SANTA BARBARA, CA—Groaning as yet another stranger shoved a ballpoint pen in his face, actor Noah Wyle stated Thursday that he was fed up with pushy fan tracheotomy requests. “Listen, I love that you love my work, but I’m just trying to grab breakfast with my family right now, not cut through any windpipes, okay?” said Wyle, the 54-year-old star of HBO Max’s The Pitt, who waved off the group of screaming fans frantically attempting to get his attention. “The first time it happened, 30 years ago, I was very flattered that someone wanted me to save their life. But it gets old pretty fast when you have people begging you to perform tracheotomies everywhere you go. Everyone wants to brag to their friends that they got a tracheotomy from Noah Wyle, but I just want my personal space.” Wyle went on to add that even if he did give a fan a tracheotomy, there was a 90% chance they would just sell it online.
NEW YORK—Perking up with excitement after spotting a customer in the process of completely humiliating himself, the entire staff of a midtown H&M store reportedly gathered Thursday to watch a man struggle to refold a shirt. “Oh my God, everyone get out of the break room—you seriously have got to see this,” said sales associate Brenda Ruiz, rushing to summon every single one of her coworkers in the multistory retailer, including fitting room attendants, back-of-house staff, supervisors, maintenance, and security, to witness the bumbling man attempt to fold a T-shirt smoothly into quarters. “No, no, no, you have to tuck in the sleeves, man! God, this is incredible. Wait, is he actually trying to roll it up? No way! Louis is going to be so pissed this happened on his day off, so thank God you’re getting this all on video, Maria.” At press time, sources confirmed that every customer in the store, and even several passersby on the sidewalk, had joined the crowd of giddy onlookers as the man approached a stack of jeans.
NEW YORK—Stating that they were “so proud, so, so proud,” the parents of filmmakers Josh and Benny Safdie reportedly told their sons Thursday that regardless of what the Academy says, they liked both films equally. “One nomination, nine nominations—The Smashing Machine and Marty Supreme are both movie of the year in our book,” said the filmmakers’ mother, Amy Safdie, who grabbed her sons’ faces and boasted that they were both nominees for the “Most Handsome Boys” award. “The new neighbor even saw them, and she said they were both fabulous. Oscars, schmoscars. No matter what happens Mar. 15, you both made five-star films. Forget the critics—well, not you, Joshy. They loved yours.” At press time, sources confirmed the Safdie parents had taken Josh aside and reminded him that any Oscars he won would need to be shared with his brother.
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In brief: In today’s post we discuss Houston’s brief run at normal high temperatures today, and then look at blustery (but dry) cold front arriving Thursday evening. This will lead to a cold weekend, with the chilliest temperatures coming on Sunday morning.
Briefly reaching normal highs
If you were wondering, Houston has already sailed through the typically “coldest” period of winter. This occurs from January 6 to January 14, when the average high is 63 degrees, and average low is 43 degrees. By late January we’ve already reached an average high of 65 degrees for the month.
However, you may have noticed we’ve been quite cold of late. Houston’s high temperature has not reached 65 degrees in more than a week, and after doing so today (probably) it won’t again until next Monday or Tuesday, at least. So enjoy today’s brief taste of “normal” January weather before another front arrives tonight.
Forecast high temperatures for Thursday: positively balmy! (Weather Bell)
Thursday
We are seeing some patchy fog again this morning, but this should dissipate fairly quickly as sunny skies prevail today. With southerly winds we are going to see temperatures warm nicely into the 65 to 70 degree range this afternoon. A cold front should push into the area this evening, likely between 8 pm and midnight. As there won’t be enough moisture aloft to support showers, I expect this to be a dry front. However its passage will be noticeable as winds will quickly pick up from the northwest, gusting up to 25 mph, or perhaps higher. Lows tonight will drop to around 40 degrees in Houston, with cooler conditions for outlying areas.
Friday
Skies should be partly to mostly cloudy on Friday, with highs generally in the lower 50s. We’ll also have those persistent northerly winds, which will still be gusty at times. A light freeze is possible in Houston on Friday night in Houston, with temperatures likely dropping into the 30 to 33 degree range.
Saturday
A secondary surge a colder air arrives on Saturday, and accordingly this will be a very cold day. Look for sunny skies and highs in the low 40s. Temperatures will bottom out on Saturday night, with lows likely in the 25 to 30 degree range in Houston, with cooler conditions for outlying areas. A hard freeze will be possible, but temperatures should be a few degrees warmer than what the region experienced earlier this week.
There is still some uncertainty in low temperatures on Sunday morning, but this is a reasonable guess. (Weather Bell)
Sunday
Conditions will be a little warmer on Sunday, with sunny skies and highs in the vicinity of 50 degrees. Lows on Sunday night probably won’t freeze in Houston, but it will be close; and a light freeze will be possible further inland.
Monday
We’re going to warm back up into the 60s next week, and this time there will be time for moisture to return to the atmosphere ahead of the next front. The overall pattern is not exactly clear, but from Tuesday night through Thursday I expect a decent chance of rain, with overall accumulations perhaps somewhere on the order of 0.5 to 1 inch. Temperatures cool back down by Friday or so of next week, but at this time a freeze seems unlikely.
I’m writing in about a situation a friend is in. He was at the annual convention for his employer organization when he was called into a meeting with his boss and his boss’s boss. They informed him that he was under investigation and they couldn’t tell him anything more, but that he was to leave the convention immediately as they’d canceled his hotel room. (I should note that the convention was an hour’s drive from his home, so it’s not like he had to reschedule flights or anything.)
The day after the convention, they sent him an email informing him that he was terminated. The reason for his termination? They had discovered he had applied for another job, which they considered to be disloyal. (Apparently he sent in an application for a job that would be a step up from this one, that manager knew his boss’s boss, and called to ask for a reference without clearing it with my friend.) He’d only had good reviews from his manager prior to this.
I’m a manager myself. He had only been with this organization for eight months. If I found out an employee was looking elsewhere in that short of a timeframe, I don’t think I’d be pleased, but I think I’d try to figure out why the employee was unhappy or game plan for their eventual departure, not fire them immediately.
Is this as wild a reaction as I think it is? He said he knew it was a dysfunctional workplace, which is why he was looking elsewhere, but still … this seems like such an overreaction and I just feel terrible for him.
Yeah, this is ridiculous and frankly awful.
It’s not “disloyal” to apply for other jobs (!). Employment isn’t a marriage. It’s a business arrangement that is generally understood to last only as long as it remains in both parties’ best interests.
A company that gets angry that an employee is looking around at their options is usually a company that knows on some level that it won’t measure up — because they’re underpaying or not treating people well.
To be clear, I wouldn’t be thrilled to find out that a good employee was actively interviewing after only eight months — but that’s because I don’t want to lose good employees, not because it would be a betrayal of any sort. When a manager learns that kind of thing, the right response is to reflect on why the person might be looking: are they underpaid? Is the job different than what they’d thought it would be? Have they expressed frustrations with the work that I haven’t been able to resolve? Are there actions I can take now that would help retain them?
And sure, I might also do some game-planning for their possible exit, like thinking about any cross-training gaps that we should address with more urgency. In some cases I might get nervous if I was planning something key around them still being here in a few months, and I might think about whether there was a way to talk to them about their likely longevity in the role.
None of that is about firing the person. Firing them is absurd.
And if this employer thinks none of their other employees ever interview for other roles because of loyalty, they are out of their gourds. In fact, ironically, a place that fires someone for job-searching is much less likely to be the sort of workplace that inspires loyalty in employees, because it’s a symptom of the sort of toxicity people are usually actively working to escape, not feeling inspired by to stick around long-term.
VICTORIA, B.C. – Local thirty-five-year-old Dion Miller has reportedly salvaged his old PlayStation 3 from a storage bin and repurposed it as his last way to watch Blu-rays, a move that has delighted the nearly 20-year-old gaming console. This decision to resuscitate the vintage piece of gaming hardware came after Miller remarked how “streaming sites […]
Minaj, a former Trump critic who said in 2020 she was "not gonna jump on the Trump bandwagon," has pledged to contribute between $150,000 and $300,000 to help fund "Trump accounts."
Minneapolis police said officers saw the man use a syringe to spray an unknown liquid at Omar. They immediately arrested him and booked him at the county jail for third-degree assault.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. used a weapon he referred to as “the discombobulator” to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, claiming it made the enemy equipment “not work.” What do you think?
“Every nation has a sovereign right for their head of state to remain combobulated.”
Gina Montes, Yam Peeler
“Our military contracts with Dr. Ballyhoo’s Fantabulous Gizmo Emporium are paying off big time.”
BOSTON—Prompting exclamations of astonishment from colleagues and supervisors, local man Joshua Lingard reportedly appeared entirely unrecognizable Wednesday after enjoying a full eight hours of sleep. “Oh my gosh, I didn’t even realize it was Josh without those dark bags under his eyes and his usual lifeless monotone,” said Lingard’s coworker Alison Conners, who gasped in surprise as she witnessed the utterly transformed 43-year-old enter their office after an unbroken night of rest, smile with genuine enthusiasm, and greet her with an uncharacteristic sense of mental clarity. “It’s not just that his skin isn’t all puffy and pale, either. There’s something about his personality—I think it’s that he isn’t constantly staring into the distance in a mixture of confusion and pain. Plus, he’s actually getting work done. At first I thought Josh had a more handsome brother whose brain functioned normally, but it’s actually him. Incredible.” Coworkers later expressed relief when Lingard drank caffeine after 2 p.m., ensuring he would return to his typical dysfunctional self the next day.
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