NEW YORK—Responding to widespread pro-Palestinian demonstrations taking place at colleges across the country, CEO Ron Burgess issued a warning Tuesday that no student involved in the protests would ever be hired at Genocide Inc. “Given the lack of decency they have shown, Genocide Inc. has decided it will not be…
SAN DIEGO—Expressing frustration that her feelings of anger and hurt were not being validated, local woman Rory Schaffer confirmed Tuesday that she did not appreciate being told by a reggae song to chill out. “This music keeps saying I should simmer down and that every little thing’s gonna be all right, but that’s not…
I worked for a government agency a few years back and for whatever reason right off the bat, an older coworker took a dislike to me. I have legitimately no idea why. She was clearly resentful of the possibility of having to train anyone, as I heard her talk several times about how she didn’t sign up to train people and she wasn’t going to.
Anyway, her normal M.O. was just general bitterness but she seemed to take it a step further. We had a potluck and I brought mini cheesecakes. I’m not sure what she brought, but she took ISSUE with these cheesecakes. She moved them to a different table out of the way so people didn’t know they were there. She walked around the entire day telling people about her cheesecake and how she made it totally from scratch. She didn’t even bring cheesecake that day, and also, mine were homemade too so I have no idea what she was on about.
2. The couch
I had a library coworker once with a years-long grudge against … a couch.
The Friends of the Library had used some of their funds to buy decent furniture for the break room, which most of us appreciated. She felt very strongly that any money the Friends raised should have been used to add to the collection, which we already had a pretty good budget for from other sources. She retaliated by refusing to sit on that couch, ever, for years. Unclear whether she succeeded in hurting the couch’s feelings.
3. The software admin
I worked at a small company where a department was run by an awful woman. She hired her entire old team from her last company and they immediately took over and started going on a power trip. They lied, refused to actually do their jobs and pushed it onto other departments, and made up unnecessary rules that had no basis in what our business needed.
They steamrolled over everyone else and I ended up being dumped with a lot of work they were supposed to be doing. And then they made up a ton of unnecessary requirements, and when I pushed back demanding they point to the ISO line they claim was required, they couldn’t and had to give up. So they hated me and decided to freeze me out and refused to talk to me.
It just so happened I was the admin of the software tool they had to use (the previous admin left and they never hired a replacement so I was just assigned this), and I was so petty that every time they pissed me off, I reset their passwords. They would keep trying to enter their password (when it was blank) and once they got frozen out, they’d have to come to me and ask for me to unfreeze their account and reset their password. I only did it because the software didn’t log things like admin resetting password. Also they logged in so infrequently (because they didn’t do their real job) they chalked it up to them forgetting the password each time and the strict password requirements that had to be changed every few months with no repeats.
Deeply petty and I probably shouldn’t be trusted with power because I took great pleasure in abusing it until I finally left.
4. The cat photo
I once had a coworker (Clara) who was inexplicably upset by the most benign things. Years ago, another colleague (Helen) gifted her a lovely photo of her cat, which Clara pinned up in her cubicle. Every time Clara felt Helen had done something to slight her (which was often), she would take down the photo. When they made up, the photo went back on the wall. The two of them controlled the energy in the office, so everyone could tell just by glancing at the wall whether it was going be a pleasant day or a miserable one.
5. The donut grievance
My first job after graduating as an engineer was in an automotive plant. I was a process engineer working on the floor. There was a steep learning curve to the job and some of the mechanics were really helpful when I had questions about the machinery. They were very helpful and kind and in order to thank them, I brought donuts to a meeting we were having.
Other employees who were not invited to the meeting (because it had nothing to do with their work) were incensed and made a complaint to the union. They launched a grievance complaining that some, but not all, employees were given donuts. When the union rep found out that I bought the donuts with my own money the grievance went away, but the other employees continued to give me nasty looks for months and complain that they hadn’t gotten a donut.
6. The long-running grudge
I once worked as an admin at a pretty big corporate employer in New Orleans. I had a coworker, N, who initially was really nice and sweet. We talked all the time and bonded over our love of animals.
One day about three months after I joined the company, I walked into work and saw N in the corridor. I said, “Hi, N!” and she actually turned her head so she couldn’t see me and kept walking. I shrugged it off at first, but it kept happening. I’d say hi, she’d ignore me. There would be food left from one of her meetings and she’d whisper to the other admins so that they could get the leftovers, but excluded me. She was my backup and was supposed to answer my managers’ phones when I was at lunch, but she decided she didn’t want to do that anymore so stopped doing it. My managers noticed and asked me to fix the issue, but N wouldn’t even discuss it with me. She just said she wasn’t going to answer my phones anymore.
I went to our big boss and he said that in his experience women admins always ended up in feuds and as far as he was concerned we had to handle it on our own and not to bother him anymore. So I stopped answering her managers’ phones. This made one of her managers so angry she stormed over to my desk and said, “Look, my phone is ringing. You answer it since N isn’t here.” I said, “Oh, N won’t answer my phones anymore, so I’m no longer answering hers.” She screamed, “I’m a lawyer and I’m telling you to answer that phone!” I smiled and said, “I’m an admin and I’m telling you I’m not.” She went running to N’s other manager but nothing changed.
It was the custom for admins to buy birthday cards and circulate them around for their managers. So when one of N’s managers had a birthday, she circulated the card. When it hit my desk, I told my coworker who put it there that I’d better not because N wouldn’t like it. She said, “Don’t let her intimidate you. Sign the card.” So I signed it and put it back on N’s desk which was in the cube next to mine. When she came back from lunch, she saw the card and I heard her yell, “OH, NO SHE DID NOT!” and then ripping sounds. She tore up the card and threw it away because I signed it. Then she sent out an email to the whole floor saying she was buying her manager a card, but if we wanted to send a card, we had to buy it ourselves.
This went on for months and months. A new admin started and was initially nice and then she started ignoring me and I asked her why. She said, “Oh, N told me that you are a slacker and don’t pull your weight here so I shouldn’t associate with you so I can stay in good standing with my bosses.”
N had more seniority than me and her manager was more important than mine. I was called into a meeting with mine and told that N was out to get me fired and if I were smart, I should start looking for a new job. I asked them if they could help me because obviously she was bullying me, but they said their hands were tied. So I luckily found another job in the same company, just a different department. On my first day HR sent out email to my old department and my new department announcing my new job and congratulating me and wishing me luck as was the custom. N responded with REPLY ALL in 57 RED font, “OH, HAPPY DAYS! HAPPY DAYS! SHE’S GONE!” Did she get in trouble? Nope. Just got a little talking to from her boss. I was happy in my new job where no one bullied me.
About two years later, I heard that N got fired because she refused to help another admin and her boss said, “Well, either you help her or you’re out” and N packed up her things and left.
Years later I went out to lunch with the coworker who’d encouraged me to sign N’s manager’s birthday card. We were both not with the company anymore and had other jobs. We started talking about our old jobs and she said, “Okay, I’m going to confide in you now. I know why N hated you.” Well, the reason was that I brought in a Witch’s Almanac calendar one day and hung it up in my cube. It was New Orleans and the vibe there is really eccentric and pretty much anything goes, so I didn’t even think it would be an issue. The calendar did not have explicit pictures or anything. It was arty more than anything. Crows, cauldrons, stuff like that. So N thought I was Wiccan and since she was such a good Christian, she made it her mission to destroy me professionally.
7. The promotion
I was hired into an org by a department head, Sansa, to be her assistant. She was clear in her hiring of me that part of my job duty was to do all the interfacing with other departments and clients, because she didn’t enjoy it. She hated making phone calls and was generally aloof, sullen, quiet, and didn’t identify as a “people person.” Perfect, because I came from a background of client relations, and I also enjoy people and making everyone feel valued and welcome, whether that person is a client or a colleague. So I did my job, and did all the interfacing for her. I made all the phone calls to clients. I talked to the other departments. Sansa adored me for taking all that off her plate.
After a few years of rarely speaking to a client or a colleague, she realized that I had become the universally-liked face of her department. Instead of taking a page out of my book, she decided that I should become more like her and start being more sullen and aloof. She demanded I stop being so friendly to everyone, because it was making her look bad. She told literally told me I should make my tone more flat and stop “being so warm” on phone calls, and that I shouldn’t go out to lunch with coworkers when I was invited, but eat at my desk alone, the way she did. I did not.
So she called a meeting with the CEO and head of HR and demanded that they fire me for being too friendly, and explained to them that she didn’t even need me, because she was doing all the work, and I was just making phone calls and eating lunch with other departments. Instead of firing me, they promoted me to be the head of a different department, away from Sansa. When Sansa wanted to hire a new assistant, they refused, because she can make her own phone calls, as she so kindly explained to them, and she didn’t actually need an assistant.
That was a few years ago, and she hasn’t spoken to me since. I’ve also gotten another promotion since then, and now work directly with the CEO. When we pass in the hallways I still give her the warm, “Good morning!” I give everyone, and she will not respond to me. So yeah, I have someone who hates my guts for being too nice.
8. The mugs of retribution
I used to teach full-time. One of the TAs was a good-looking younger guy, let’s call him Brad as in Pitt, who was the crush object of many students and a fair few staff. “Janet” from another department particularly thought of him as Hers, although he’d never shown any return interest (she was a good 20 years older than him for starters). This was fine, if rather odd, until one of my colleagues went on maternity and Brad started covering for her. His subject knowledge was okay but he didn’t know the nuances of the topic to teach to students, so I worked with him to fill the gaps, usually after school.
Now, I liked Brad in a “he’s a good laugh and never once tried to mansplain” way but didn’t fancy him in the slightest. The students referred to me as “goth teacher,” my taste in men ran accordingly. Janet, however, was Not Amused by us spending time together, and when it turned out Brad lived on my way home so could get a lift with me instead of her, she concluded I was out to steal her man. This middle-aged woman went full scorned teenage girl. It started with filthy looks at me and betrayed-puppy eyes at him. Blanking me when I talked to her, etc. Then Janet decided that the rest of the man-stealing harlot’s time at that school would go un-caffeinated. Personal mugs would occasionally go walkabout from the staff room cupboard but they’d return the next day. Mine stayed gone. I brought in a new one. Two days later, it vanished. Then another. And another.
I was mystified until I covered a lesson in Janet’s usual classroom and discovered ALL of my missing mugs stashed in the back of the storage cupboard.
9. The summer camp cook
At one summer camp, we had a cook who made terrible food, leading to a steadily building animosity between him and the rest of the staff. It finally exploded in a screaming fight (thankfully with no campers present) when someone asked him if he needed to be reminded how to use things other than the microwave, and he replied that you “shouldn’t f*** with someone who could poison you all.” He was ultimately fired for theft but not before deliberately serving us sandwiches made with spoiled lunch meat.
10. The desk gaslighter
My toxic, bullying boss would constantly move stuff out of line of sight (and I was pretty tidy – we’re talking about moving my notebook to an enclosed cabinet next to my desk, or pushing a small potted plant into the very dark corner of the desk behind my monitor). This boss was absolutely wild in how she behaved and this was just one of the many, many things she did. Of course, she denied ever doing anything and blamed the cleaning crew (!!!). Finally, I very obviously started taking photos of my desk before I would leave and made sure she would see me doing this. That stopped her desk-related shenanigans.
It’s been over a decade now but I still have the photos in my phone and every year between January and March I puzzle at why I am seeing photos of my old desk at this old job in my Google memories LOL!
11. The sun glare
During a standard interdepartmental spat over window blinds, one of the other managers became so offended by our manager’s love of sunlight that she locked him in the building during a fire drill. Claimed the glare of the sun confused her eyes so she “accidentally” put the key in the lock. They never spoke again, communicating through runners in a “X told me to tell you” system for fire years until she was encouraged to leave after locking him in a storage cupboard.
12. The speakerphone war
We had a speakerphone war at an old job. This was back in the old days when we all used hard-wired desktop phones, just for reference. Office Manager would come in in the morning, crank up her phone as loud as it would go, and listen to her voicemail. At best there’d be 1-2 voicemails, and it was usually over pretty quickly. Other Employee, however, simply could not deal with this. Other Employee would immediately start playing back her voicemails on speaker, as loudly as it would go. They also each figured out ways to amplify the sound so it was even louder than normal. This eventually got to where they were going back and forth with it all day long. It stopped only when Other Employee was able to move to a desk in another part of the building so they couldn’t hear each other.
13. The mini-fridge
In my public library, we had a very unpopular director. He was a micro-managing mansplainer, in an environment that was 90% female. Literally everyone on staff hated him, and he either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
At some point, he decided our breakroom – upstairs from where the staff worked and steps from his office – was underutilized. To be fair, no one used it because the odds of bumping into him or another administrator was high, and nobody wanted to deal with that during lunch. His solution was to remove all the refrigerators and microwaves from the downstairs work rooms to force people to eat upstairs.
There was a mini-fridge/freezer in our youth workroom that had been there for as long as anyone could remember. Unpopular Director said it had to go, but don’t send it to be auctioned, he could use it in his office to keep water cool for VIPs. We had a Youth Librarian who had real anger issues, and a hot burning hatred for Director.
Without defrosting the refrigerator or cleaning it out, she unplugged it and left it in his office on a Thursday evening, when Director planned to be out Thursday-Monday. Over the weekend it defrosted, ruined the carpet in Director’s office and set up a lovely mildew-y smell. As far as I know, the Youth Librarian faced no consequences (Director was a little scared of her). Within three months, the downstairs fridge and microwave had been replaced.
When Youth Librarian retired, she handed out buttons to staff with a picture of the mini-fridge on it.
14. The chain email
When working for the federal government, our admin once sent out an email to the entire office that was a chain email claiming you would get a free computer if you forwarded it to X number of people. I was so annoyed! It was 2012, not 1994, so this was absurd. Several more people then did the same thing! I got so fed up with these emails that I replied all to one with a snip of the employee handbook that specifically forbade chain emails.
For the rest of my time there (two years), the admin gave me the full silent treatment. She would shut doors in my face, turn away from me if I tried to ask her a question, refuse to respond to any email I sent her, etc. Luckily, she was pretty useless at her job so I didn’t need her help with very much.
15. The Pythagorean theorem
Years ago, I worked in a math-adjacent field. One of my closest collaborators mispronounced “Pythagorean theorem” painfully and frequently. For some reason, this caused me to completely lose my head each and every time. Was this a sensible trigger? No. Could I let it lie? Heck no! I proceeded to bring in evidence that his pronunciation was not one of the accepted pronunciations in any English-speaking country. There were dictionaries. There were subject experts. My colleague insisted that he was correct and I was wrong … but as the bigger person, he would not nag me about MY misguided pronunciation.
Finally, I dragged him to our manager’s office to declare, like a petulant child, “Manager, coworker is pronouncing ‘Pythagorean theorem’ wrong!” She stared us down for a solid minute, scowled, and, in a tone of utter disgust, said, “Get out.” We left. I never won the argument, but I’m still right.
ORLANDO, FL—Calling the campaign a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that would leave customers satisfied and “go easy on their wallets,” bankrupt restaurant chain Red Lobster launched a $19.99 all-you-can-grab copper wiring promotion Monday at all of its locations. “Today, we’re rolling out an incredible deal for anyone…
Iran's ultraconservative president, killed in a helicopter crash, oversaw a crackdown on women's protests and was linked to extrajudicial killings in the 1980s.
The seafood chain is in hot water after a series of bad choices by a parade of executives. Almost 580 restaurants will stay open, after dozens closed abruptly last week.
In brief: Houston will remain warm and humid through next weekend, with partly to mostly sunny days and highs generally in the low 90s. Rain chances are low throughout the period. Today’s post also addresses some lingering questions from last week’s storms, including why the event was not particularly well predicted.
Over the weekend, the greater Houston region continued to recover from damaging winds last Thursday. On Sunday evening, CenterPoint said that it had restored electricity to more than 700,000 people who lost power, with about 240,000 customers still without. The transmission company said it remains on track to be “substantially complete” with power restoration by Wednesday evening. Before jumping into the forecast here are some additional thoughts about the very strong storms that arrived last week.
Outside of north Texas, it won’t rain much this week. This will help recovery activities from last week’s storms proceed. (Weather Bell)
Why wasn’t this well predicted?
This is a great question. The answer is that we have seen these kinds of setups before in which there is an atmosphere primed with moisture and instability, and with a potential trigger for supercell storms to form many times before. However, even hours before their development just west of Houston on Thursday, there was no ready data to indicate the true severity of the blow-the-doors-off storm that was coming.
It’s the kind of thing where there maybe is a 1-in-50 or a 1-in-100 chance that something so severe, a supercell event with very strong straight-line winds directly over the city’s urban core, could develop. If we had messaged that an “extremely dangerous and destructive event” was coming the previous 10 times there was such an atmospheric setup, and nothing of any real significance happened, who would believe us on the 11th time? There is a boy-who-cried-wolf problem here. The only real solution here is that we try harder to find that bit of data that gives us more confidence in a rare event like this one. I’m confident that Thursday’s storms will be studied in depth to identify such clues.
I was lying in bed on Sunday morning thinking about all of this—yes, I lose sleep worrying about this kind of stuff—and of all things a 2002 Houston Texans football game popped into mind. It was December 8, the team’s first season, and being an expansion franchise the Texans were not great. That week the Texans had to go to Pittsburgh and play the Steelers in near-freezing temperatures for a meaningless game. The Steelers were a decent football team, nothing fantastic, but were expected to blow the Texans out. The line was Steelers -14. The Steelers outgained the Texans 442 yards to 47. They won the time of possession with 40 minutes to 20 minutes. Texans quarterback David Carr was 3-of-10 passing, for 33 yards. That was in line with expectations.
But the Texans won 24 to 6. They returned three turnovers for touchdowns, and kicked a field goal after a short drive. The Steelers had many more penalties. Their two long drives ended in field goals rather than touchdowns. It was just an odd day. While the final score was within the bound of possibilities, on any given Sunday anything can happen when two teams meet, it was the lowest probability event. That’s kind of like what happened Thursday. A super-storm was within the realms of possibility, but was like an expansion team playing terribly, but still blowing out the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road in very cold conditions.
Why weren’t there more real-time warnings?
This is something Matt and I are taking away from the storms. I feel like we do a good job of forecasting the weather here, but where we struggle is in real-time coverage. Some readers have asked why we did not send out warnings for tornadoes on Thursday. That is because this is the express function of the National Weather Service, which has a large staff and the technology to send out real time warnings for tornadoes and other life-threatening weather events. Here’s more information about the agency’s wireless emergency alerts program. They are the experts at that, and we defer to them.
Matt and I were both tracking Thursday’s storm in real time. We were on top of things. And there was perhaps a 30 to 60-minute window between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. when we could have provided some actionable information. However, in the time it would take to write and disseminate a post about that in real-time, the dynamic event might have already passed for most people. One possible solution is that we are likely to start sending (albeit very rarely) “urgent notifications” through our app. It is available for free here for Apple ioS, and here for Android. Regardless, we recognize this as a weakness and will address it here at Space City Weather. For one thing, we are changing the frequency of updates on days when severe weather is possible.
Monday
Our overall warm, but not extremely hot pattern will continue as we inch toward the end of May. With high pressure largely in control we’ll see this pattern largely persist through the holiday weekend, with the only really noticeable change in the strength of southerly winds, or a few more clouds on some days. For today, we’ll see highs generally in the low 90s, with only coastal areas unlikely to reach 90 degrees. Skies will be mostly sunny. Winds will blow from the southeast at 5 to 10 mph. Overnight lows will be warmer than we’ve seen, dropping only into the upper 70s.
Our weather will be nothing if not consistent this week. (Weather Bell)
Tuesday and Wednesday
In response to low pressure over the central United States, we’ll see an uptick in southerly winds with gusts up to 25 mph. Both days will see partly to sunny skies, with highs around 90 degrees. Nights remain quite warm.
Thursday and Friday
These will be partly to mostly sunny days, with winds perhaps slackening a bit. Highs in the low 90s. There is perhaps a 10 percent chance of rain showers each afternoon.
Saturday, Sunday, and Monday
Memorial Day weekend looks warm and sunny. Expect highs in the low 90s, with warm nights. Rain chances remain near nil. Plan your outdoor activities with confidence.
Next week
There are some hints of a pattern change by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, with possibly a weak front sneaking into the area at the end of the month, and bringing with it a smattering of rain chances. This is far enough into the forecast, however, that my overall confidence is quite low. We shall see.
MEDFORD, MA—In an effort to glean valuable knowledge about opportunities after graduating, Tufts University sophomore Connor Gilman reportedly emailed 32-year-old Peter Neilan on Monday to ask about his experience being a total loser who has accomplished nothing in life. “Dear Mr. Neilan, I retrieved your contact…
Mai Tran began catsitting in 2021 while Tran was on pandemic unemployment, often staying overnight in people’s homes. Tran has now cared for twenty-two cats and traveled to ten apartments all over New York City, observing the interior lives of cat owners and appeasing their neuroses. From home vet visits to black eyes to refugee cats, Chronicles of a Catsitter documents the most memorable days on the job.
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In late 2021, I pick up another gig through the cat rescue Facebook group. The couple I work for lives only a few blocks away, so I arrange to drop in twice a day to hang out and feed the cats rather than stay overnight. The couple keeps four long-haired cats in a one-bedroom apartment. They send me photos of each pet along with detailed bios. The cats’ names, slightly altered for anonymity but the same in essence, are King Fluff, Ding Dong, Pilaf, and Freddy.
My roommate tags along when I pick up the keys. We have a talkative GF / taciturn BF dynamic, and the couple also has a black cat / golden retriever thing going on, so everyone balances out. The wife works on her computer while the husband shows us how to get the cats to stand on their hind legs by holding treats above their heads. When a cat tries to walk away, the husband drags it back and flips it onto its stomach or over his shoulder. The cats don’t seem to mind, but my roommate and I widen our eyes at each other. We debrief on the walk back.
I catsit for the couple several times, and my roommate sometimes accompanies me. We bring our meals, laptops, and books. They sit in the living room while I clear the two litter boxes and refill the drinking fountain and food bowls. I send the couple photos of the cats crawling over our laps. My roommate’s favorite is Freddy because he is soft and cuddly and will let you hold him for minutes on end. I like Pilaf, who has a huge forehead that makes him look like a goldfish. Pilaf and I trip over each other because he is constantly underfoot, latched onto my ankles with no regard for either of our safety.
Sometimes, my roommate and I arrive to find a cat has thrown up or knocked something over, but overall, if the couple isn’t gone for more than a week, the apartment is manageable. They didn’t show us where the cleaning supplies were, so we pick clumps of fur off the couch with our hands and use their lint roller on everything else. There are no windows to open and air out the apartment because they live on the first floor. There’s only a door to a backyard, which we aren’t allowed to crack in case the cats run out and we can’t get them back in.
After about six months of catsitting for the couple, I start a day job and pass the gig over to my roommate. A few months later, my roommate tells me the couple is receiving two foster cats who are refugees from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They found the cats through an agency and will be taking care of them indefinitely until their owners can make it to the States.
I stop by the apartment to meet the new cats, Amber and Karl, who are also long-haired. When I arrive, I can see cat fur flying through beams of sunlight. Karl has settled in with the other four, but Amber seems to hate all of them and secludes herself in the bathroom or wedges herself into small cardboard boxes with her back turned against the entrance. The couple has upgraded to four litter boxes, three in their bedroom and one in the shower. After a few minutes, I start sneezing and put on a mask. My roommate peels open can after can of wet food, spreading them around the living room so the cats don’t stampede a singular bowl.
The cats now deplete their water fountain in a day. One cat repeatedly throws up on the bed, and my roommate has suspicions about who it is. I hate him, they keep messaging me. I hate him I hate him I hate him. They stock up on cat photos and send them to the couple periodically over two hours, wiping the time stamps so it looks like we were in the apartment longer than the fifteen minutes it took to meet the cats’ basic survival needs. How do they live like this? we whispered, and then the couple later mention that they regularly hire a person to clean.
Another year passes, and Amber and Karl are reunited with their owners. It’s my roommate’s and my third year in the neighborhood, which we moved into during the pandemic when rent prices had dropped. At the end of our second year, our building changed landlords, and now that our lease was ending, they were pricing us out. Another friend in the neighborhood also left shortly after us. Not even a quarter through her year-long lease, a note was slipped under her door. NYU had purchased her building, presumably as housing for their hospital nearby, and gave her a month to vacate.
In the months leading up to our move, my roommate prepares by passing the catsitting gig to a college student they know. The couple invites us over to play with the cats in their backyard, and to show the new catsitter around. While my roommate and the husband do their yapping thing, the wife takes me aside because I had previously shared that I was looking for top surgery supplies. She gives me a pillow and some other recovery items from when she had gotten a breast reduction. I assume it’s pretty similar, she said, and she wasn’t technically wrong. “Cosmetic” surgeries for cis people and “gender-affirming” surgeries for trans people are both usually done by a plastics department, and the delineation between “cis” and “trans” plastic surgeries, aside from knowledge and style, was mostly a matter of access and how they were criminalized.
I grow tired before my roommate does and am excited to leave. After dropping off the surgery supplies at our apartment, I take a long, rambling walk around the neighborhood. Before I was a runner, I took walks often, but never ran into the couple. It always surprises me how big or small the city can be. I’ll meet dozens of neighbors once, then never see them again, but, of course, on a random train, I’ll run into a hookup with whom things didn’t end well and be forced to sit together for fifteen minutes because I already made eye contact and it’s too late to pretend like I didn’t, and I’m neither quick nor smooth enough to just say hi and keep it moving.
The couple maintains a friendly rapport with my roommate and me before it naturally fizzles out. They send photos when they adopt a small dachshund, who they dress in costumes and take to restaurants. The cats love him, they say, although the new catsitter reports that they all hide in the other room when the dog is around. Sometimes I think about hiding too, and I fear I identify the most with Amber. I tell myself that my dream is to fall off the face of the earth and do nothing but write picture books and run, yet people keep calling me back.
Ever heard of a beauty quark? How about a glueball? Physics is full of weird particles that leave many of us scratching our heads. But these tiny particles make up everything in the quantum world and in us and are the basis of the fundamental scientific theory called The Standard Model. But it doesn’t explain everything. It can’t account for dark matter or dark energy, for example. We find out whether new physics experiments might force us to rewrite the Standard Model. Plus, we discuss a NASA proposal to fly spacecraft close to the sun in search of new physics.
The ultimatum by war cabinet member Benny Gantz reflects discontent among Israel's leadership about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the Gaza war and his far-right political partners.
In brief: Ironically, Thursday was “National Love a Tree Day.” Instead of loving trees, however, a line of storms ripped through the heart of Houston and tore many thousands of them down, killing a handful of people, damaging homes and vehicles, and bringing down power lines. In this post we’ll provide some meteorological data about what happened Thursday, and a forecast looking ahead to calmer weather.
Tornadoes
The National Weather Service has completed a survey of damage from two confirmed tornadoes that struck Houston on Thursday evening, one at 5:44 pm near Pine Island in Waller County, and the second at 6:08 pm near Jersey Village in Harris County. Here is the summary of those investigations:
Waller County tornado
Rated EF1
Peak winds: 100 mph
Path length: 0.71 miles
Path width: 100 yards
No fatalities or injuries
Duration: 5:44 to 5:45 pm CT
Significant tree damage, large metal barn destroyed, metal debris thrown up to 1,000 yards away.
Radar signature of the Cypress tornado. (National Weather Service)
Cypress tornado
Rated EF1
Peak winds: 110 mph
Path length: 0.77 miles
Path width: 100 yards
No fatalities or injuries
Duration: 6:08 to 6:09 pm CT
Numerous single family homes had roof damage and broken windows. Damage path well defined.
This is a preliminary report that may be adjusted in the future.
Straight-line wind damage
As Matt noted yesterday, most of the damage in the region was caused by straight-line winds, and what appeared to be something of a mini-derecho. The National Weather Service has also collected maximum wind reports from around the area on Thursday afternoon and evening. Some of the highest values were recorded at Texas A&M University, 71 mph, and the Houston Ship Channel, 74 mph.
Very strong winds just above the surface were able to break through, and get down to the ground. These winds a few hundred feet above the ground were even stronger than what was observed at ground level. This is likely the reason why some skyscrapers in downtown Houston observed significant damage at their upper levels.
Power outages
About one-quarter of customers in Harris County are still without electricity this morning. In an update to the media on Friday evening, CenterPoint Energy said restoration could take “several days or longer” for the hardest hit areas.
“As crews continue to uncover damage and encounter new challenges while making repairs, restoration may take more time than customers typically experience following a routine storm event,” the company said. “CenterPoint Energy appreciates customers’ patience, and the company will work around-the-clock until the last customer is restored.”
We genuinely appreciate the hard work by all of the lineman working to restore power. It is a hard and hot business to rapidly repair storm damage, I know first-hand how hard the men and women are working out there.
Flooding
The heaviest rainfall on Thursday occurred north of the area, in locations such as College Station and Livingston, which have already been inundated over the last 30 days. Significant river flooding is likely along the East Fork of the San Jacinto River later this weekend, whereas the Trinity River is already cresting today before a slow fall next week.
The East Fork of the San Jacinto River will make a steep rise on Saturday. (National Weather Service)
Fortunately the entire southeast Texas region will now get a chance to dry out. Our weather is about to get boring.
Forecast
After the fog lifts this morning we’ll see sunny and hot conditions today, with highs likely in the low 90s. And that’s pretty much your forecast for the next week, at least. The only change will be gradually warming nights. Lows this morning got to below 70 degrees for most locations. It was, almost, nice? Well, except for the mosquitoes. By Wednesday or Thursday morning, our lows are likely to only dip into the upper 70s. Rain chances are nil for the foreseeable future.
We wish everyone the best this weekend as you recover from Thursday’s storms, and thank everyone who is out there helping to pick up the pieces. This community is at its best in moments like these, when we’re all working together.
As the Houston area works to clean up and restore power to thousands after deadly storms, it will do so Saturday under a smog warning and as all of southern Texas starts to feel the heat.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sara Ahmed, The Cultural Politics of Emotion Lily Alexandre, Fear of Trans Bodies Lily Alexandre, The Feminist to Far-Right Pipeline Fran Amery, “Protecting Children in ‘Gender Critical’ Rhetoric and Strategy: Regulating Childhood for Cisgender Outcomes,” in Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies Mira Bellwether, F*****g Trans Women Talia Mae Bettcher, “Evil Deceivers and Make-Believers,” in Hypatia Haley Marie Brown, “The Forgotten Murders: Gendercide in the Twenty-First Century and the Destruction of the Transgender Body,” in Denial: The Final Stage of Genocide? Shelley Budgeon, “Identity as an Embodied Event,” in Body & Society Judith Butler, Excitable Speech Judith Butler, Gender Trouble Judith Butler, “Imitation and Gender Subordination” Judith Butler, Precarious Life Judith Butler, Who’s Afraid of Gender? Judith Butler, “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory,” in Theatre Journal Andrea Long Chu, “Freedom of Sex: The Moral Case for Letting trans Kids Change Their Bodies,” in The New Yorker Caelen Conrad, “Gender Critical: Conversion Therapy” Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex Julia Dauksza et al., “Salve Maria, Or Millions Made in Poland,” in VSquare Julia Dauksza et al., “The Golden Boys of Fatima,” in VSquare Julia Dauksza et al., “The Golden Lion Roars from Cracow,” in VSquare Petula Dvorak, “LGBTQ+ Teens Won A Grant for Their School. Adults Sent the Money Back.,” in The Washington Post Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality Agnieszka Graff and Elzbieta Korolczuk, Anti-Gender Politics in the Populist Moment Mauro Cabal Grinspan et al., “Exploring TERFnesses,” in Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies Virginia Guitzel, “Notes from Brazil,” in Transgender Marxism Sally Haslanger, “Feminism in Metaphysics,” in Resisting Reality Claire C.A. House, “‘I’m Real, Not You’: Roles and Discourse of Trans Exclusionary Women’s and Feminist Movements in Anti-Gender and Right-Wing Populist Politics,” in Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies Innuendo Studios, “Endnote 5: A Case Study in Digital Radicalisation” Eleanor Janega, The Once and Future Sex Julia Kristeva, "Woman Can Never Be Defined," trans. Marilyn A. August, in New French Feminism Harry Lambert, “Rosie Duffield: “You Never Change Sex”,” in The New Statesman Stephanie Mayer and Birgit Sauer, “‘Gender Ideology’ in Austria: Coalitions Around an Empty Signifier,” in Anti-Gender Campaigns in Europe Michael Naas, “Comme si, comme ca,” in Derrida From Now On Leah Owen, “Parasitically occupying bodies: Exploring toxifying securitization in antitrans and genocidal ideologies,” in Peace Review Alison Rumfitt, Brainwyrms Julia Serano, Sexed Up Julia Serano, Whipping Girl Shaun, J.K. Rowling’s New Friends Shaun, Kelly Jay Keen and the Neo-Nazis Shaun, Palestine Laura J. Shepherd and Laura Sjoberg, “Trans-Bodies in/of War(s): Cisprivilege and Contemporary Security Strategy,” in Feminist Review C. Riley Snorton, Black on Both Sides Darin Tenev, “La Déconstruction en enfant: the Concept of Phantasm in the Work of Derrida” Monique Wittig, “One is Not Born A Woman”
00:00 - 02:31 Introduction 02:31 - 04:10 "I'm You From the Future" 04:10 - 10:15 Judith Butler and Performativity 10:15 - 10:42 "Just listen to me!" 10:42 - 20:33 Biology & Social Constructs 20:33 - 36:52 "Politics in the future gets weird!" 36:52 - 55:29 the Anti-Gender Movement 55:29 - 57:08 "The personal is political" 57:08 - 1:04:37 What can we do? 1:04:37 - 1:15:08 This is what we can do.
After 34 years, the iconic Mirage Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas strip will close its doors after it was bought by Hard Rock Las Vegas, which will completely renovate the building, removing its tropical theme and volcano attraction. What do you think?
