen to the potency of visual language as a propagandistic tool. The best of these illustrations communicate power and desire, while also weaving in a subtext of U.S. cultural and political superiority.
Top: Harry Schaare, “Dangle Or Die,” a cover for “Man’s Magazine,” November 1956; Bottom: Ray Pease, “Bloodshed in the Negev,” a cover for “Man’s Magazine,” October 1954
I’d wager that the overwhelming consensus about these paintings is that they aren’t mid-century America’s apical artistic output. I’ll go further and argue that nowadays we see them as representing some of our worst impulses, our basest world views. Wall text in the exhibition sought to contextualize the pieces through a similar contemporary lens, reading: “The images in this exhibition are a product of the time in which they were produced…but that does not mean they are right.” It went on, justifying the point of the show: “…to censor or omit them from view would imply that they never existed or are not worth viewing to learn…This is our chance to learn and grow while acknowledging what our past looked like.”
Jack Thurston, cover art for “The Great Confession,” 1962
Looking back at vernacular art is uncomfortable when the message of that art is so clearly complicated. If this ostensibly was art for the people (as pulp books and magazines were blatantly for the masses), then what does it say about everyone who consumed it? Considered in this wider context, these paintings demonstrate how culture can be narrowly uniform, even when it has the appearance of taking a broader worldview. The covers still resonate as paint on paperboard — they are slick, well-made, and visually punchy. Even more so, however, they prevail as 1900s totems. Images clearly have a disproportionate power; throughout human history they have persuaded us to gather, disperse, kill, rebel, conform, conquer, and imagine. It is only by looking at how they have inspired us in the past that we can navigate how to morally use them in the future.
Artist Unknown, cover art for the “House of Madame Tellier and Other Stories,” 1952
CLICKBAIT! A Treasure Trove of Pulp Fiction Cover Art was on view through September 1, 2024 at the Martin Museum of Art at Baylor University.
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
A reader writes:
I work in a preclinical (no patients) research lab in a hospital. The team involved in our day-to-day work is small, consisting of three full-time employees and the lab manager. We all have to work together closely to get studies done. Our top boss and PI, Cyrus, is the head of the entire neuroscience research department at this hospital.
The issue is that recently Cyrus’s son (Phil, fresh out of college) was hired. It seemed like a decision made by Cyrus, with little input from our manager or the rest of us. He has been an intern with us occasionally over the past few years, but this is his first time working with us as a full-time employee. According to my manager, HR initially raised a red flag, but then company policies were skirted by having Phil be technically under a different manager who does not report to Cyrus. However, his work is de facto 100% with us, all people who work under his dad.
If Phil was a good hire, we would probably have given the whole situation some side-eye but let it be. However, he has been extremely difficult to work with in the week since he started full-time. His work is relatively competent, but when it’s criticized or changes are made, he takes it extremely personally, and when he is upset he is confrontational, very emotional, and disrespectful.
As one example, Phil was constantly interrupting my manager, Ezra, literally mid-sentence with corrected pronunciations of chemical compounds. That entire meeting was Phil and Ezra arguing while I sat on the other side of the table in fight-or-flight mode (heavily leaning “flight”). It ended with Phil angrily saying, “I’m going home” and storming off after Ezra asked, “Are we good?”
Cyrus is involved with our research only at a high level and is not around 95% of the time to see the day-to-day happenings.
I’m dubious that raising the issue with him would help, given an incident a month or two ago, when Phil was an intern. Phil had an emotional breakdown at work (not directed at any of us) where he was yelling, sobbing, and throwing things in his office (at least according to the others; I was not there to see this). One of my colleagues (Sam) brought it up to Cyrus, who I guess turned around and yelled at his son. Phil ended up calling and texting our other coworker (Edward), thinking he was the one who ratted him out, saying things like “Who told dad,” “Fucking answer me” (I saw the screenshots), and making threats (according to Edward). Nothing else happened in terms of work-related disciplinary actions for Phil, can’t speak on whatever may have happened back home, as he still lives with his dad.
There is also of course the power dynamic — none of us want to raise issues with our boss about his child, regardless of if it would help our situation or not. Cyrus is significant and well-regarded in our field. Besides all this stuff with his son, he’s been a decent boss and person, so I don’t know if potential backlash is a real concern, but it’s there nonetheless.
I’ve never had direct conflict with Phil. (For better or worse, I am very good at not being confrontational and hedging my words. Hurray to being socialized as a woman in a STEM field.) I’m not in any kind of managerial role, so I don’t know if it’s my place to go to Cyrus, or to HR. I’m unsure if my manager will take action on either of those fronts. I don’t know if either of those things would even help. I super do not want to have to work by myself with Phil. Finding another job is of course an option, but that would be tragic for me as the work is my dream job and I absolutely love my coworkers (besides Phil).
What’s a lowly research assistant to do?
What a mess! “Who told dad” is … well, a sentence you don’t hear at work a lot.
As is “fucking answer me” (!).
Cyrus is doing his son no favors if his protection means Phil isn’t learning professional norms. Unless Phil can be assured of working in places where his dad will protect him for his entire career (good luck with the math on that, assuming Cyrus isn’t a vampire and won’t be alive and working for the entirety of Phil’s career), he’s setting Phil up for some really unpleasant consequences down the road — and those consequences tend to be more painful if they come at 45 than if they come at 23.
But I don’t think you need to do anything. You’re low in the hierarchy and Phil isn’t feuding with you. Yes, it’s disruptive to have him around, but it sounds like others are affected a lot more than you are. That doesn’t mean you don’t have standing to raise it anyway — a disruptive coworker is a disruptive coworker — but others are a lot better positioned to raise it, both in terms of seniority and in being directly affected.
First and foremost, your manager, Ezra. He might be looking at the politics of Phil being the boss’s son and choosing not to address it. And maybe that’s the right move; in some cases, in some organizations, it would be. But if Ezra is avoiding it only because of the familial relationship and not because internal politics clearly signal he should stay quiet … eh, I’m not a fan of that. You say Cyrus is known to be a decent boss and a decent person, and he did deal with Phil when he learned of an issue in the past (by yelling at him, which isn’t great — but he didn’t punish the messenger). It’s true that the fact that he’s brought his son on board at all says his judgment in skewed in this area, but unless Ezra has a specific reason to think it would be dangerous for him to talk to Cyrus, I’d argue that he should.
Or if not Cyrus, then to the “different manager” that HR assigned for Phil. Or to HR, since they clearly realized this would be problematic. Ezra has a few different options.
The same is true for your coworkers who have been the target of Phil’s rudeness, like Edward. Feel free to point that out to them.
That said, I do think you could and perhaps should talk to Ezra about not wanting to work alone with Phil. If that’s likely to come up, it would be reasonable to say to Ezra, “I’m not comfortable working alone with Phil because he’s been so erratic and volatile. I don’t know if you’re working behind the scenes on the issues with him — I hope someone is because he’s been so disruptive — but for my part, I want to make sure I won’t be expected to work alone with him.”
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
A reader writes:
I currently work in a management role in a government agency. For anyone who cares to do a quick Google/LinkedIn search, it is clear from my previous jobs for campaigns/issue groups/certain politicians that I’m a Democrat, but I maintain pretty strict boundaries about discussing politics at work. We are a service agency, and I would never want to do anything that would alienate who we serve or make people in the workplace uncomfortable.
Every week, I have an all-hands with my team, and as part of that, I bring up office policy reminders as they come up (time sheets, upcoming reviews, vacation submission deadlines, donut arrivals, just the important stuff). Whenever we have an election, I remind them of our office policy on time off around voting (our meetings also happen to be on Tuesdays).
I was discussing this with another manager, who was taken aback and said it could come off as “too political.” His argument was that they know I’m a Democrat and Democrats are known as the “pro-voting” party, and my team is more likely to vote left. (I don’t know the ideological makeup of my team, but if sweeping generalizations are true, he’s probably right.)
I was a little dismissive at first because I need to know for planning purposes if my team is going to be unavailable, but on reflection, he might be a little bit right? We live in a swing state going into a very contentious election. I always preface the reminder with “if you are planning to vote” rather than pushing them to vote. I have heard from my team that it has served as a reminder that got them to vote, especially for non-presidential elections. And between you and me, I am that annoying person who reminds everyone in my personal life to vote, and I do believe it’s important! But then we’re sliding into “everything is political” territory because as someone who cares deeply about labor rights, a lot of my reminders are about making sure my direct reports are aware of everything they’re entitled to from their employer.
So yay or nay on this being too political? Is there a normal way to find out if these reminders make anyone feel pressured or uncomfortable? Should I do something less direct, like an email reminder in October? Or am I seriously overthinking this?
It doesn’t even sound like you’re reminding people to vote. You’re letting them know of the office policy on time off if they are voting. That’s work-relevant information, just like reminding people of your inclement weather policy when a snowstorm is expected or that the bloodmobile will be on-site next week.
If that’s all you’re doing — just “the company gives up to four hours paid time off for voting on Tuesday; use code 032 on your timesheet” or whatever — your coworker is being very weird. You’re sharing info, not urging anyone to do anything.
Is the subtext of the reminder that the company supports people in voting? Sure, because your company does (assuming the policy makes voting during the work day easier, not harder).
Is sharing info that makes it easier/more likely for people to vote an inherently partisan message? Only if you don’t believe in democracy, I suppose. And it’s sure true that one party is currently engaging in a lot more vote-squelching activities than the other. On the other hand, it’s also true that both parties engage in intensive turn-out-the-vote activities (for their own voters — but both do it).
The more interesting question, I suppose, is whether reminding people to vote — not just reminding them of the company’s policy — is too political for work. I’d love to say, “Of course not! Implying that one side wouldn’t want all voices heard in an election is itself a partisan stance; it’s insulting to that party and counter to foundational principles of our democracy.” That should be the answer. But we’re in such a raw nerve of a cultural moment that that encouragement could indeed read as partisan from either side, depending on which political views are assumed to dominate on your team or in your company, or could just feel like an unwelcome injection of political talk into a space where people might be trying hard to tune it out. It’s incredibly messed up that that’s the case! And on the principle of it, I still think it’s fine — good, in fact — to remind people to vote. Please do. But ugh that we even have to ask the question.
In brief: Francine remains a strong tropical storm this morning, and we’re beginning to see the turn from northwest movement, to northern movement, to northeast that will ultimately carry the storm well away from Texas. Local impacts, for many not along the immediate coast, will be difficult to discern from a regular late summer-day in Houston.
Francine status and forecast
The overall forecast for Francine remains much as we have been saying for a couple of days now. The tropical system will remain well offshore from Texas, and effects for most of our area will be minimal. In fact, I would go so far as to say that by tomorrow people in Houston will be going, “Hurricane? What hurricane. This was a joke.” Well, people who didn’t know better will be thinking that at least—but not readers of this site.
Francine, almost certainly at hurricane strength, will come ashore in Louisiana some time on Wednesday. (National Hurricane Center)
Francine will not be a joke for southern Louisiana. The tropical storm has sustained winds of 65 mph, and is likely to move inland Wednesday afternoon or evening as a Category 2 hurricane. The state’s most populated area, from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, will be directly impacted with winds, rains, and storm surge. For complete coverage of these impacts to Louisiana, be sure to check our ongoing coverage at The Eyewall later this morning.
Tuesday and Wednesday
There are showers just offshore the Texas coast this morning, and the question is how far rains from Francine will penetrate inland into the Houston metro area today and tomorrow. The answer, I think, is not all that far. Based upon high resolution modeling, I expect to see a band of showers reach the coast around noon today, and then fall apart fairly quickly as it moves inland. Then, the region will see scattered rain chances through Wednesday evening. All in all, I could see the coast picking up 1 to 2 inches of rain, with inland amounts significantly less. Areas such as Katy or Tomball may not see any rain at all.
NOAA rain accumulation forecast for now through Thursday. (Weather Bell)
In terms of winds, I don’t expect much. If anything, the eventual track of Francine has pushed further to the east over night, and this really keeps the stronger winds at bay. We could see gusts of 25 mph or so in the city of Houston by Tuesday night, and perhaps 30 to 40 mph along the coast. But I don’t expect conditions seriously worse than this, and these kinds of winds will be fine if you need to be out and about. Seas will rise 1 to 3 feet above normal at high tide for coastal areas, including Galveston Island and Bolivar Peninsula.
The bottom line is that, for most of the Houston area, you won’t be able to tell there’s a hurricane passing offshore today and tomorrow. Skies will be mostly cloudy, with highs in the mid-80s, which is cooler than normal for this time of year. Perhaps that’s our greatest takeaway from this storm, some slightly cooler days. I’m not complaining.
Thursday
We may see a few lingering showers on Wednesday night, but by Thursday we should see sunny skies and light, northwest winds at 5 to 10 mph. Highs will reach about 90 degrees.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
The weekend looks hot and partly to mostly sunny. Daytime temperatures will get into the low-90s for most locations, with nighttime temperatures in the mid-70s. If I squint I can make out a slight chance of rain returning to the forecast by Sunday, but it is probably only in the vicinity of 10 to 20 percent.
Temperatures will be warmer than normal next week. (Weather Bell)
Next week
I don’t see much of a pattern change next week, as highs should remain in the low 90s, with low-end rain chances and plenty of sunshine. This is fairly typical, if slightly warmer than normal weather for mid-September, and should be good for the pool, beach, or whatever outdoor water activities you care to partake in.
Next update
We’ll have a brief update on Francine later this afternoon. Don’t expect any significant track changes that will impact Texas, however.
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 doesn’t listen and then pretends she was never told
I’m having an issue with my coworker, Christine. I am in no way her supervisor so I’m not sure there’s anything I can do, but here goes!
Basically, she complains that our boss, Lars, doesn’t tell her things and then Lars gets upset with her afterwards for not knowing. I can see why that would be incredibly frustrating. Except the last couple of times she has told me that’s happened, I was in the room with them and I know Lars told her the correct info.
For example, Lars told me and Christine that we were going to use Form X instead of Y. The next day, Christine used the wrong form and Lars asked her why. Christine tells me Lars never told her, so I said that he did in fact the day before. First she says she wasn’t in the room, I remind her she was. Then she says he must have been talking to me and not her, but it was just the three of us in a small room and I talked about it with her afterwards so I know she heard him. Then she says she just “wasn’t listening” but again, we talked about it so I know she knew.
From other experiences with her, I don’t think she has a great memory, but instead of admitting or realizing that, she just says Lars never told her things. She’s done the same to me even though I can send her screenshots of our chat or forward emails that she’s replied to. It’s mostly complaints about Lars, which doesn’t directly impede my work, but when she does it to me, it’s frustrating that I have to ask her to do something three times and then she takes zero responsibility for dropping the ball.
She is job searching, so is there really anything I can or should do or should I just hope she moves on soon? That might be part of it too — she’s just checked out mentally since she’s planning to leave. But honestly I’d rather have her just say “Yeah, I know we’re supposed to use X instead of Y but I don’t care” instead of lying to me about it!
There’s a decent chance she’s not deliberating lying but is simply a scattered mess and not keeping track of stuff. She could be genuinely surprised when she’s confronted with evidence that she was previously told things. There’s also a decent chance that she is lying — that she sees it as a way to save face and doesn’t understand how bad it makes her look.
It doesn’t really matter; it’s frustrating either way. I don’t think you need to do anything about it — as you say, you’re not her manager — but you also don’t need to pretend you don’t see it happening. If you want, the next time it occurs, you could say, “I don’t know if you realize this happens a lot — you’re sure Lars or I never told you something when we actually did. Sometimes I was there during the conversation with him, or I have emails that you replied to confirming you knew. Is everything okay?” If she thinks she’s getting away with it, this might drive home that she’s not and maybe nudge her to do it less in the future. Or it might have no effect at all! But you’re not required to pretend you don’t see it. (Similarly, the next time she complains to you about Lars not telling her something, feel free to say, “I don’t know, a lot of times when you’ve thought that in the past, it’s turned out that he did tell you.”)
2. Should I correct a candidate who assumed I was a man?
I’m a woman with a name that reflects that: let’s say Anne Smith. I don’t work in a male-dominated industry.
We’re adding new people to our team for work that we’ve got a contract to cover, and I’m pre-screening the candidates by having short phone interviews. The role is research on a very specific topic (let’s say metallic red teapots with brown spouts produced in the south in 1853), but we’re just looking for people with a MS in pottery and 2+ years of teapot experience. I’ve compiled a solid short list quickly and I think we’ll have the jobs filled in record time.
Yesterday we got an application from Fergus, a candidate finishing a PhD on exactly the topic we’re working on. And of course that PhD came with many years of experience doing research. On paper, Fergus seems perfectly (over) qualified. So I reached out to schedule a phone screen, addressing him by him by his first name and signing the email with my first name, which is the norm in our industry (but perhaps not in the region of the U.S. that he is in). He promptly wrote back with, “Mr. Smith, here are dates/times that work for me, thanks, Fergus Jones.” I ignored the “Mr.” and wrote back a quick, “Thanks, I’ll call you at date/time — Anne.” Fergus responded with, “Sir, I look forward to speaking with you then.”
It’s not bothering me that he doesn’t seem to know the gender of the person he’s talking to, but I would be mortified if I realized at the start of an interview that I had misgendered the interviewer multiple times (and I sound like a woman on the phone). So I debated responding with a clarifying email (“Just a heads-up that I’m actually Ms. Smith”) but asked my partner for his two cents. He said, “Hey, if Fergus can’t see that the signature on your emails is a big and bold line that says ‘Anne Smith (she/her),’ is he really going to be that great of a researcher? Ignore it and see how he handles it at the interview.” Good point, but I miss things sometimes too, so I also ran it by a friend who hires in a more male-dominated industry. She responded, “Do you have your pronouns in your signature? He’s doing it on purpose.”
So … uh … is this really a thing? Do I try to clarify over email in advance or see what happens in the interview? Most of us in the company have our pronouns in our signatures and many people in the agencies we work for do as well. And it’s great that his experience so closely aligns with what we’re looking for, but we do have several other strong candidates: I’m not worried about filling the positions.
I doubt he’s doing it on purpose. There are people who are hostile to the idea of pronouns in email signatures — or to respecting people’s pronouns generally — but they don’t normally take an openly hostile stand while they’re trying to get a job with you.
It’s more likely he’s (a) defaulting to the sexist assumption that anyone with hiring authority would of course be a man and (b) not paying enough attention to see the big glaring sign in front of his face that you are not. Both of these are problems if you’re hiring someone who needs to have attention to detail and an ability to work respectfully with women.
You do not need to try to save him from embarrassment over his own actions by clarifying pre-interview. Let him learn the lesson on his own (if he will, which he probably won’t).
Note: it’s possible Fergus is from a culture where Anne isn’t a common name and he doesn’t recognize it as typically feminine. His use of “sir” also might point in that direction since that’s not how we typically write emails in the U.S. But it doesn’t really matter because both the points above still hold, given that your pronouns were right there.
3. I told a networker the truth about my awful old boss but they didn’t believe me
Last year I left a role on Team A where I routinely got screamed at. As you might imagine, it was a really bad place to work: favoritism, no empathy from leadership, inconsistent expectations, high workload with high expectations and zero resources. And of course, the screaming.
Thankfully I moved onto a new team B where I’m treated very well. There is an opening on my current team and on my old team — both are essentially the same job I have now and had then. Someone on LinkedIn reached out to me and asked if I was the hiring manager (obviously I am not) and if not, could I tell them about the role(s) and/or introduce them to the hiring manager or someone else to ask questions. No problem! I am happy to help out and answer questions. It turns out they have applied only to my old department, so my response was something like, “Sure, I can introduce you to someone, but to be completely transparent, part of the reason I left that team is because I do not enjoy being screamed at.”
I know the job market is rough right now — a lot of my friends are struggling. But I believe in being honest about this kind of thing and I don’t want to encourage someone to walk into that situation. But the person who reached out to me about this clearly didn’t believe me. I think I’ve done what I can and I know I don’t have any obligation to do anything else, though I did give her the name of the hiring manager (the screamer). What I’m curious about is if there is a better way to be up-front about this kind of thing or if there’s anything you would have recommended doing differently?
Kudos to you for being straightforward about it. You’ve given them important information that’s often very hard for outside candidates to get (until they start working there and discover it too late). You can’t do more than that; if they don’t believe you, it’s not your job to convince them.
Sometimes people refuse to accept this kind of info because they want the job so they they tell themselves it couldn’t really be as bad as you said, or that you fed into the problem yourself (you deserved to be screamed at — the office version of “your skirt was too short”), or that they’ll just somehow have a different experience. It’s short-sighted, but it happens. To be fair, sometimes people do have a different experience! Some people have a higher tolerance for yellers, or vibe with the boss in a different way, or just don’t care as much as others would. But not believing you is weird.
I don’t think you need to change anything about how you approached it. Your response was pretty perfect, in fact. You gave the relevant info matter-of-factly and concisely. What someone does with it is up to them.
4. Former employee keeps hassling me to come back after I was fired
Last winter, I was let go from a company where I had worked for seven years. Now that they’re in their busy season, a former direct report has been contacting me constantly, begging me to come back.
He was always a bit erratic when I was his manager, going through periods where he’d make bizarre claims like being independently wealthy and not needing the job, only to later demand a $10,000 raise because he was struggling financially. His work was good and he filled a niche we needed, so I tolerated his emotional outbursts, even when they involved him venting to me for 45 minutes at a time. Odd people deserve jobs too, right? However, now that I’m no longer being paid to manage this kind of behavior, I’m not thrilled about being dragged into work drama again.
I’ve offered to help out during the busy season because I’d like to repair my reputation at the company, where I was once a valued employee before burnout led to my departure. My former boss informed me that the higher-ups rejected the idea of me returning, but they didn’t tell my former employee this. Instead, it seems they’ve told him that I burned bridges, and now he’s pressuring me to “mend fences,” saying the team can’t manage without me.
I’m currently searching for my next role and am hesitant to alienate anyone who could potentially help me find work. What should I do?
Realistically, how likely is this guy to help you find work? He seems to have terrible judgment (on display when you worked there, plus now in hassling you to return after being fired; even if he doesn’t know you were fired, his belief that it’s appropriate to badger someone into returning to a job doesn’t speak well of him) and I’m skeptical that he’s a valuable contact who you need to preserve a relationship with at all costs. You could simply ignore his messages.
But if you don’t want to do that, there’s nothing wrong with saying the next time he contacts you, “I’ve offered. They’ve declined. I’m not going to pursue it further, so please stop asking me to.” Or skip the details and just say, “It’s not on the table, so please stop asking about it.”
5. Rejected by text
After a phone interview, an in-person interview, and a work sample (unpaid), I’ve just been rejected for a job over text. The rejection itself doesn’t sting as I had decided the job isn’t right for me, but I can’t get over them doing it by text!
Should I say something? Is there a way to without sounding catty? Ordinarily I think I’d just leave it, but the person who sent the message had told me they’ve only worked there seven weeks. Part of me feels like maybe someone should tell them how unprofessional it is, especially at this stage of the process.
Is a quick “Thanks for letting me know, this is news I would have rather received over email or a phone call, but all the best in your search” even worth it or should I just forget it ever happened?
Ugh, why do people do this?! This is not a casual “I’m running 10 minutes late, meet you inside” message. It’s professional news of some weight and it should be treated that way.
As for whether or not to say anything, I’m torn. On one hand, it’s good for hiring managers to get feedback about this sort of thing, and you might be telling her something she genuinely had never thought about and she might rethink it for the future. On the other hand, when you give feedback about how a rejection was delivered, there’s always a risk that it’ll bite you in some way in the future. For example, if a job opening comes up there next month that you’d be perfect for, will she not contact you about it because she’s embarrassed or feels chilly toward you now (whereas she would have contacted you otherwise)? Or if you apply there in the future, same concerns.
I really hate telling people not to deliver well-warranted feedback because it plays right into the problematic power dynamics already present in an interview situation, and also because employers will never learn if they don’t get feedback from candidates … but you’ve got to balance all that and decide how much you care about each piece of it.
DAYTON, OH—Calling the first two “rough, but ultimately worth it,” local 53-year-old Mark Butler confirmed Tuesday he had gotten his triple bypass reversed after deciding he wanted a third heart attack after all. “Why not? There’s still time,” said Butler, who admitted he had been “a little hasty” when he originally opted to undergo the elective coronary artery bypass grafting. “Of course, a third one will be expensive, but my wife insisted. She’s hoping for a major. In fact, we’re going to start trying tonight.” At press time, Butler’s wife had reportedly greeted him at the door in lingerie with cheeseburger casserole.
TERRE HAUTE, IN—Having confirmed his suspicions of his wife’s infidelity, local husband Mark Polanco filed for divorce Monday after a DNA test revealed that the child he had been raising as his own only shared half his genes. “I just can’t be with someone who would do something that awful, telling me I’m the biological father of a kid who doesn’t even have 100% of my genetic material,” said Polanco, who explained that he began questioning the paternity of the child when she was a baby and he first changed her diaper, an experience that led him to wonder how, as a girl, she could have inherited both his X and Y chromosomes. “Honestly, what kind of psycho does something like that? I guess she was hoping I would never notice the kid wasn’t an exact genetic clone of me, but thankfully I pieced it together.” At press time, Polanco was reportedly disgusted after realizing the baby bore a striking resemblance to his wife’s brother.
We here at the Department of Energy wanted to thank you for being conscientious about your energy usage this summer. Your efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. As a token of our gratitude, we wanted to highlight all the small but powerful steps you’ve taken to conserve energy over the past few months—and how that energy has instead been used to fuel the insatiable beast that is AI.
By turning off your lights all day every day for a month, you conserved about 1 percent of the energy needed for AI to generate a picture of a duck wearing sunglasses. Isn’t he cute? Aside from the fact that he has the feet of a human man, of course.
By handwashing your dishes instead of using your dishwasher, you made it possible for an elaborate, four-story digital billboard in Times Square to advertise a seven-dollar bottle of water for twelve seconds. The display runs 24-7, naturally, but you personally contributed twelve seconds of that. You are making a difference!
By not showering for two whole weeks, you enabled an AI Facebook bot to create and post several images of Jesus eating breakfast at a Denny’s, which ultimately convinced 837,000 people that Christ had returned to Earth. Did you notice his legs are two dolphin tails? You’re the only one who did.
An AI-generated bot account was able to comment “PUSSY IN BIO” on 2.1 million Instagram posts, all thanks to you switching from AC to a big box fan that just kind of pushes the stale, hot air in your apartment around. We’re building a better world—together.
By switching all the lightbulbs in your house to LED, you saved enough energy for a self-driving car to make an unprotected lefthand turn across three lanes of traffic.
With the energy you conserved by scrapping your refrigerator entirely, a bored twenty-something was able to use an AI TikTok filter to see what they would’ve looked like in the 1970s. Spoiler alert: it’s exactly the same but in ’70s clothes.
By dropping $7K on better, energy-efficient insulation for your home, Google AI was able to tell someone how to prepare chicken incorrectly, and they got, like, super sick—thanks to you!
Hang-drying your clothes instead of using your dryer provided enough energy for one AI bot to get really good at online chess.
Waking up at 4 a.m. to do your laundry conserved a ton of energy—energy that was used by ChatGPT to help a seventh grader plagiarize his entire essay on George Orwell’s 1984. Who needs to read a book on technology, totalitarianism, and propaganda, anyway?
By unplugging all of your appliances, you freed up the exact amount of energy needed to create an AI-generated video of Adele’s “Hello” being sung by Plankton from Spongebob Squarepants. Keep them unplugged for the rest of the summer, and you might get Mr. Krabs’s cover of “Pink Pony Club.”
We know you adopted energy-saving practices to help conserve our planet’s resources and bring down our collective carbon footprint, but what you ultimately accomplished is just as important: helping AI do something menial and stupid. We hope seeing how much energy AI needlessly and uninhibitedly consumes inspires you to continue implementing practices that make your life incrementally more difficult during the hottest months of the year. We need you. Seriously, we really want that “Pink Pony Club” cover.
