HER OWN FAULT! She led a wild, wild life. She ate badly. She shopped badly. She didn't appreciate her fine, fine job. She'd slamdance till all hours of the night. And then she'd be cranky all the next day! Oh you know what happened to her ... she got sick and dies a horrible, lingering death. And it what her own fault! #CowboyWho
Friday, I went to work early in the downstairs cave. I have a converted oversized closet as an office. I came back up for a coffee refill to the loveliest snow. It was that peaceful, quiet, wet snow. Light and large flakes. Beautiful.
We were supposed to get an atmospheric river, and I guess the elements were just right for a couple inches of snow.
A few hours into the snow day.The next morning, from our front door.A lovely Saturday morning!
The carnival is open later than shops and restaurants at the rodeo. Officials did not indicate they would change its hours of operation for the remainder of the season.
The original Commodore 64 had a pretty long run for a computing platform, released in 1982 and discontinued in 1994. Its fortunes mirrored that of the company which developed it as Commodore achieved its greatest success with the C64 and never quite managed to achieve a similar level of market dominance thereafter. Now there is a new Commodore 64, the Commodore C64 Ultimate, which promises to be an end-all, be-all solution to running C64 software on a platform worthy of the Commodore legacy. Today, having had a chance to play with one for about a week, I can put those claims to the test.
LEAWOOD, KS—Groaning at the thought of having to be somewhere on the weekend, Travis Kelce was reportedly feeling bummed Monday after he learned fiancée Taylor Swift had signed him up for the NFL again. “She says sticking with it will teach me responsibility and discipline, but I know what she really wants is to just get me out of the house,” said the 36-year-old Kansas City Chiefs tight end, who stated that he was already dreading the annoying warmups and drills he would have to do each morning when Swift dropped him off at practice. “I thought I was doing the podcast for my activity this year. Not the stupid NFL. My brother Jason doesn’t have to play football. His wife stopped signing him up years ago. It’s not fair! I’ll have to get up super early, the food sucks, and learning plays is so boring. Plus, the coach is so mean to me!” According to reports, Kelce was even more bummed after his fiancée told him they were having fish for dinner.
I was told to stay off screens for a few days last week due to a possible concussion (I’m fine), so today and tomorrow will include some posts from the archives. This was originally published in 2015.
A reader writes:
I took employment at a nonprofit as an economic researcher about seven months ago. Overall, I love my job and what I get to do and helping people, but there is one major issue: My boss, who is the founder and head of the organization, thinks he is a mayan shaman. I am not joking.
He spends crazy amounts of money (sometimes company money) to fund his “spiritual projects” and recently has been telling me to do ludicrous projects like comparing chakra colors in different cultures and staring at a candle to find a sacred angle. Seriously. I’ve been able to handle it just fine until now. He is getting crazier by the day and I don’t know how to handle it anymore because if I tell him anything, he will say the “darkness has possessed me” and then be uncommunicative when I need information.
What can I do? Is there anything, because I don’t want to quit my job but this is getting out of hand. He sends texts to us at the middle of the night with his “visions” and when one of our employees was pregnant he would call it the “christ child” and say that one quarter of the DNA must be his. I swear this is not a fake situation or question.
Shamans have to have day jobs, I guess.
And he’s welcome to believe he’s a shaman. Who knows, maybe he is. But the problem here is that he’s letting his spiritual beliefs interfere with work and apparently misusing the organization’s resources.
But I doubt there’s a lot you can do here. This is your boss, the head of the organization, and ultimately he’s calling the shots here. If you really wanted to try to get this addressed, you’d have two options: Talk to him directly, or talk to the board of directors.
If you talk to him directly, I’d say something like this: “Percival, I respect your religious beliefs, but I’m not comfortable discussing religion at work or being given religious assignments to work on. I was hired to do economic research and our organization isn’t religious in nature. Is there a way for us to work well together without bringing religion into it?” Ideally, you’d do this with a group of coworkers who feel the same rather than on your own; it’s harder to ignore a group of employees than one lone one — but either way, it’s a reasonable thing to say.
That said, will it work? I doubt it. This is a guy who’s telling you that darkness has possessed you and claiming some sort of parentage over a quarter of an employee’s baby. In other words, probably not open to reasoned conversation on these topics.
So that leaves you with the second option: Talk to the board. Every nonprofit is required to have a board of directors that serves as its ultimate governing body and which is responsible for ensuring that the organization is well managed and fiscally sound. The board is basically this guy’s boss — even though he’s the founder and even though he’s in charge of day-to-day operations. He might have a seat on the board, but there are presumably other board members, which means that he can be outvoted.
The board would presumably want to know that the head of the organization is using resources to find sacred candle angles and freezing out employees when he thinks the darkness has possessed them.
But that said … unless you care passionately about this organization and want to take an active role in getting this situation straightened out, your better bet might be to leave. This isn’t likely to change overnight, there’s likely to be some tension if you go to the board, and — maybe most importantly — do you really trust this guy’s leadership, even if he cools it with the shamanism talk at work? I mean, let’s say that the board puts a stop to all the behavior you’ve written about, and it even happens quickly — you’re still going to be working at an organization led by a guy who thought all of this was reasonable to begin with. Is that the job you want?
In light of that, it might make sense to skip past all these steps and just start working on leaving.
(Alternately, maybe just embrace the whole thing and have him influence the spirit world in your favor. That could be useful too.)
Originally a Catholic feast day for the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day has evolved into a global celebration of Irish heritage and culture. The Onion presents a historical timeline of the holiday.
432 A.D.
St. Patrick kicks all the snakes out of Ireland for failing to meet the three-drink minimum.
521
St. Brigid of Kildare invents the puke and rally.
1721
First known uttering of the phrase “You think you’re better than me?”
1845
Millions of Irish immigrants come to America, where they were oppressed too, you know.
1876
Guy with a pinching fetish gets involved.
1890
Guinness begins bottling factory floor runoff to send to America.
1963
John F. Kennedy proves that the Irish aren’t all lucky.
1970
McDonald’s debuts the original corned-beef–flavored Shamrock Shake.
1989
Bagpipes decriminalized.
1999
Erin and Johnny break up and get back together four times in the same bar.
2007
The popular girls all wear matching green Abercrombie polos to school.
2015
Entire city of Boston arrested for public urination.
WASHINGTON D.C. – With the Strait of Hormuz shut down by Iranian forces following the U.S.-Israel-led invasion, President Donald Trump has publicly invited his “pathetic baby NATO allies” to send warships and secure the vital shipping lane. “Obviously it makes no sense for me to send American troops to secure the Strait, because I already […]
In brief: In today’s post we look at windy conditions over night, in which large chunks of the region saw gusts of 45 to 55 mph. This is leading to very chilly conditions this morning, and we’ll only warm up a little bit today. Temperatures tonight will get into the 30s for much of the area, but should remain above freezing.
Preliminary wind gust observations over the last 24 hours as of Monday morning. (Weather Bell)
Windy conditions
In the wake of Sunday evening’s cold front a river of winds in the atmosphere has, essentially, dipped down to ground level. This has brought very windy conditions across the region overnight. Much of the area has experienced gusts of 45 to 55 mph, with even higher ones along the coast. At 3:52 am this morning, for example, Galveston recorded sustained winds of 43 mph, and a gust of 58 mph. Those are tropical-storm force winds. Winds will die down slightly over the next few hours, but we will continue to see a very blustery day, with gusts of 30 to 35 mph possible until later this afternoon when things finally settle down for awhile.
Monday
Although cold temperatures trailed the wind, much colder air did begin to make serious progress into the region after midnight. Air temperatures this morning range from the low 40s north of Houston to upper 40s in the city, with slightly warmer conditions near the coast. But when you tack winds on, temperatures feel like they’re in the 30s across the area, so very chilly out there. Highs won’t climb much today despite the sunny skies. Most of us won’t get higher than the mid-50s this afternoon. So far the winds have had a negligible impact on power outages.
Houston rodeo weather
Although winds will fall off this afternoon and early evening, they’re not going away. We should still see some gusts in the 20 to 25 mph range before tonight’s show. Air temperatures before the show will be about 50 degrees, falling to the upper 40s afterward. So with the wind chill it will be quite brisk outside. Winds should finally die off by or before midnight tonight. Lows in Houston will bottom out at about 40 degrees in the urban core of Houston, with much of the outlying area falling into the mid- to upper-30s tonight.
Low temperature forecast for Tuesday morning. (Weather Bell)
Tuesday
This will be a sunny day with high temperatures in the low 60s. I feel pretty confident in saying this is likely to be Houston’s coldest daytime temperature until at least October, or possibly even November. So really, Monday and Tuesday are probably our last “winter-like” days in Houston until next winter. Winds will be almost entirely gone, but importantly they will subtly shift from the northeast to southeast, which will eventually bring us much warmer weather. Lows on Tuesday night should fall into the upper 40s in Houston.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Sunshine will prevail for the rest of the week as we see a warming trend from highs in the mid-70s on Wednesday to the mid-80s on Friday. Overnight lows will be in the 50s and 60s. Humidity comes back but it should not be oppressive.
Saturday and Sunday
The weekend looks sunny and hot, with highs in the mid- to upper-80s. Some inland locations might even flirt with 90 degrees—quite the turnaround from this morning. Rain chances are nil.
Next week
The first half of next week should see continued, rather hot weather for March. The pattern may change by the middle of next week (or not!) with an increase in rain chances and possibly a front. Although I must say this is far enough into the future that my overall confidence is rather low. But by then we’ll definitely be back in the “We could sure use some rain” camp.
Every year, dozens are killed and many more injured in the avalanches that surge down mountains nationwide. Here’s ways to avoid an untimely death by snow.
Check God’s Wrath Level Before Heading Out: If forecasts indicate He’s angry with you, it’s best to stay in.
Get Ready: To help ensure you are prepared, try getting stuck in a few test avalanches beforehand.
Don’t Taunt The Snow: Most avalanches happen because someone mouthed off.
After Getting Trapped, Move On With Your Life: The avalanche was a big change, but it’s time to accept that being buried under 25 feet of snow is your new normal.
Protest: Use your First Amendment right to voice your disapproval to the avalanche.
Save Energy: Power down your ROG Ally X gaming handheld after a few more rounds of Spelunky.
Conserve Oxygen For Whistling: You’ll want to be able to whistle.
Amputate Your Arm With A Dull Pocket Knife: It won’t free you from being trapped, but it will help you pass the time.
Let The Mountain Know It’s Not In Your Will: An avalanche is less likely to be deadly if the mountain knows there’s no financial benefit.
Dig Down To The Center Of The Earth: The planet’s core is much warmer than snow.
Eat A Mediterranean Diet: While it might not help in the short term, a Mediterranean diet is a heart-healthy option that can increase your life by up to 10 years.
In Kansas, 1,700 residents had their driver’s licenses invalidated for being transgender, with the law also invalidating birth certificates for those who updated their gender markers. What do you think?
“Should I go back to my birth height as well?”
Ben Favers, Unemployed
“Sometimes they let you off with a warning if you promise not to be transgender next time.”
Malorie Lyrad, Baton Twirler
“Finally, I can feel safe going to the bathroom in my car again.”
We’ve now entered a sequence of pages I “drew ill”. This was the worst day. I held it together through the shivering and rivers of snot and quality didn’t suffer too badly. I wore my bathrobe over my clothes and tucked a hot water bottle down the front. You might ask, John, why did you not just go and watch an old film on the sofa? I found myself asking the same thing quite quickly. But sometimes it helps to have a distraction.
I've been thinking a lot about gratitude recently.
I've shared before about how we live in amazing times. It's also hard out there, and harder for some than others. I am not promoting toxic positivity, but a regular practice of gratitude has genuinely helped me.
I'm inspired by Jason Mesut's "Friday Thanks" posts on LinkedIn, several recent conversations with friends, and Gratitude by Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors. Give it a listen before reading on.
These things aren't a given They're a gift to behold ... Try and hold on to Gratitude
I'll be sharing what I'm grateful for more regularly – it's helping me frame my experiences and actually get them published.
Today, I want to share my gratitude for libraries. I had the good fortune of beautiful weather while in the Bay Area last week. I always try to find a university or major city library while I'm traveling. They're peaceful, inspiring free workspaces, and many have incredible art collections and exhibits. Libraries are an underappreciated community resource, and I love them.
This trip, I visited the UC Berkeley University Library and the San Francisco Public Library's main branch. Both are amazing places.
Photos of the UC Berkeley library front steps, a Maya Angelou quote, and the SF public library
What was the last library you visited? Was it local, or were you traveling? What did you experience while you were there?
Google Fiber, now officially called GFiber, is being sold to private equity firm Stonepeak and will be combined with cable-and-fiber firm Astound Broadband to create a larger Internet service provider.
Google owner Alphabet announced Wednesday that it will keep only a minority stake in the fiber ISP that launched with grand ambitions in 2012 but scaled back its expansion plans in 2016. Alphabet and Astound owner Stonepeak announced "an agreement to combine GFiber with Astound Broadband, creating a leading independent fiber provider," with the merged company to be "majority owned by Stonepeak, an investment firm specializing in infrastructure and real assets."
The deal is subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions, with an expected closing date in Q4 of this year. The sale price was not disclosed. The deal will help GFiber take "a major step toward its goal of operational and financial independence" and obtain the "external capital and strategic focus needed to accelerate its next phase of growth," the announcement said.
PALO ALTO, CA – With Silicon Valley boasting that artificial intelligence could replace millions of jobs around the world, currently laid-off workers have reported having more free time to form angry mobs dedicated to storming and torching the homes of the tech billionaires responsible. The mobs, made up primarily of formerly-employed white collar workers whose […]
