Random non sequitur posts catch-all thread

Roscoe is helping me exercise by doing curls with his rope toy. He pulls the rope, then I do a curl to pull him to me. I tried to take a video but he gets shy when the phone light is on.

I wouldn't have thought one stuck ship in one canal could cause so many problems.

Baron Of Hell wrote:

I wouldn't have thought one stuck ship in one canal could cause so many problems.

When you have a single point of failure in one of the most important transport routes in the world, this was absolutely inevitable. Most people are strangely unaware that the vast, vast majority of freight is moved by sea, and it's very vulnerable to disruption. Between the shipping-container situation and now the temporary loss of the canal, I think a lot of people are getting a crash-course in why Just-In-Time delivery sounds super cool but has some serious flaws.

Personally, I'm mostly worried about all the livestock on the ships. There's only so much food and water available for them, so I'm worried we'll see a really horrible animal situation if the canal isn't cleared in the next 24 hours or so.

Personally, I'm mostly worried about all the livestock on the ships. There's only so much food and water available for them, so I'm worried we'll see a really horrible animal situation if the canal isn't cleared in the next 24 hours or so.

I think that's less of a problem than you'd think. There are many ports in the world that are there primarily to service the seafaring shipping industry - there's one in, I think Liberia, that gets something like 40% of the world's ship traffic, but isn't really a shipping destination. It's just a port of call for refueling and maintenance, and it's there because it's convenient. I would think by now most carriers have given orders to stop waiting for the Suez and start heading towards the Cape - especially with live cargo.

Now, that's not to say that these ports of call are going to be ready for everyone coming their way, but there's some breathing room for it, at least.

Coldstream wrote:

Personally, I'm mostly worried about all the livestock on the ships. There's only so much food and water available for them, so I'm worried we'll see a really horrible animal situation if the canal isn't cleared in the next 24 hours or so.

Yeah, that part could get reaaaaaaaaaaaaly oooogly.

But it is just truly amazing to see such a single-point failure have such a monumental effect on the global supply lines. There wasn't a war, nothing melted down, there was no natural disaster.

....a big ol' boat just got stuck and everything went to hell.

It's dark humor, but I have been giggling at this for days.

Tonight's realization:

"He's my friend and whole lot more."

..................I'm sorry, what now?

TW: Sexual assault.

Spoiler:

Damn I really don't know where to put this so here goes.

When my partner and I first moved out of our parent's homes, we shared a unit with a slightly older "struggling artist" type. To cut a long story short, he was awful. Entitled, manipulative, passive-aggressive, abused drugs...Just the worst. His brother owned the place and his primary income was from us paying rent. Of course, all of these nasty feelings grew over time, and we thought we were really fortunate to be living in a nice place in the center of town! He liked the things we liked, we played boardgames together, shared meals. It started pretty nice!

A few female friends of ours mentioned how uncomfortable he made them feel. We got those vibes but were stuck in this place with nowhere to go. Not a lot of money, nowhere near enough for bond on a flat by ourselves! This led to about a year of constant stress - was he going to throw a tantrum? Was he going to bash on our door and demand rent early? We barely left our room because he was so toxic.

Well, it's been about 5 years since, and ALL over my university's Facebook student page are newspaper articles with his face in them. Turns out he sexually assaulted 2 minors 10 years ago and was caught again recently. He was touching a 19-year-old's leg while masturbating on the bus. Police caught him on camera masturbating in the library. He's 43.

So many female students had terrible experiences with him, all having stories to tell about him being inappropriate in class. I knew he was a creep, I hated the guy, but I didn't know about any of this. I'm sad to say I'm not terribly surprised.

It's a strange feeling. I don't think it's schadenfreude, though it's certainly nice knowing this guy that made my life hell is humiliated and under house arrest. It's not right to smile about such a disgusting act. There's some confirmation that he was an awful person, so I feel validated. I'm upset that he just gets a slap on the wrist after 3 offences. I'm upset that I lived with a sexual predator. I feel sympathy of those he came into contact with.

I just don't know how to feel.

You were in a vulnerable place; financially as well as emotionally. You were trying to navigate the newness of living with your partner. This guy probably sensed that on some level, and sort of knew that he could behave in an abusive manner toward your partner and you. He knew you were in a bit of a pinch and that you would be less likely to bail out on him for being horrible.

This guy is an abuser. It really is frustrating that he’s not behind bars. He’s barely even been punished. It’s sickening.

The only takeaway I’m getting is that when your female friends are uncomfortable around someone there’s usually a very valid reason and that we need to stop dismissing them.

Not that I didn’t know that before, from personal experience.

Absolutely, and I wish we had the means to act sooner than we did.

A_Unicycle wrote:

Absolutely, and I wish we had the means to act sooner than we did.

Gee, if only the richest country in the world could afford to pay every one some kind of universal basic income so they weren't forced to deal with this kind of garbage.

Mixolyde wrote:
A_Unicycle wrote:

Absolutely, and I wish we had the means to act sooner than we did.

Gee, if only the richest country in the world could afford to pay every one some kind of universal basic income so they weren't forced to deal with this kind of garbage.

Australia is the richest country in the world?

Coldstream wrote:

Australia is the richest country in the world?

Different kinds of animal venoms are worth a lot.

Different kinds of animal venoms are worth a lot.

$Viagra$

Coldstream wrote:
Mixolyde wrote:
A_Unicycle wrote:

Absolutely, and I wish we had the means to act sooner than we did.

Gee, if only the richest country in the world could afford to pay every one some kind of universal basic income so they weren't forced to deal with this kind of garbage.

Australia is the richest country in the world?

Rich in spiders

Stengah wrote:
Coldstream wrote:
Mixolyde wrote:
A_Unicycle wrote:

Absolutely, and I wish we had the means to act sooner than we did.

Gee, if only the richest country in the world could afford to pay every one some kind of universal basic income so they weren't forced to deal with this kind of garbage.

Australia is the richest country in the world?

Rich in spiders

..... How do you guys pay for things?

DC Malleus wrote:
Stengah wrote:
Coldstream wrote:
Mixolyde wrote:
A_Unicycle wrote:

Absolutely, and I wish we had the means to act sooner than we did.

Gee, if only the richest country in the world could afford to pay every one some kind of universal basic income so they weren't forced to deal with this kind of garbage.

Australia is the richest country in the world?

Rich in spiders

..... How do you guys pay for things?

One dollar bills, clearly
IMAGE(https://th.bing.com/th/id/R7e057b1aac4615b113e1ca516996857f?rik=ffGgtFSHA0Gu5Q&riu=http%3a%2f%2flenpenzo.com%2fblog%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2009%2f10%2fspiderdollar.jpg&ehk=LRB0pl5qmcr20SPNlTdDGEFvpyxNAr%2fik%2bfW%2frV0jVQ%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw)

Ha! Sorry, Aussies for assuming incorrectly. Although I'm sure similar things happen in the US all the time.

Daredevil's most important piece of equipment is his neti pot.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

Daredevil's most important piece of equipment is his neti pot.

I didn’t realize that he was into medical quackery. He should do a team up with Dr Oz. Maybe they can host Jeopardy together. Maybe they can...

I should stop

I want to know what love is. I know one of you can show me. I want to feel what love is, please someone just show me. Look guys I want to know what love is because in my life there's been heartache and pain and I don't know if I can face it again.

I don't want to stop now since I traveled so far to answer this simple question. I feel like a foreigner that is lost in translation.

Prederick wrote:

I wish I'd thought of it, because, to be clear, I love Combat Mission. I have no major criticisms of the games, it's just that the time investment it takes to play them always ends up eluding my willingness to commit. Like, I am probably going to buy their upcoming Cold War game, and once again, the Minutes Played/Dollars Spent ratio might reach, at best, 3-1.

Please God, someone stop me. I'm like this close to buying it and several more of their titles.

Unless someone wants to play some PBEMs?

PBEM games still exist?

Baron Of Hell wrote:

I want to know what love is. I know one of you can show me. I want to feel what love is, please someone just show me. Look guys I want to know what love is because in my life there's been heartache and pain and I don't know if I can face it again.

I don't want to stop now since I traveled so far to answer this simple question. I feel like a foreigner that is lost in translation.

Jesus, when you write it down, it's like RED FLAG, SUSAN, RED FLAG.

Facebook personal info like phone numbers and addresses has been leaked online.
Uh oh hope you didn't say anything bad on facebook

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Facebook personal info like phone numbers and addresses has been leaked online.
Uh oh hope you didn't say anything bad on facebook

Man, if people haven't learned by now that literally nothing you do on a device connected to the internet is private for all time, I don't think they are going to.

Mixolyde wrote:
Baron Of Hell wrote:

Facebook personal info like phone numbers and addresses has been leaked online.
Uh oh hope you didn't say anything bad on facebook

Man, if people haven't learned by now that literally nothing you do on a device connected to the internet is private for all time, I don't think they are going to.

I mean... I get what you're saying, but you're dangerously close to victim blaming here. How about maybe these big companies try to their part in keeping data secure? Geez, you folks NEED something like GDPR.

And as the linked article mentions, even seemingly innocuous information can be fodder for social engineering attacks against your accounts on other sites.

Eleima wrote:
Mixolyde wrote:
Baron Of Hell wrote:

Facebook personal info like phone numbers and addresses has been leaked online.
Uh oh hope you didn't say anything bad on facebook

Man, if people haven't learned by now that literally nothing you do on a device connected to the internet is private for all time, I don't think they are going to.

I mean... I get what you're saying, but you're dangerously close to victim blaming here. How about maybe these big companies try to their part in keeping data secure? Geez, you folks NEED something like GDPR.

Corporations need to die. Or at least have their power and influence removed. Not sure you can do one without the other.

Software and security is too complex and chaotic to get 100% correct all the time, every time. I wish that weren't true, but it is. Yes, companies can and should do more. But a) they won't, and b) there will still be data theft, and you can't put your private data back in the bottle once it is out.