Cowboy Who?

Enlarge / The morning fog leaves a layer of dew on cannabis rows in Petrolia, California, August 3, 2022. (credit: Getty | The Washington Post)

President Biden on Thursday announced that he is pardoning all prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession and encouraged state governors to do the same for state offenses. He also directed federal officials to review how marijuana is classified under the Controlled Substances Act.

"There are thousands of people who have prior federal convictions for marijuana possession, who may be denied employment, housing, or educational opportunities as a result," Biden said in a statement. "My action will help relieve the collateral consequences arising from these convictions."

The blazing announcement means that all prior charges, convictions, and not-yet-prosecuted offenses will be pardoned. The Justice Department will set up an administrative process for those affected to obtain a certificate of pardon.

Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

It is difficult to understate how downright evil the big book publishers are. If you think the RIAA and MPA are bad (and, they are), the book publishers take it to new super villain, mustache-twirling levels. George Washington University libraries have put out an alert to students and faculty that Wiley, one of the largest textbook publishers, has now removed 1,379 textbook titles that the library can lend out. They won’t even let the library purchase a license to lend out the ebooks. They will only let students buy the books.

Wiley will no longer offer electronic versions of these titles in the academic library market for license or purchase. To gain access to these titles, students will have to purchase access from vendors that license electronic textbooks directly to students, such as VitalSource, or purchase print copies. At most, GW Libraries can acquire physical copies for course reserve, which severely reduces the previous level of access for all students in a course.

This situation highlights how the behavior of large commercial publishers poses a serious obstacle to textbook affordability. In this case, Wiley seems to have targeted for removal those titles in a shared subscription package that received high usage. By withdrawing those electronic editions from the academic library market altogether, Wiley has effectively ensured that, when those titles are selected as course textbooks, students will bear the financial burden, and that libraries cannot adequately provide for the needs of students and faculty by providing shared electronic access. 

For years now, we’ve noted that if libraries didn’t already exist, you know that the publishers would scream loudly that they were piracy, and almost certainly block libraries from coming into existence. Of course, since we first noted that, the publishers seem to think they can and should just kill off libraries. They’ve repeatedly jacked up the prices on ebooks for libraries, making them significantly more expensive to libraries than print books, and putting ridiculous limitations on them. That is, when they even allow them to be lent out at all.

They’ve also sued the Internet Archive for daring to lend out ebooks of books that the Archive had in its possession.

And now they’re pulling stunts like this with academic libraries?

And, really, this is yet another weaponization of copyright. If it wasn’t an ebook, the libraries could just purchase copies of the physical book on the open market, and then lend it out. That’s what the first sale right enables. But the legacy copyright players made sure that the first sale right did not exist in the digital space, and now we get situations like this, where they get to dictate the terms over whether or not a library (an academic one at that) can even lend out a book.

This is disgusting behavior and people should call out Wiley for its decision here.

The Daily Beast reported that Herschel Walker, the pro-life Republican nominee in Georgia’s Senate race, paid for an abortion in 2009, allegedly reimbursing the woman he got pregnant for the procedure and sending her a get-well card. What do you think?

Read more...

This post, are there times when you can’t ethically quit a job? , was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

A reader writes:

I’ve read your site for a long time, so I’m pretty sure that your advice here is going to be to do what’s best for me (and if that’s leaving, then leave), but my question is: Are there circumstances under which you really shouldn’t leave a job?

My scenario is this: I work for a very small company, in a two-person department that does all of the customer service for our clients. So the majority of the institutional knowledge about client products lies with the two of us. And my coworker will be going on medical leave in the next few months, and will be out for a number of months. Leaving … me. Now, a) I don’t really want to be in a situation where I’m basically the whole department (we’re trying to hire an intern, but that person won’t be up to speed in time), and b) I possibly have a much better opportunity opening up, but if it does work out, it might end up that I leave at the same time as my coworker. Hopefully I’d have some latitude for a later start date so I’d be around a bit longer for knowledge transfer.

What do you think? Does this rise to the level of “don’t leave yet”? If it doesn’t, what would?

It does not rise to the level of “don’t leave.”

I think you’re asking whether there are times when you ethically shouldn’t leave a job, for the good of your employer/coworkers/team (as opposed to whether there are times when you shouldn’t leave a job because it doesn’t make sense for you/your career).

And the answer to that is … almost never. Maybe never at all. (I want to say never and I can’t come up with examples to the contrary, but it’s possible they exist. If they do, though, they’re incredibly rare. Like a “most people will go through their lifetime without ever encountering them” level of rare.)

Whenever this topic comes up, you’ll always hear people say, “Your employer would lay you off in a heartbeat if they felt it was in their interests.” And that’s mostly true (although layoffs often do come with a lot of agonizing for those responsible; businesses may have no heart but the individual people working there often do). But I don’t know how much that statement really resonates when you like your coworkers and your managers and enjoy your work — I’ve never found it’s particularly compelling to people who feel genuinely torn about leaving.

That’s because when you are conscientious, it’s natural to think about how your decisions will affect your employer and colleagues. It’s easy to say “these decisions are business, not personal” — because they are! — but when you care about the people you work with and the work you do, it’s natural to worry about the effect your decisions will have on them.

And it makes sense to factor in those things when the stakes are lower. When you’re thinking you’d like to blow off work on Friday to hit the beach, a conscientious person should factor in how much hassle that would cause for others. If you choose to prioritize your work or your colleagues in circumstances like that, you’re not giving up anything enormous. Generally speaking, when you accept a job, you’ve implicitly agreed to factor in your employer’s needs in a situation like that.

But the stakes for yourself are much higher when you’re deciding whether to leave a job. We’re talking about your income, your professional growth (which is something that can have repercussions for years to come), your day-to-day quality of life, and simply what is in your best interests and what isn’t. When you accept a job, you do not agree — implicitly or otherwise — to sacrifice those things for the good of your employer. No decent manager would expect you to.

Sometimes resignations come at really bad times for the organization. It’s pretty common for them to cause some measure of scrambling as the business rushes to adjust. Sometimes the timing is really bad. But healthy businesses are built to survive that. There might be a bunch of hassle and it might be inconvenient, but business goes on. They’ll figure it out. If the departure of one person sends everything crumbling and puts recovery out of reach for years … there was a serious problem with the model, and that’s not on you.

You’re not being paid to sacrifice your long-term interests to keep your team afloat. You’ve only signed up to provide your labor in exchange for money for as long as both parties want to continue the arrangement … and either of you can choose to change that at any time.

Leave when it’s right for you to leave. If it makes you feel more comfortable, you can start documenting processes now that will be helpful for people to have after you’re gone. But do not make major decisions based on what’s best for your employer rather than for you.

Caveat: There are some industries where it’s understood when you sign on that you don’t quit during X season — accountants during tax season, campaign workers in the month before Election Day, teachers who are expected to wait until the end of the school year, etc. In those cases you need to factor in any explicit commitments you made and the potential impact on your reputation if you violate a strong norm of the field. Those are exceptions though, not the rule…. and even in those cases I’d say you’d need to balance those expectations against whether your employer has met its commitments to you.

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
I still kinda want this. Imagine being motivated by the possibility of disappointing an entire options market.

We Republicans listen to our constituents, even when we don’t see eye to eye. Many Americans say they are worn out from surfing waves of COVID like Sally Field in the opening credits of Gidget, and they are furious that people who are old enough to understand a Gidget reference have decided that catastrophic climate change is a small price to pay to avoid ever having to utter the words “renewable energy.”

We know that most Americans are appalled at the elimination of abortion rights, the banning of books, and the general existence of Ted Cruz. We know many people worry that if Donald Trump isn’t held accountable for his crimes, he will continue to incite violence, undermine our electoral system, and dance in public to “YMCA.”

To all the Americans who share these concerns, we hear you, we see you, and we have a message for you: Suck it. Rest assured, even if Trump goes to prison, we will remain committed to completely fucking shit up.

Some folks claim that there is not much difference between the two major parties. They say that we are both servants of capitalism, beholden to big donors, and that we go camping naked on a secret island where we roast wild boar, practice sorcery, and engage in insider trading. But that’s not true. We don’t camp—we have fully furnished cabins.

Naked Island week aside, Republicans and Democrats are very different. For example, we Republicans are highly skilled and efficient at doing terrible things, while Democrats are unskilled and inefficient at stopping us from doing terrible things.

But do you know what we really excel at? Gerrymandering districts to consolidate political power. So even without Trump, we can still get politicians elected that will leave the majority of Americans angry and texting their friends messages like, “Jesus fucking Christ,” “Nooooooooooooo!” or “Why isn’t there an emoji that represents the pain I feel watching the rise of fascism stomp out the last smoldering embers of our quasi-democracy?”

We hear that the mood in the country is not optimistic. In a recent experiment, a group of Americans was told to expect their neighborhood to be ravaged by tornadoes stuffed with fireballs by the end of the month, and most responded, “That tracks.” Democratic voters suggested that we need a sensible plan based on scientific evidence to stop this terrifying atmospheric threat. In contrast, hardcore Republican voters suggested that a tornado’s right to shoot fireballs is protected by the Second Amendment.

So yes, the nation is divided. But what can be done to unite us? Another coup attempt? A civil war? Nominating Trump in 2024? We’re weighing all our options, but mostly we just keep looking up to the Big Guy and praying for his guidance even though there is a chance that he is going to prison because he has committed so many, many crimes.

Still, there are some people within our party who suggest we quit aligning ourselves with a notorious racist/misogynist/traitor/grifter who couldn’t even successfully carry out a coup. Listen folks: we just can’t seem to quit that man. It might have something to do with the wish we made on that monkey’s paw on Naked Island back in 2015.

And should Trump go to prison or flee to Russia to escape prosecution, have no fear. We’ll just pivot to DeSantis or Abbott or Kid Rock, or whichever monster riles up our base the most. Whoever it is, we’ll be sure to have a candidate hellbent on fucking shit up. It’s the Republican way.

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Patrick Pleul/dpa-Zentralbild/ZB)

Why did Elon Musk agree to buy Twitter again instead of continuing to argue his claims that Twitter violated the merger agreement by lying about bots? There are a few answers, but "the biggest one of all is that he's almost certain to lose [in Delaware Court of Chancery]. And of course, if he loses, he has to do exactly what he's just agreed to do, which is close the deal at the original price," law professor Robert Miller told Ars in a phone interview yesterday.

Miller is the F. Arnold Daum chair in corporate finance and law at the University of Iowa College of Law. "The Delaware Supreme Court and the Delaware Court of Chancery have cited Professor Miller's articles on material adverse effects, an issue the Court of Chancery has described as 'one of the most difficult issues under Delaware law,' more than forty times," his University of Iowa bio says. Musk's defense against Twitter's lawsuit depended heavily on whether he could prove that Twitter suffered a material adverse effect.

Musk tried to get out of the $44 billion deal by claiming that Twitter lied in its estimate that fewer than 5 percent of its monetizable daily active users (mDAU) are spam or fake. But his claims seemed to have no solid proof, and with the scheduled trial less than two weeks away, Miller says Musk probably finally realized his case likely isn't a winner.

Read 20 remaining paragraphs | Comments

This post, my ex-boss pretends I still work there, HR said my size is intimidating, and more , was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. Can HR say your size is intimidating other employees?

My son, who is mid-20s and 6’5″ and weighs about 250 pounds, recently quit his job where he was disciplined on several occasions, mostly due to harassment. Without me knowing all the particulars, HR and executive management, in nearly every interaction, indicated that his size was a cause of intimidation for other employees, particularly women. He was always instructed to read and understand the harassment policy but was never specifically told what part he violated. My son was one of the longest-term employees (at five years), so he was expected to train new hires. He was never in a supervisory role but was asked to participate in peer-to-peer training, which included constructive criticisms regarding processes or procedures being followed.

While he’s moving on with a job, I’m curious how “legal” it is to cite harassment because of one’s size. He’s not interested in pursuing anything with his former employer, even if their behavior was actionable. He’s a socially awkward young man, and I’ve encouraged him to, perhaps, seek some outside guidance with appropriate work behaviors, regardless of the validity of their complaints.

It’s hard to comment on this without knowing specifics from the people involved. It’s true that some behavior can read as more intimidating from a large man (for example, raising one’s voice, moving too far into someone else’s personal space, or blocking a doorway during certain types of conversations) and there wouldn’t be anything actionable about your son’s employer suggesting that he be aware of that in dealings that were already fraught in some way. It’s also true, unfortunately, that people being disciplined for harassment don’t always give people outside of the situation a full, objective account of what happened (out of embarrassment, defensiveness, or so forth). I’m not suggesting that’s the case with your son — I obviously have no idea — but it’s worth accounting for that possibility as well.

2. Trainer keeps calling me by the wrong name

I have an incredibly common name that is gender-neutral and often a diminutive of a longer name (think “Alex” or “Sam”), but in my case it’s just my name.

I’m in the second week of training, and my trainer has been chronically mis-naming me by calling me a longer, feminized version of my name (like “Alexandra” or “Samantha”). That isn’t my name and never has been. I’ve corrected him repeatedly, sometimes multiple times in a day, but nevertheless he has persisted.

His name, Bob, is also a diminutive, though I’m not sure if it’s his full name or not. Would it be incredibly petty and unprofessional of me to mis-name him back by calling him “Roberto” or “Bobert” or “Robespierre” until he gets it right?

This has happened to me throughout my life and it’s a huuge pet peeve of mine, so I recognize I could be overreacting from a lifetime of people giving my name more syllables that don’t exist. I just don’t understand why it’s so hard to say such a short name! (Just kidding, I know the reason is sexism.)

I’d love to tell you to do it — and you’d be justified in doing it — and I would like to see you do it — but you risk it not reflecting well on you to people witnessing it. Or who knows, maybe not — it depends on the group of people involved. Some people might applaud it. But it’s a risk, particularly if “second week of training” means you’re in your second week at this job (and thus especially not well positioned to risk making an enemy of an existing employee, justified as you’d be).

Another option, if you haven’t already tried this, is to say, “You’ve been repeatedly getting my name wrong. It’s Alex, not Alexandra. I’ve reminded you repeatedly but it doesn’t seem to have stuck. How do I get you to call me by the correct name?” The idea here is to either embarrass him into correcting himself or make him say out loud whatever his weird thought process has been. In the latter case, if it turns out that he thinks your full name is Alexandria (and what, he doesn’t approve of nicknames? even though he himself uses one? and even though that’s not his call to make regardless?) that’ll give you an opening to say, “Nope, Alex is what’s on my birth certificate.” (In full transparency, I’m pretty uncomfortable with that since you should be called what you ask to be called regardless of whether it’s on your birth certificate, but it could be a useful fact to mention in this case.) Feel free to add, “This would be like me calling you Robespierre every time. It’s not your name. Alexandra isn’t mine.”

3. Is it unprofessional to sell/donate maternity/nursing items in local Facebook groups ?

I recently had a baby and have many barely used pregnancy/nursing items. I have been selling/donating in hyperlocal facebook groups. I recently received a message from a former colleague (male) asking if that person was me. I had not considered the impact on my professional image and got curious about it. I barely use facebook and no one from my professional network is my “facebook friend.” I recently started using FB again since it’s helpful to connect with local moms and parenting resources. Is it considered unprofessional to sell/donate pregnancy/nursing items in these hyper-local groups? Would it impact my professional image in any way?

Not in the least. This is a completely normal life activity! (I’m hoping your coworker’s message was just looking to reconnect and not creepy. I’ve been writing this column too long not to wonder.)

4. Explaining why I’m leaving when I don’t have another job lined up

I am planning on leaving my job in a few months with no back-up plan. I want to take some time off to travel, and regroup on what I want to do with my life (I don’t think this career field is for me). Is there a tactful way of putting in my resignation without having to explain why I am leaving? While truthful, I feel like saying something along the lines of “I don’t have a new job lined up, I just don’t want to continue working here” wouldn’t go over well.

“I’m taking some time off to travel and think about what I want to do next.” Some people will be surprised (because a lot of people can’t afford to do that so you don’t hear it a lot), some people will assume there might be more to the story that you’re choosing not to share (which is fine), and some people will just be jealous. If you think that in your particular office it will generate a bunch of comments or questions that you don’t want to deal with, it’s also an option to go with a white lie instead, like “I have some family stuff going on that I need time to deal with.”

5. My ex-boss pretends I still work there

I left a job in a toxic start-up a few months ago and went back to academia, where I took up a post-doctoral role. I’m loving it. The start-up was based out of another university to the one I currently work in.

Yesterday, I had a few messages from former colleagues and my wider network saying, “I thought you’d left company X, and taken the postdoc position at (new university).” I said I had. But according to those who got in touch, my ex boss is pretending I still worked for her. Apparently she was doing this in one-on-one conversations, and in a talk she gave at one of the biggest academic conferences. I’m flabbergasted.

I don’t know how to proceed. One of the reasons I left was that she had no regard for the truth and my scientific integrity was being eroded while I continued to work for her. I’m considering writing to her, copying in her academic line manager (she still holds an academic post at the host institution from the spin-out) to outline the reports I received and express grave concerns, and also ask her to remove me from her website. But that might be too far.

That’s not too far at all. That’s exactly what you should do. (Caveat: I assume “remove me from her website” means remove anything that might imply you’re still there. If it means something beyond that, like remove any mention that you were ever there, you’d need to balance that against any professional benefits of keeping that there, which is something I can’t judge from here.)

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
You can actually invent totally new trig functions just by doing literally anything to a trig function and then giving it and its reciprocal new names.

FREMONT, CA—Touting the hidden feature’s ability to make hands-free driving even more fun, a newly upgraded Tesla AI released Wednesday reportedly makes a fart noise any time it runs over a child. “Starting today, all Tesla users will be able to go to their car’s toy chest and unlock a cool feature that will let a…

Read more...

WASHINGTON—Explaining that all victims of Hurricane Ian must meet the necessary requirements in order to receive aid, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Wednesday that individuals at risk of dying in floods would be required to pass a drug test before qualifying for rescue. “We at FEMA have a…

Read more...

Good morning. Houston’s weather will be fairly bland through next Wednesday or so, with a weak cool front providing a splash of drier air this weekend. Then, later next week, a stronger front will potentially bring some much-needed rainfall and a fair amount of cooler air. In between we’ll see warm days.

Tuesday

High pressure is in control of our weather right now, but because it is October and not August conditions will not be sweltering outside. Rather most of the region can expect to see highs in the upper 80s today with partly to mostly sunny skies. Winds will be light, out of the northeast. Due to these rather calm atmospheric conditions, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has issued an Ozone Action Day for the Houston, Galveston, and Brazoria area for today. This means ozone levels could be unhealthy for sensitive groups. Lows tonight should drop into the mid-60s for the city, with slightly cooler conditions inland, and slightly warmer near the coast.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday

These will be three fairly warm days, with highs around 90 degrees and mostly sunny skies. Look for lows generally in the upper 60s. Rain chances, like for the rest of this week, will be near zero. As dewpoints start to creep up toward 70 degrees it is going to feel humid outside. It won’t be full-on summer humidity, but it will be more humid than the last week or so.

Saturday and Sunday

A weak front arrives in time for the weekend. This won’t bring any rainfall, probably, but it should knock some of the humidity out of the air. Look for mostly sunny skies on Saturday, with highs in the upper 80s, and similarly sunny weather for Sunday, with highs in the mid-80s. The jury is still out on lows, but I think much of the area probably will get into the low 60s.

Next week

I think most of next week will probably see highs bounce back into the upper 80s, with plenty of sunshine. Things start to get interesting by Thursday or Friday, when the global models are suggesting that a stronger front may push into the region. There are some hopeful signs that this one could bring rainfall. This is still nine or ten days out, so take the forecast with a grain of salt—or maybe two. But I’m choosing to be hopeful.

SEATTLE—Billing the series as a feel-good program about enriching local communities, HGTV debuted a new show this week in which the hosts, a couple with a flair for home remodeling, assist unhoused people in the Seattle area by building them a kitchen island. “On each episode, we’ll find a family in desperate need of…

Read more...

Has a student called you “Mom” yet?

Did any ask whether you were married?

Were you aware that you were assigned the role of weight room supervisor, and are you pleased that a desk was placed next to the bench press so that you could do your grading?

Did you know you had a pink Post-it note attached to your butt all day that said: HAN SHOT FIRST?

When you asked students to pick an emoji for how they were feeling about poetry, and they all chose the same yellow face with x’s for eyes, and you said, “Great! Everyone responded in exactly the same way—that’s what poetry is about!” did anyone crack a smile or did all twenty-six of them look at you like you’d just run over their dog?

Did you take the student’s phone before or after you finished your thought?

Did a parent write to ask why you assigned a gay poet?

When the head of security handed you a lanyard meant to distinguish all community members from an intruder, did you feel confident that this plan would work among teenagers who break the dress code daily?

Were you comforted when he added that school shootings are actually quite rare in the grand scheme of things—even in America?

Does the photo ID attached to the lanyard make you look like you stuck your finger in an electric socket?

On a scale of 1 to 10, how surprised are you that your contract no longer includes dental insurance?

Were you just rewarded for fifteen years of service with a keychain?

Have you heard about the 300,000 teacher shortage? That’s gonna taper off soon, right?

When a student quoted a line today about only noticing the shadows on a bright day, did you mention that fifteen years ago, in the most painful breakup of your life, snow was dripping down the storm drains, and crocuses were pushing through the sidewalk cracks, but all you could think was “Fuck you, spring”? Or did you just say calmly, “Yes, our internal worlds are powerful, aren’t they?”

Did that quiet student in the back of class compose a poem that took your breath away?

Did you already forget your lanyard?

Day 1: Announce our town’s straightforward plan to install a single traffic light to make a downtown intersection safer. We don’t expect any pushback to this minor mundane project.

Day 1 (fifteen minutes later): Reassure the hundreds of calls, emails, and angry comments on unrelated town Facebook posts that this traffic light doesn’t mean we’re banning cars, expanding the surveillance state, or responsible for their daughter Katherine not visiting.

Day 5: Community town hall, where the angriest, loudest citizens with spare time on a Tuesday afternoon can air their grievances with the project or with life itself.

Day 10: Environmental impact study about the effects of one traffic light on the white-boobed bobby finch, and a second study to see whether there even is something called a white-boobed bobby finch. This will last nine months and cost $12 million.

Day 280: A second town hall for regular, working folks who couldn’t make the first Town Hall on a Tuesday afternoon. This one will be held on a Wednesday afternoon.

Day 315: Lawsuit filed against the town alleging it’s in bed with “Big Traffic Light.”

Day 429: First day of construction begins… some other day, because there is a protest at the proposed site of the traffic light. Several protest signs include the word “genocide.”

Day 450: Town officials say the project name backwards three times to see if it summons a centuries-old demonic spirit lurking between Fifth Street and Main. It’s worth a shot.

Day 483: Third town hall, where we convince the angriest members from the first town hall that members from the second town hall are going to apologize, and vice versa, leading to hilarious sitcom hijinks to distract from the absolute lack of movement on our project.

Day 637: Press conference where we apologize for the project taking so long and squeeze the life out of rubber stress balls behind the podium.

Day 700: Stage an elaborate new vote on the traffic light project, then surprise the voters that it’s Opposite Day! This is apparently illegal and the project still does not move forward.

Day 715: Get a couple of councilmembers, a handful of shovels, and just start digging. This is also apparently illegal.

Day 730: Celebrate two years of no movement by watching a parade of cars dangerously speed through the intersection. No need to bring flowers; there are plenty at the makeshift memorial on the corner.

Day 815: Community BBQ. Doesn’t have anything to do with the project but we need this for morale.

Day 816: Propose a compromise: instead of a traffic light, we install two speed bumps on the side streets near the intersection. In response, people throw chicken bones at the mayor.

Day 972: Hold a final town hall begging people to tell us what type of project they’re comfortable with. All of the suggestions have to do with making the font on their cell phones larger.

Day 1,240: A new mayor is elected. The previous project was canceled in favor of a brand new proposal: a bike lane. Reports say the town is already on fire.

LUBBOCK, TX—Saying the teenagers had flagrantly violated attendance policies, local high school administrators confirmed Tuesday that several students were given detention for cutting class during an active shooting. “We’ve repeatedly stressed to these students that if they wish to leave class, they need a signed…

Read more...

This November, Herschel Walker will be on the ballot to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate. The Onion asked Georgians why they are voting for the Republican and former NFL player, and this is what they said.

Read more...

HOBOKEN, NJ—Admitting that he was starting to have cold feet when thinking about his upcoming nuptials, groom-to-be Jerod Rieffer told reporters Tuesday that he was having second thoughts about spending the rest of his life cheating on the same person. “I’m not sure I’m ready to go home to the same woman every night…

Read more...

It’s one thing to emulate classic videogames on PC. I’m still mainly a PC gamer (have been since I got my Commodore 64 as a kid…), and so my gaming PC is a bit of a beast, fully VR capable. It’s unsurprising that it’ll run my old console games from the 8, 16, and 32-bit eras without raising a sweat.

When I’m getting nostalgic or gaming with friends and family, there’s nothing quite like holding a game controller in your hand in front of a TV. I still have a few (too many, according to my wife) game consoles I’ve kept around for occasional use, and so I still have something that can still run games I helped create back in the “old days.” And… well… I still have an extensive library of sometimes painstakingly acquired discs and cartridges that I don’t want to part with. Even though running the older consoles on new TVs is quite a challenge.

Aaaanyway… to that end, I’ve also picked up a few emulators. We’ve owned a few with built-in licensed games, and some that have been more do-it-yourself. My latest acquisition is built around the Raspberry Pi 4. It has a form-factor of a tiny Playstation 1, which will probably always be my favorite console due to it being where I started my career. With an SD card capable of handling hundreds of CD-ROMs’ worth of games, it has a ton of potential. Rather than blow off the dust on my old Dreamcast and its library currently banished to the basement, I put some Dreamcast games on my tiny new acquisition. And… yes, they run just fine. That didn’t come as a surprise.

But that’s when the “old fart” part of my brain kicked in. I guess there’s some ingrained element there that still imagines these games as… well, definitely not cutting-edge, but not something that can be run on an all-in-one card that costs about as much as an off-brand XBox controller. I know that’s a weird me-thing, and after a couple more rounds of Soul Caliber it’ll be gone forever. I’ve long gotten used to automatic coffee makers getting hacked to run Doom. Tech marches on, thank goodness. Now not only can my childhood fit on a pocket-sized box, but a chunk of my adult life too!

Rapper Megan Thee Stallion has launched a mental health resources website called Bad Bitches Have Bad Days Too that includes links to organizations, numbers for helplines, and ways fans can find nearby therapists. What do you think?

Read more...

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and Florida Sen. Rick Scott voted against a resolution that would allow FEMA to use up to $15 million in the Disaster Relief Fund and provide financial assistance to Hurricane Ian victims in their state. What do you think?

Read more...

Computer Programming 1,2,3
1983
Grosset & Dunlap

Submitter: Anyone who has worked with children and school assignments will know this story…
A class in the school across the street assigned a project on programming a computer and students flocked in to check out books from the library. There is of course that one student who shows up the day before the assignment is due and there is not much left. Trying to help him out, I found this ye olde computer book on the shelf. Yikes! Not awful in 1983, but not helpful today.

Holly: Oh look! A punch card!

The post Computer Programming 1-2-3 appeared first on Awful Library Books.