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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 12th, 2023

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  • Many, many years ago I used to have two Wyse50 terminals, running split screens each with two parts. I did a lot of support on remote systems (via modem!) and I would have a session on a customer system, source code and running on our test system and internal stuff. I didn’t have space for a third terminal.

    At another job I had an office with a “U” shaped desk. I would spread printouts across half the “U” and swivel around between the computer and the printouts.







  • Death Valley appears to be a very contained thing. When I was there, the temperature in Las Vegas was 108. When we started down into the valley the temperature started to rise dramatically. Half way down, it hit 117 and I had to stop to get out to see what it felt like.

    But then the temperature kept going up as we went down into the valley. We hit 126 for a while approaching Badwater, and it was 124 when we got out at Badwater.

    And this was in May, around 15 years ago.

    The point is that when you go there, you see that Death Valley is a meteorological phenomenon created by, and contained by the geography of Death Valley.

    Yes, 108 is hot, but there was an almost 10 degree increase as soon as you crossed the ridge into the valley and started down. The idea that Death Valley climate will somehow spread to the surrounding area just doesn’t make sense.



  • There’s two kinds of issues: instance and pattern. The first time or two, it’s instance. You deal with those with specificity. Something like, “I would prefer not to talk about this subject with you, please stop”.

    If it persists, then it’s a pattern problem. You deal with the pattern, not the instance. “I’ve asked you not to talk about subjects like this in the pant, but you haven’t stopped. This makes me feel like you don’t respect my boundaries and it’s making it difficult for me to work with you. Why are you doing this to me?”.

    You can escalate from there, and this might involve management involvement but at least you’ll have the clarity of having made the situation clear before it gets there.

    Honestly though, unless the coworker is actually deranged, they’ll be mortified when they find out they are making you uncomfortable and they’ll stop right away.



  • Yes, $15 CAD/day to “roam like home”. I have an Orange eSIM that I can keep alive if I use it at least once every 6 months - with a local french number that stays mine. It costs me about $40 CAD for a 30 day - 20GB top up. My wife uses Nomad for data only, we both don’t need local numbers, and it generally costs $12 CAD for 5 GB 2 week top-up.

    So I figure about $60-70 CAD for 3 weeks travel virtually anywhere in Europe. Calls and SMS included (for one) without long distance charges. Compared to $630 for “roam like home” for two people from a Canadian carrier - doesn’t matter which one as far as I can tell.

    We both recently got new phones to be able to use eSIMs.

    And the physical SIMs stay active. So my elderly parents can call my Canadian number if there’s an emergency and it will ring through.

    In fact, on our last trip to Rome, when we used a credit card at the hotel, it was refused and then seconds later I got a text from the bank asking for confirmation on my Canadian number. I had no choice but to text “Yes” back, and that single text activated roaming for the day and cost me $15.


  • As a boomer (at the tail end, admittedly), I too have lived through all of these things. Plus the other thirty years of shit that happened before it.

    The world threat that was the USSR and Mutually Assured Destruction. The Vietnam War, two Gulf Wars, and 9/11.

    The “Troubles” in Ireland and IRA bombings in London. The Munich Olympics Massacre. The rise of global terrorism. The FLQ crisis. Kent State. Watergate.

    Acid rain. Leaded gas and smog.

    15%+ mortgage rates. The oil crisis. Wage and price controls. Multiple recessions. The Dot Com bubble.

    Police raids on gay clubs. Racial slurs in everyday language. Massive gender inequality.

    24" black and white TVs. It took a week to find out how your photos came out. Watching f@#$ing “Tiny Talent Time” on a Sunday afternoon because there wasn’t any else better on the other 5 channels (if that doesn’t traumatize you, nothing will).

    You had to go to a library if you wanted to look something up in an encyclopedia.

    Cars without seatbelts, crumple zones, anti-lock brakes, traction control or airbags.

    F*CK me. “No experience”. Maybe just enough to know how much better things generally are today.

    Kids always think that they know more than their parents…until they don’t.