NEW YORK—Concluding a protracted legal battle in which the popular singer-songwriter stood accused of plagiarism, a federal jury found Thursday that singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran did not infringe upon anyone’s intellectual property with his song “I Wish I Were An Oscar Mayer Wiener.” “What you need to understand is…
LONDON – With King Charles Coronation taking up nearly the entire weekend, many are asking, “if the UK is considered a powerful country, why do they need three whole days to put this hat on an old man?” Many are questioning the necessity, as well as use of time and resources from a nation that […]
The post United Kingdom considered powerful nation despite needing 3 days to put hat on old man appeared first on The Beaverton.
WASHINGTON—Telling critics in Congress that if they wanted serious reform they simply needed to make it worth his while, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas promised Friday he would adopt a code of ethics for the right price. “After hearing out the Senate Judiciary Committee’s concerns, I admit to seeing the…
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Creative people express their utterly generic feelings with NEW phrases.
LOUISVILLE, KY—After a week in which four horses at the racetrack died—in some cases suddenly and without explanation—Churchill Downs announced Friday that the mysterious deaths were being investigated by a world-renowned horse detective ahead of tomorrow’s Kentucky Derby. “Though on the surface these tragic losses…
1. Many dishes are served in a deconstructed manner, with no components touching each other.
2. There is a lot of concern over one tiny drop of sauce on a plate.
3. The basic counter seating has some fancy name like “Chef’s Counter” or “Dad’s Emporium of Dinosaur-Shaped Chicken Nuggets.”
4. If the carrots are not cut correctly, someone might start yelling.
5. You do a lot of deep breathing and counting to ten.
6. Throughout the meal, crumbs must be periodically cleared from the table.
7. The diners are unusually obsessed with smells and textures.
8. No matter how absurd their requests are, you’ve learned it’s better not to argue with the diners.
9. You frequently question what you are doing with your life.
10. Certain foods are disguised to look like something they are not.
11. There are sometimes a lot of questions about where the meat comes from.
12. Someone might be wearing a sequined romper.
13. Someone might be wearing on your nerves.
14. At least once a day, the food will bring someone to tears.
Serving meals to young children: 1-14
Working in an upscale restaurant: 1-14
Musk, who has been scuffling with the media since acquiring the platform last year, asked if NPR was going to start tweeting again.
(Image credit: CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
Our view of the constellations has changed since they were first mapped thousands of years ago. That new perspective could also mess with your horoscope.
(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
The temperature this morning has fallen to 63 degrees at Bush Intercontinental Airport, and I can’t help but wonder when we’ll see temperatures below 65 degrees in Houston again. Maybe in about 10 days, or maybe not until September? In any case, a much warmer and more humid pattern is coming with high temperatures near or above 90 degrees for the next week after today.
As high pressure slides away it will be replaced by a more pronounced onshore flow and a more unstable atmosphere. For today, that means partly sunny skies, with high temperatures in the mid-80s. Winds will be out of the south at 10 mph, with gusts up to 20 mph later this afternoon. There will be a chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms in Houston tonight, but the bigger threat for severe weather is well to the west of the metro area over central Texas and into the Brazos Valley. Overall rain chances in Houston tonight are probably 20 percent or so. Lows will only drop into the low-70s.
A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms will persist on Friday, but for the most part we’re looking at mostly cloudy skies and warm, humid weather. Expect high temperatures to reach about 90 degrees, with southerly winds. This day will really feel like “early summer” in Houston, and the sticky conditions will stick around for awhile. Lows Friday night only drop into the mid-70s.
Expect more of the same this weekend. If you’re looking for sunshine this weekend, the middle of the day on Saturday is probably your best bet, when skies may become partly sunny for several hours. Otherwise, clouds will be more common than clear skies. Isolated showers are possible on both days along with the sea breeze, but I would peg their chances at only about 10 or 20 percent each day. Highs will be around 90 degrees, or in the low 90s, for both weekend days. Are y’all ready to sweat?
Next week will not yield much change in our weather, at least not right away. Look for high temperatures in the upper 80s to 90 degrees most days, with lows in the mid-70s. Rain chances are going to start out at 20 percent or so, but could increase significantly by the latter part of the week in response to changes in the upper atmosphere. But my confidence in that portion of the forecast is low. Just know that heat and humidity are going to be your best and constant friend for awhile.
As Eric has covered this week, it’s been a glorious spring in Houston, but summer is right on its heels, with rising temperatures expected in the coming days. As a longtime supporter of Eric and Matt’s no-hype approach, Reliant wants all Houstonians to feel prepared and informed on how to save money and energy during the summer heat. Check out our energy efficiency tips below:
Find additional energy efficiency tips by clicking here.
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go…
1. Can I comment on personal appointments on people’s work calendars?
Something I’ve wondered about for a while: sometimes I see calendar events on my supervisor’s calendar that are non-work-related, but also not marked as private (so name and location are visible). Is it acceptable to ever say something to my supervisor like, “How was that restaurant you went to over the weekend? I’ve always wanted to try it out.” Or should I keep quiet about things like that?
I’d err on the side of not commenting.
When people use their work calendars to track non-work engagements too (which a lot of people do because it’s easier to have everything in one place), there’s generally a polite fiction in place that colleagues won’t comment on personal appointments.
2. My coworker wanted to bring her kid with strep and mono to work
We recently had a kerfuffle at work with Bring Your Kid To Work Day. Our coworker, Karen, posted on our slack channel Tuesday that her child had strep AND mono, but she was going to bring the child to our office on Thursday anyway. I replied and said that is a bad idea and you need to consider coworkers who might have undisclosed medical conditions. I am a level above Karen, although she does not report to me. It is even worse because the event has an FAQ that specifically says not to bring sick children, and they have a virtual event parents can do from home instead.
Today I got a call from my supervisor chastising me for “not respecting” Karen because I told her not to bring her ill child to the office. He also said it was a HIPAA violation. (We do not work in health care.) Another coworker had told Karen that they had serious health conditions and getting mono for them would be very, very severe. So I told my boss that we had a higher obligation to the employee than to a child who has no relationship to our company. One person is required to be here (we have a return to office mandate) and the other one does not. Also, if the coworker with the illness has not officially requested an accomodation, this isn’t a textbook ADA violation, but would they have any standing to say they made a reasonable request and we put them at risk anyway?
End story, the ill child will still be coming into the office and her parent has no plans to disclose that she has mono to the other 450 children in attendance. I am on thin ice with my boss for daring to tell this coworker it was a bad idea. And the entire team is angry with her for her lack of judgement.
Are there ADA considerations here? What would have been a better way for my boss to navigate this conflict? Even if there isn’t an ADA mandate, don’t we have a responsibility not to willfully expose workers to contagious viruses? Have we learned nothing from Covid?
Nothing here is a HIPAA violation (HIPAA only applies to health care workers and a few other very narrowly defined categories) but your manager’s actions are a serious violation of common sense.
Whether there’s an ADA issue in play would depend on details I don’t have, like whether your coworker’s condition is covered by the ADA and whether they had asked not to be exposed to the child (or to people with mono or strep in general). They wouldn’t have to have made a formal request for accommodation under the ADA; employers are required to comply with the ADA even if the employee doesn’t specifically cite the law in making a request.
But I don’t think the ADA is the most fruitful way to tackle this regardless — because even without that coworker with the serious condition, bringing a child with strep and mono into your office is so clearly a terrible idea for everyone (including all the other kids who would be there that day too). Ideally you would have skipped over your manager once it became clear he was making such a ridiculous call and gone to HR and/or whoever was organizing the event, to point out that Karen had announced she planned violate the event’s clearly stated health policy.
And yes, you’re correct, we’ve learned nothing from Covid.
3. We’re required to be back in the office but the workspace is terrible
Two months ago, our multinational company’s CEO sent out an email saying employees whose jobs are categorized as hybrid are all expected to be in the office four days a week. This was in the middle of a layoff announcement, so the pushback was minimal.
I honestly don’t mind going into the office, but our 20-person team is still hybrid. More than half the team work remotely, either because of their job categories or because they are in different cities. All of our meetings are Zoom and we have no hybrid meeting rooms. This means that those of us in the office are all signing on to the same team meetings from our desks on Zoom. Or that people in our shared workspace are talking on Zoom meetings while others are trying to work. It is loud and distracting! I find this physically stressful and it affects my productivity and mood.
I don’t understand why we have to come into the office if we are still primarily communicating on Slack and Zoom. Everyone agrees it’s a problem but I’m the only one who keeps bringing it up in meetings with management, saying we need Zoom rooms. The response is that we don’t have enough space for all of our employees and that I should get noise-canceling headphones. Isn’t the whole point of the mandate that we are supposed to be collaborating more? I feel like if our division head is going to enforce the mandate, the least they can do is make sure that our physical workspace allows us to be as productive as we are at home. I hate being a squeaky wheel, but since the executives all have large private offices, I don’t see how this issue gets resolved unless we keep voicing it. Unfortunately, I seem to be the only one willing to bring this up. Should I just give up?
If you’re the only one bringing it up … probably. You’re right on the facts — it makes no sense to bring people back to the office if you’re all going to sit on Zoom calls with remote staff all day anyway — but if you’ve raised it and been ignored/shut down and there aren’t enough other people joining you to make a concerted group push, it’s unlikely that you’ll make any headway, at least right now. (For what it’s worth, you probably weren’t going to get a lot of traction with the noise argument regardless; lots of offices have always had people on calls all day. The “why are we coming in if it makes our work harder without adding any benefit?” is a stronger argument, but a lot of management teams have decided they’re not swayed by it.)
4. My boss makes lots of typos — should I offer to proofread her newsletters?
I’m an elementary school teacher. My principal is a wonderful person. She’s great with the kids, the staff and the parents. When she sends out a newsletter or email, however, I wince from the number of typos. She’s a big fan of the apostrophe plural and frequently confuses there/they’re, your/you’re, etc. Nothing catastrophic, but as a school, I think this reflects poorly on us. I’d be happy to proofread these for her, but there’s no way I can broach this without acting like I feel that I’m smarter than her. I should leave this to the grandbosses and stay in my own lane, right?
Yeah, you should leave it alone. If someone above her cares, they’ll raise it with her.
You’re right that it looks bad; it’s just not your job to fix it. Plus, the last thing you need as a teacher is more unpaid work.
My high school principal used to do the same thing, and teenage me took extreme pleasure in marking up his communications with red pen and leaving them in his office in-box. Fortunately your students aren’t at that age yet.
Related:
are senior execs too busy for spelling and grammar?
WASHINGTON—Frustrations were reportedly mounting among his fellow justices Thursday when Supreme Court oral arguments were once again interrupted by Clarence Thomas receiving a live cheetah as a gift from a donor. “It is the court’s belief that the defendant—oh, come on, Clarence, really? That’s the third one this…
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Have you noticed you can get humans to do almost anything as long as it's presented as a scam?
1.
In love two melons are. Yet run off and marry they do not. Why?
Because elope, they cannot.
2.
On a seafood diet, I am. Food I see; eat it I do.
3.
I sense much fear in six. Fear of seven. Why?
Because nine, seven ate.
4.
YODA: Knock knock.
LUKE: Who’s there?
YODA: Banana.
LUKE: Banana who?
YODA: Knock knock.
LUKE: Who’s there?
YODA: Banana.
LUKE: Banana who?
YODA: Knock knock.
LUKE: Who’s there?
YODA: Banana.
LUKE: Can we wrap this up?
YODA: Patience you must have. Knock knock.
LUKE: Who’s there?
YODA: Banana.
LUKE: Banana who?
YODA: Knock knock.
LUKE: Who’s there?
YODA: Orange.
LUKE: Orange who?
YODA: Glad, are you not, that banana I did not say, hmmm?
Note: Yoda was also reversing the order of the knocks.
5.
My wife, take, please!
After years of hard work waiting for his mother to die, King Charles III is finally to be crowned the King of England. The Onion asked Brits how they are celebrating, and this is what they said.
Concertgoers say an attendee at a Los Angeles Philharmonic performance this past week reportedly had what one witness called “a loud and full-body orgasm” during Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. What do you think?
LA GRANGE, IL—Insisting that the entire piece of fruit was far too decadent for someone like her, local grandmother Frances Hardy reportedly asked her family Thursday if anyone wanted to split a single strawberry. “Does anyone want half of this—it’s way too big,” the 87-year-old said of the 0.5-ounce berry before…
OTTAWA – With the costs of food, fuel, and electricity expected to continue rising, the federal government has recommended that struggling Canadian families fight inflation this winter by simply opening their back doors and releasing their least favourite child to live in the woods. “Obviously there are still some steps that families can take before […]
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Cowboy Who?He would have had more fun if he had played with the Huns ...
Trying out a new dual format here - a bit of an audio recap on my new podcasting gear, and some writing about my week in drifting around in the universe, on the internet, and in my head.
It's been lovely to play with the Austin Blacks Rugby Club this season as part of my Austin adventure. I've played with both the D2 and D3 teams. Unfortunately, the D2 team lost in the state final on Sunday. While I did not get to play, I am heading to Orlando to hopefully play with the D3 team next weekend. Regardless of playing time, it's been a great experience playing with these gents, and I'm thankful that I can still lace 'em up and have a run.
What I'm Learning
Jason Early had a great newsletter about reading multiple books at once and not feeling weird about it.
"Start reading 3–4 books at the same time and rotate them depending on the day or the mood you're in."
I do the same thing. My current list:
I hope you all have a lovely first week of May.
☮️❤️
Thousands of film and television writers who are members of the WGA are on strike for the first time since 2007, a move that could bring an immediate halt to the production of many television shows and possibly delay the start of new seasons of others later this year. What do you think?
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I am posting this from a train and can't make edits, so you'lll just have to dealll with the extra L.
Jazzed to have been read and found convincing by Tyler Cowen.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
![[Below] On this site on May 12th, 2023, I finally learned how to use the masonry bit for my drill.](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/commemorative_plaque.png "[Below] On this site on May 12th, 2023, I finally learned how to use the masonry bit for my drill.")
