January 2023 Current Events: Currenter Events

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Internet VFW > January 2023 Current Events: Currenter Events

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Midjack posted:

Tua Tagovailoa on the Miami team took two likely concussions in four days a couple of months ago. The first one they swore he was okay after he almost fell down walking off the field and the second one was where his hands were twisted up and he was down for about 10 minutes before they carted him off. He was out for a while but played again a few days ago where he was very obviously out of it and they just announced he's back into concussion treatment after having two this season that the nfl will admit to and likely a third that they won't.

Yeah it�s awful, especially ridiculous when the NFL tries pointing at an �independent concussion specialist� as being the person to blame, like that person would ever force a QB out of a critical game. If Brady took a hit on the first play of the Super Bowl and doctors made him to hit the showers, they�d lose millions.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2023 15:43

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 00:51

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

bengy81 posted:

I wonder how much $$$ Zaurg has lost in the last two years?

I think my idiot father might have bought into some crypto, my brother saw an app on his phone, I hope not, but it seems like a logical jump from buying silver coins because AM radio told you to.

The best thing Zaurg did was in one of his initial mega threads before it was realized he�s a cartoon character, many folk were offering him excellent advice about managing finances, investments, career, etc. He ignored all that but it was invaluable in helping demystify much of personal finance for many users including myself.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2023 15:51

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Milo and POTUS posted:

Musk isn't Trump and would even lose to Hillary Clinton

I dunno, losing to a candidate caught on video bragging about sexual assault is beyond failing at beginner mode. That�s like unlocking a secret ending because the developers didn�t think someone could crash their ship on the audio options screen.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2023 03:10

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

bulletsponge13 posted:

I wrote it, hit send, and realized I might be half quoting Gone in 60 Seconds.

I grew up around criminals and malcontents. They always get caught by doing dumb or getting done dirty, but 'Leave your phone and wallet at the rally point' is like, Day Zero, Hour One criming.

And why keep the heaters? Can't spare the Sawzall blade for a new catalytic converter? Break them down, drive around, scatter the parts.

loving amateurs. Crime isn't hard to get away with if you apply more than a 20 minute Meth Lesson and marathon of Tower Heist.

Oh yeah it was fascinating to learn detectives routinely have a few fake social media profiles of attractive women set up for when they are trying to locate fugitives. Send a friend request, agree to meet, mission accomplished. Even if it only works a few times definite high return low cost.

Speaker of the House chat: reminder that the longest serving GOP speaker of the house Dennis Hastert, 1999 to 2007, was described by the federal judge as a �serial child molester� when he got 15 months in prison.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2023 20:21

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

CRUSTY MINGE posted:

So many Illinois republicans corncobbed over his rear end for years. Lol.

Iirc it was the victim coming out saying he'd been receiving hush money payments over abuse when Hastert was a wrestling coach (e: that got him busted). What an amazing time in American history.

Yeah I think the FBI saw the payments and initially thought Hastert was the victim and was being blackmailed by a foreign power or something like that.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2023 20:41

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

CRUSTY MINGE posted:

Yeah, but even with the zombies basically being set pieces to the story, I'm still sick of it.

Market saturation of zombie content hit sometime around season 5 of the walking dead and I couldn't get past the first episode of the second season. It feels like it lends to lazy story structure in most cases. They may not be the focus of the story, but it feels like I'm watching slightly different stories with the same furniture in the background of each. Like Sam Raimi's car or the guns/armor from starship troopers. Recycled poo poo.

Yeah I don�t recall what season I stopped but had been losing enthusiasm and heard someone point out that for a show set in Georgia it was odd the survivors were only allowed one Black man at a time and I thought hey c�mon that�s unfair. Then the next ep the Black guy died and his replacement jogged up and I didn�t watch much longer.

Nystral posted:

In other media my personal Zombie hop off moment was Crossed. Initially written by Garth Ennis (the Boys) it just quickly became a hyper violent gore fest without any story underneath.

Zombies just felt like meh at that point.

Ugh that comic was trash, just endless panels of people dying with zero plot. Took me too long to realize Ennis is a hack.

# ¿ Jan 11, 2023 02:56

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

bulletsponge13 posted:

Are you sure you are reading the Ennis penned work? I read Crossed for most of it's run, and Ennis' were the only ones that had any plot, or world cohesion. Pretty much every other creative team was doing tortureporn.jpeg.

I don�t recall, to be fair to Ennis I did like Welcome Back Frank.

# ¿ Jan 11, 2023 03:17

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Comrade Blyatlov posted:

I did find it pretty amusing that in The Mandalorian they just got him to play the same character, even down to the name

Olyphant was pretty good in season 4 of Fargo, although that show got wrecked by covid production delays and restrictions and the end result was a mess.

Is Justified worth a watch?

# ¿ Jan 11, 2023 03:35

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Arrath posted:

Unequivocal yes.

Yes yes yes.

First season is a little rough but it finds its feet and God drat. In a later season Margo Martindale plays the matriarch of a hillbilly crime family and it's perfection

Oh nice, looks like it is on Hulu too. Will give it a shot.

Drastically different genre but Abbott Elementary is also good.

# ¿ Jan 11, 2023 03:47

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Milo and POTUS posted:

Wait literally jogged up?

As I recall from a decade ago I think so.

# ¿ Jan 11, 2023 05:14

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

pantslesswithwolves posted:

The only thing I have to say about zombie media is that we were all collectively done dirty when World War Z was made into an utterly forgettable Brad Pitt vehicle instead of the 10-hour miniseries it should have been. Just thinking about how that book�s chapters and characters would have been perfect in a Ken Burns mockumentary makes me pretty wistful, although we did get the next best thing by way of the unabridged audiobook with a full voice cast that includes Alan Alda, Henry Rollins and Mark Hamill.

Zombies are otherwise done. It Follows was the best horror movie of the past decade; Babadook was also great and all of the A24 poo poo is super creepy as well.

Yeah that would have been a good way to adapt it. A proper ten part series planned out in advance could have been excellent.

Will say my favorite (kinda) recent zombie media was the RE2 remake on PS4, absolutely nailed making each zombie scary and a threat. Awesome tension to shoot one in the head and have it not stop coming at you, especially when you do not have surplus bullets.

# ¿ Jan 11, 2023 06:00

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Nick Soapdish posted:

https://twitter.com/MelBrooks/status/1613948752796213249?t=pX9b8LdV_HwaA6Prs3x9hQ&s=19

Good news everyone

I need to read his autobiography, he was a WWII combat engineer who located mines and booby traps for clearance, and got brief stockade time for beating an anti-Semite US soldier with a mess kit.

# ¿ Jan 14, 2023 02:05

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Wrong Theory posted:

NGL, I saw the Mel Brooks post and feared the worst. Glad to see we finally got a sequel! Here is a link about his adventures in WW2: https://www.military.com/veteran-jobs/career-advice/military-transition/famous-veterans-mel-brooks.html

"I was a Combat Engineer. Isn�t that ridiculous? The two things I hate most in the world are combat and engineering." He also got out as a corporal thus solidifying his position in the E-4 mafia.

Oh yeah and he was 19 when he was over there. Plus he had a solid Simpsons cameo! I gotta watch Young Frankenstein sometime.

# ¿ Jan 14, 2023 03:40

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

facialimpediment posted:

here, have new some lies

https://twitter.com/StevenTDennis/status/1614446158373322752

https://twitter.com/grace_panetta/status/1613605088664092672

https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1614392024907530242

I'm really starting to question if he's an outright citizen, or if he's even named George Santos. Every lie seems to be another lie on top of another lie to justify another lie. A human centipede, but of lies.

I had a coworker who was a compulsive liar and it was bizarre. Like he�d claim he was going to spend the weekend climbing a mountain in Alaska then Monday what do you know that plan fell through. Or say he was low on money because he went to gas up his car and the pump didn�t shut off so he had to pay for like a hundred gallons. Or that he got married (he hadn�t.)

As folk caught on we warned each other in case he started asking for loans but as far as I know he never did anything malicious and mostly read a PDF of Infinite Jest at his desk all day. Eventually left to become a consultant.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2023 19:43

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

That Works posted:

I dated a real deal compulsive liar for a couple of months. It was hosed up once things clicked. Like one of those detective movie scenes where the entire mystery falls into place.

Thankfully the craziness wasn�t much beyond just lying.

Dang, yeah I don�t know a ton about the subject but it�s interesting to read how it may in some cases be mental illness especially when the lying badly hurts the person doing it for no gain:

quote:

Christopher Massimine is trying not to lie.

He�s trying not to lie when his wife asks him whether he has sorted the recycling, or when his mother-in-law�s friend Mary Ann asks whether he liked the baked appetizers she brought over.

He�s trying not to lie to his therapist, who has him on a regimen of cognitive behavioral therapy to help him stop lying. And he�s trying not to lie to me, a reporter who has come to interview him about how a lifetime of lying caught up with him.

This effort began around 15 months ago, when Mr. Massimine resigned from his job as managing director of the Pioneer Theater Company in Salt Lake City after a local journalist reported that he had embellished his r�sum� with untrue claims.

The r�sum�, it turned out, was the tip of the iceberg. Over the course of many years, he has since acknowledged, he lied prolifically and elaborately, sometimes without any discernible purpose.

He told friends he had ascended Mount Everest from Tibet (he was actually in a hotel room in Cambodia) and attended Burning Man (on closer examination, his photographs proved to have been taken in Queens).

He told journalists he was born in Italy. (New Jersey.) He told school friends his birthday was in September. (May.) He told his wife he was having an affair with Kourtney Kardashian. (Not true.)

Non-paywall link: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/29/...&smid=share-url

# ¿ Jan 15, 2023 20:08

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Naramyth posted:

I don�t really buy the weak gun laws in neighboring states argument. It feels like a convent solution to blame when Illinois gun laws clearly aren�t working.

Or in a more poo poo posting way

just one more gun law bruh, that�s all we�ll need

quote:

In California, some gun smugglers use FedEx. In Chicago, smugglers drive just across the state line into Indiana, buy a gun and drive back. In Orlando, Fla., smugglers have been known to fill a $500 car with guns and send it on a ship to crime rings in Puerto Rico.

In response to mass shootings in the last few years, more than 20 states, including some of the nation�s biggest, have passed new laws restricting how people can buy and carry guns. Yet the effect of those laws has been significantly diluted by a thriving underground market for firearms brought from states with few restrictions.

About 50,000 guns are found to be diverted to criminals across state lines every year, federal data shows, and many more are likely to cross state lines undetected.

In New York and New Jersey, which have some of the strictest laws in the country, more than two-thirds of guns tied to criminal activity were traced to out-of-state purchases in 2014. Many were brought in via the so-called Iron Pipeline, made up of Interstate 95 and its tributary highways, from Southern states with weaker gun laws, like Virginia, Georgia and Florida.

quote:

Chicago offers perhaps the starkest example of trafficking. There are no retail gun dealers within city limits, because Chicago has some of the tightest municipal gun regulations. Yet bringing a gun into Chicago can be as simple as driving less than an hour to a gun show in Indiana, where private sales are not recorded and do not require a background check.

�If you�re in the city of Chicago on the South Side, you may be closer to Indiana than you are to the Magnificent Mile,� said Roseanna Ander, executive director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab, referring to a well-known part of Chicago�s downtown.

quote:

According to an anonymous survey of inmates in Cook County, Ill., covering 135 guns they had access to, only two had been purchased directly from a gun store. Many inmates reported obtaining guns from friends who had bought them legally and then reported them stolen, or from locals who had brought the guns from out of state.

One inmate said, �Some people get on a train and bring them back, can be up to five or six guns, depending on how much risk they want to take.�

Link to article: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/12/us/gun-traffickers-smuggling-state-gun-laws.html

# ¿ Jan 16, 2023 18:25

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

quote:

Skipped Showers, Paper Plates: An Arizona Suburb�s Water Is Cut Off
Hundreds of homes outside the boundaries of Scottsdale can no longer get water from the city, so their owners are living a worst-case scenario of drought in the West.

quote:

RIO VERDE, Ariz. � Joe McCue thought he had found a desert paradise when he bought one of the new stucco houses sprouting in the granite foothills of Rio Verde, Ariz. There were good schools, mountain views and cactus-spangled hiking trails out the back door.

Then the water got cut off.

Earlier this month, the community�s longtime water supplier, the neighboring city of Scottsdale, turned off the tap for Rio Verde Foothills, blaming a grinding drought that is threatening the future of the West. Scottsdale said it had to focus on conserving water for its own residents, and could no longer sell water to roughly 500 to 700 homes � or around 1,000 people. That meant the unincorporated swath of $500,000 stucco houses, mansions and horse ranches outside Scottsdale�s borders would have to fend for itself and buy water from other suppliers � if homeowners could find them, and afford to pay much higher prices.

quote:

In a scramble to conserve, people are flushing their toilets with rainwater and lugging laundry to friends� homes. They are eating off paper plates, skipping showers and fretting about whether they have staked their fates on what could become a desiccated ghost suburb.

Some say they know how it might look to outsiders. Yes, they bought homes in the Sonoran desert. But they ask, are they such outliers? Arizona does not want for emerald-green fairways, irrigated lawns or water parks.

quote:

Last week, Arizona learned that its water shortages could be even worse than many residents realized. As one of her first actions after taking office, Gov. Katie Hobbs unsealed a report showing that the fast-growing West Valley of Phoenix does not have enough groundwater to support tens of thousands of homes planned for the area; their development is now in question.

quote:

Now, though, the water trucks can�t refill close by in Scottsdale, and are having to crisscross the Phoenix metro area in search of supplies, filling up in cities a two-hour round trip from Rio Verde. That has meant more driving, more waiting and more money. An average family�s water bill has jumped to $660 a month from $220, and it is unclear how long the water trucks will be able to keep drawing tens of thousands of gallons from those backup sources.

Heavier water users like Cody Reim, who moved into a starter house in Rio Verde two years ago, are being hit even harder. He said his water bills could now exceed $1,000 a month � more than his mortgage payment. Mr. Reim and his wife have four young children, which in normal times meant a lot of dishwashing, countless toilet flushes and dozens of laundry cycles to clean soiled cloth diapers.

quote:

People in Rio Verde Foothills are bitterly divided over how to resolve their water woes.

When some proposed forming their own self-funded water provider, other residents revolted, saying the idea would foist an expensive, freedom-stealing new arm of government on them. The idea collapsed.

Non-paywall link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/16/...&smid=share-url

# ¿ Jan 16, 2023 20:23

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Stultus Maximus posted:

Where to start with that?

Hm, people buying expensive homes outside city limits to avoid taxes and now they don't have city services...

Lol. Just, lol.

Lol indeed, especially freedom lovers buying houses in a desert far from big government, then getting upset they have to pay fair market value for tanker trucks to visit their houses once a month.

In WA state some folk live on rural islands and while most are chill, others believe the state ferry system exists for their personal convenience & when there are reduced ferry runs because of global pandemics, post on FB demanding tourists stay away so they aren�t forced to wait when making Costco runs to the mainland. Same person posted a rant that their excellent health service does not include helicopter evacs at the basic level. Like the desert house buyers, wanting all the benefits of rural life with none of the inconveniences.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2023 23:47

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

MA-Horus posted:

Also why is it that every video of manufacturing or construction in Russia just reminds me of Webster's rant in Band of Brothers.

"We have General Motors, and Ford, and Chrysler! You have horses! You ignorant servile fucks!

Oh yeah, I think Ford alone outproduced Italy.

Was Band of Brothers the main production that shows the extent of German dependence on horses? Imagine other shows/movies are aware of it but it would add a big cost to filming so just put them in trucks.

# ¿ Jan 18, 2023 18:38

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Madurai posted:

It's also due to into any filmmaker's desire to not show Nazi Germany as an underdog, no matter how desperate their situation was by late '44. It's way more dramatic to build replica Tigers.

Germans using horse-draw transport has been a pretty salient point in documentaries at least as far back as World at War, and nobody who played Panzerblitz or Squad Leader was unaware of it.

Good point, I don�t think I�ve ever seen it as a factor in a game. Unless you�re like an age behind a rival in civilization or something like that. Wonder if part of it is it�s fun to strafe nazi trains but players wouldn�t want to shoot horses even if it helps the logistics situation.

bulletsponge13 posted:

I just saw a short video that shared an anecdote of a German who found a disabled American truck during inland fight from Normandy. He said when he saw cake in the back, he knew they were hosed.

Lol oh yeah the US logistical train was absurd compared to any other nation. So many new planes arriving in the distant pacific that slightly damaged aircraft were pushed aside, shipboard ice cream makers, destroyers tasked with rotating new Hollywood movies among the fleet� meanwhile new zeroes are delayed from reaching the front line because the factory is short on oxen & Germans are trying to figure out how to get oil from potatoes or something like that.

# ¿ Jan 18, 2023 23:13

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Reminder that the ever increasing national debt and deficits weren�t always a thing. The US was running a surplus the last few years of the Clinton administration, with the national debt expected to be zero by 2015. From a 1999 article:

quote:

It is not so long ago, that economists and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic fretted about the US government's escalating budget deficit and the ballooning size of public debt.
The days of gloom are over.

A booming economy has generated massive tax revenues, and President Bill Clinton now predicts that it would take the government just 16 years to reduce the public debt to zero.

quote:

When President Clinton took office in 1993, the annual budget deficit in the US stood at $255bn, and the country had accumulated a public debt of just over three trillion US dollars... �All that created the current budget surplus, about $107bn this year, and the hope to cut down on debt.

Public finances in the US could now run in a virtuous circle. Paying back the debt reduces interest rate payments. This in turn makes it easier to pay back even more and so on - until the debt amounts to zero.

Once there is no debt anymore, taxes can be cut, and the government can spend its money on useful things like healthcare or education.

quote:

However, if everything goes according to plan, there will still be those who regret the disappearance of the US debt.

The US government raises most of its "loans" through US treasury bonds. Around the world, these bonds are considered to be the safest investment available.

The main advantage: Because so many people trade in US bonds, the market is always "liquid", i.e. a seller is almost guaranteed to find a buyer.

But if the government winds down its debt, the golden days of bond traders will be over. To avoid a lack of liquidity, the US Treasury has already begun to reduce the number of bond issues sold on the market.

Currently, the price of US bonds is one of the most important benchmarks in the world of global finance.

Once that is gone, the markets will have to look for alternatives, maybe a pool of blue-chip corporate bond issues.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/380923.stm

Almost like Clinton�s successor was bad at managing spending. Even with 9/11 & the economy slowing it never had to become catastrophic.

# ¿ Jan 19, 2023 18:48

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

facialimpediment posted:

Whole lot of this kinda thing being posted in tech and media today:

https://twitter.com/GergelyOrosz/status/1616542572456955923?t=XJC6xMsay5DmicRXXbuk-Q&s=19

So it's not just a Muskian thing, lots of really stupid FIRE X NUMBER NOW higher-up decisions and then random VPs make number go bye and that's that.

Bummer to get laid off but if that guy was at Google in a tech role for nearly 20 years and was getting stock benefits, and has basic saving abilities, he probably never needs to work again. That�s just based off knowing people in a similar situation at Microsoft who �retired� before 50 and while not living in luxury are doing fine.

Not trying to be callous but odd to see highly skilled techies with many opportunities acting like they got laid off from the mine and their experience is non-transferable. Especially when one guy I know who got laid off from Microsoft was a few years ago sneering at the idea anyone in the Seattle real estate market would need a mortgage when cash was cheaper.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2023 23:41

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Defenestrategy posted:

I have never heard of a US company doing knowledge transfer in advance of a firing, even if what the person knows is important and only known to them.

Right after covid started, my company ended up letting go of 20 people on the same day. I was informed the day before right before EOB there would be a lot of cuts, and that HR would have a meeting with person to be cut and as the meeting started they would send me the name of the person and I would have to race to disable all their creds before the HR meeting was up. A pretty lovely two hours. IT is the same way except generally the manager is told to do it directly.

quote:
Pink Slips at Disney. But First, Training Foreign Replacements.

quote:

ORLANDO, Fla. � The employees who kept the data systems humming in the vast Walt Disney fantasy fief did not suspect trouble when they were suddenly summoned to meetings with their boss.

While families rode the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and searched for Nemo on clamobiles in the theme parks, these workers monitored computers in industrial buildings nearby, making sure millions of Walt Disney World ticket sales, store purchases and hotel reservations went through without a hitch. Some were performing so well that they thought they had been called in for bonuses.

Instead, about 250 Disney employees were told in late October that they would be laid off. Many of their jobs were transferred to immigrants on temporary visas for highly skilled technical workers, who were brought in by an outsourcing firm based in India. Over the next three months, some Disney employees were required to train their replacements to do the jobs they had lost.

�I just couldn�t believe they could fly people in to sit at our desks and take over our jobs exactly,� said one former worker, an American in his 40s who remains unemployed since his last day at Disney on Jan. 30. �It was so humiliating to train somebody else to take over your job. I still can�t grasp it.�

quote:

The tech workers laid off were a tiny fraction of Disney�s �cast members,� as the entertainment conglomerate calls its theme park workers, who number 74,000 in the Orlando area. Employees who lost jobs were allowed a three-month transition with r�sum� coaching to help them seek other positions in the company, Disney executives said. Of those laid off, 120 took new jobs at Disney, and about 40 retired or left the company before the end of the transition period, while about 90 did not find new Disney jobs, executives said.

quote:

Disney �made the difficult decision to eliminate certain positions, including yours,� as a result of �the transition of your work to a managed service provider,� said a contract presented to employees on the day the layoffs were announced. It offered a �stay bonus� of 10 percent of severance pay if they remained for 90 days. But the bonus was contingent on �the continued satisfactory performance of your job duties.� For many, that involved training a replacement. Young immigrants from India took the seats at their computer stations.

�The first 30 days was all capturing what I did,� said the American in his 40s, who worked 10 years at Disney. �The next 30 days, they worked side by side with me, and the last 30 days, they took over my job completely.� To receive his severance bonus, he said, �I had to make sure they were doing my job correctly.�

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/...&smid=share-url

# ¿ Jan 21, 2023 22:40

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Comrade Blyatlov posted:

I highly recommend his book, Magnificent Desolation. The man went from the highest peaks to the lowest.

Ooh that looks good.

For more space content would recommend the first two seasons of For All Mankind, has the premise of Soviets beating US to the moon a month early so the space race never ends.

Platystemon posted:

Biden is a real rookie for not hiring the kind of underlings who will hire the kind of underlings who instead of getting on the horn over loose classified documents, will tell no one, take the initiative and burn them.

Not trying to be :tinfoil:

but this happening after successful midterms makes me wonder if some democrats are trying to nudge him out for 2024. Overall I think he�s meh/ok especially the Congress he had to work with, but kinda hoping for someone new. Get Fetterman as VP, put those rural white voters into play.

# ¿ Jan 22, 2023 03:55

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Big K of Justice posted:

That's a blast from the past.

I remembered when that broke out [I was in Burbank at the time], being a former H1B, USCIS should have pulled the plug on those IT Disney visas when this became public. The whole point of wage checks/labor certification during the visa process was to prevent US workers from being directly laid off due to an H1B hire, but USCIS got man-centuries of backlogged paperwork and applications to roll through... but if there was a complaint during the process.

When a company plans to do this, they have to notify employees that they are hiring so-and-so H1B worker at x position at y-pay in a conspicuous place. Usually, the same place you need to post those labor law posters regarding wages/hours, etc. You could call/mail USCIS and throw a monkey wrench in the process, which won't usually always pan out unless something doesn't pass the smell test. Having H1B's coming in at the average minimum for the same job title you are at [at 2-3x pay] should set off alarm bells. The problem is with big companies, like Disney, with campuses of dozens if not hundreds of buildings, the notices may get dumped somewhere "technically" conspicuous but really not.

Eg. The hiring notice was posted in a breakroom in building F, sub-basement 2, room 308, next to the pepsi machine.

I always take a peek at these when I see them. "Oh, they're hiring a marketing manager at $160,000..."

The Disney IT folks could have thrown a monkey wrench in the whole deal, but they would have caught the notice in time. So they got 2 things against them, what the definition of a conspicuous location is for employees at very large companies, and using national wage databases that deflate wages. An experienced computer toucher in California isn't pulling down 70k at all, but because they get to loop in all the wage data from the midwest/etc, it brings the numbers down.

Now companies that don't gently caress around and find out, they'll pay the actual same rates as their US counterparts. I had this happen to me, I was on an H1B with Dreamworks at one point, and the IATSE guild kicked up about it in writing as a matter of policy but the USCIS looked at my petition and saw that I was getting paid at 2x the median wage for the position and determined I wasn't displacing a job at that pay rate.

It's too bad the Disney IT folk didn't catch this.

I believe they did try to sue but lost, although I don�t believe it was on the grounds you mentioned.

quote:

A federal judge in Florida dealt a blow on Thursday to legal claims by American technology workers who were laid off by the Walt Disney Company and forced to train foreign replacements, dismissing lawsuits by two workers who said Disney had conspired with outsourcing companies to violate visa laws.

In a terse decision, Judge Gregory A. Presnell of the United States District Court in Orlando rejected the former workers� arguments that Disney and the two contractors had colluded to make false statements when they applied for temporary visas, known as H-1B, for the foreign replacements.

The judge found that �none of the allegedly false statements put at issue in the complaint are adequate� to sustain the former workers� case. The outsourcing companies that were sued with Disney were Cognizant Technology Solutions and HCL America.

The plaintiffs, Leo Perrero and Dena Moore, were laid off early in 2015 from jobs with Disney in Orlando. In their final weeks on the job, they were required to show foreigners on H-1B visas, brought in by the outsourcing contractors mainly from India, how to do their work.

quote:

A spokeswoman for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Jacquee Wahler, said, �As we have said all along, this lawsuit was completely baseless, and we are gratified by the decision.�

The former workers� cases hinged on their argument that the companies had violated clauses of the visa law requiring employers to show that hiring H-1B workers �will not adversely affect the working conditions� of other workers in similar jobs. The law also requires large outsourcing companies that employ many H-1B workers to certify in some circumstances that those workers �will not displace any similarly employed U.S. worker� within six months of applying for the visa.

The outsourcing companies argued that the law would apply to them only if the American workers who were displaced by visa holders they hired had originally been their employees, not Disney�s. Judge Presnell was persuaded by that argument, although he did not entirely reject the idea that the Americans were �adversely affected� by being fired.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/14/us/judge-says-disney-didnt-violate-visa-laws-in-layoffs.html

That would be so humiliating to be fired not for mistakes or because your role isn�t needed, but just because they found a way to game the system for someone cheaper. I know it�s required for the person to get their severance but the temptation to nod then brick as many systems as possible would be overwhelming.

One of the most dystopian parts was the insistent terminology that the people being screwed over weren�t employees, they�re �cast members.� A buddy who works for a city that sometimes has to get info from Facebook to help stop Very Bad Predators got a memo that all requests must now address the company as �Meta.�

# ¿ Jan 22, 2023 19:58

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Handsome Ralph posted:

Well what was basically an open secret for the last year or so is official now, Ruben Gallego has officially announced he's running for Senate.

https://twitter.com/RubenGallego/status/1617507452198469636?s=20&t=oq9HuoxVmaFlHHYvEB47ig

But why? What the issue with the current Senator?

quote:

The 5 Creepiest Moments at Davos.

#2: Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin High Fiving Over Blocking Biden�s Agenda

Senators Sinema and Manchin, fresh off an entire congressional term spent blocking key parts of President Biden�s legislative agenda, speaking at Davos did an up-high to commemorate the obstruction.

During the panel, Sinema rues that �neither Speaker has ever shown interest in recent years of collaborating with the moderates in other parties,� comparing former Speaker Pelosi to Republican Speaker McCarthy. �They go, my way or the highway. Pelosi did it, McCarthy's doing it. This is not healthy for democracy.�

�And we still don�t agree on getting rid of the filibuster?� Sen. Manchin, seated next to her, asked.

�That�s correct!� Sinema chirped, briskly high-fiving him.

�The Democratic Party shared a narrative that said we would not have any more free and fair elections in this country if the United States Congress didn't eliminate the filibuster and pass a massive voting rights package,� Sinema continued. �Joe [Manchin] and I were not interested in sacrificing that important guardrail for the institution.�

Something else they apparently aren�t interested in is passing any substantive legislation this term since the filibuster�s 60-vote threshold makes that all but impossible.

https://kenklippenstein.substack.com/p/the-5-creepiest-moments-at-davos

# ¿ Jan 23, 2023 17:23

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Coasterphreak posted:

Brain drain has been in effect in Russia for a long, long time.

Now I�m wondering what the USSR would have looked like if they had a totally open migration policy. Would definitely have lost a ton of science & athlete superstars but likely would have had a major economic boon from money sent home from abroad. Probably the biggest limitation would have been other countries imposing quotas.

Nystral posted:

Are the reports that the coward Erdogan opposing Sweden�s admission to NATO anything to be concerned about? Or just a more public negotiating tactic?

From his track record just doing a shakedown to see how many freebies he can get before risking pushback. Inflation there is extremely bad even by historical standards and an election is coming up so sure he�d love distractions.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2023 01:21

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Comrade Blyatlov posted:

SDI works perfectly and is based in Cascade Falls, which is protected by a tacnuke designed to "blow this whole joint" if any filthy russkies get in

This information is freely available in the historical document World in Conflict

That game had the best representation of Seattle I�ve seen in a game: Smith Tower, Space Needle, Kingdome getting leveled by artillery� it was impressive. Also one of the only games to rival Blizzard in CGI cutscene quality.

CRUSTY MINGE posted:

loving Morocco is sending a pile of T-72s. And here we are with our dicks in our hands yet.

https://www.newsweek.com/what-are-t-72b-tanks-morocco-supplies-ukraine-upgraded-weaponry-1775701

Would those be fit for the front line or kept in reserve to free up more modern tanks?

# ¿ Jan 24, 2023 20:19

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Torrannor posted:

It's likely a typo, I'd think "battles are starting in two months" is what the OP was going for. But as far as I understand, the Abrams engines need special fuel which makes supplying them a special logistics problem, versus Leopards being able to run with "normal" fuel.

True, but is part of the reason for the US giving Abrams that this reduces the hesitation of giving �lesser� armored vehicles? Like if Ukraine already has Abrams other countries might worry less about giving other types of tanks as the optics wouldn�t view it as a new escalation?

Also from poking around European tank wikis did not know Italy & France had their own independent tank programs.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2023 21:04

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Wombot posted:

I remember getting whiplash from how quickly it went from "photorealistic 1:1 representation of Seattle" to "generic game landscape", and it happened as soon as they had the enemy tanks rolling across I-90 onto Mercer Island, like mission 2 or something.

I still have my chunk of Berlin wall that came with the CE.

oh nice! Definitely had more high than lows, without bases to destroy felt like too many missions ended with generic �hold the line� against waves of tanks easily wrecked by off map artillery. Which made sense sometimes but less so when playing the Soviets and you are holding off human wave attacks of the Oregon National Guard.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2023 22:12

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

facialimpediment posted:

Ah, here's why Baldwin is likely to get charged:

He didn't observe Shut The gently caress Up Fridays.

https://twitter.com/PGourevitch/status/1618264936701992960?t=rIVqE-QJhpEjON06xlXVng&s=19

You'd think he'd be in enough cop movies that even after a tragic-type event that may or may not have been his fault, you don't say anything without a lawyer present. Whoops!

Lol I had a good professor who used to be a defense attorney and she bluntly said �if you are detained by police, nothing you say can improve your situation and will likely make it much worse. The only thing you should say is to request a lawyer.� Could tell she used to have plenty of dumb clients who thought they could outsmart the cops in an interrogation.

She also mentioned that if during a trial she needed to collect thoughts, it was best to pause and say nothing for a few moments rather than �uh, or let me see� or to shuffle papers, as in the court record it would say �lawyer then shuffled papers.�

# ¿ Jan 25, 2023 22:34

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

TheWeedNumber posted:

I refuse to acknowledge the new trilogy exists right alongside this post.

Yup, post Simpsons season 9 policy, it�s all non-canon and nothing of value is lost.

bulletsponge13 posted:

gently caress you, Disney, the Endor Guerilla War happened.
It was the Empire's Vietnam.

Is this a We Hate Movies reference to their Battle for Endor episode? Their Wilford Brimley impressions are a treasure.

Mustang posted:

Andor is a great show, definitely takes Star Wars in a darker and more "adult" direction.

100%, my favorite show in recent memory. Only matched by I Think You Should Leave.

Hyrax Attack! fucked around with this message at 23:26 on Jan 28, 2023

# ¿ Jan 28, 2023 23:23

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

bulletsponge13 posted:

Never heard of that show.

No, they did a comic story called 'Apocalypse Endor' which explained that Ewoks approached in Peace, the Stormtrooper misunderstood, and then the Ewoks became cannibal VC.

Ah gotcha. My favorite take on Ewoks was Battlefront II where there�s a mode where most players start as stormtroopers and a small numbers are Ewoks, with the premise being the troopers are trying to escape but when any die they respawn as Ewoks. Surprisingly fun with a horror movie feel as your team is picked off one by one.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2023 00:04

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

CRUSTY MINGE posted:

Who else would it be, though?

Saudis?

The only other ones I could think of would be Ukraine but that seems way out of their range and NATO probably wouldn�t approve, or the US but at the moment Iran didn�t seem to be doing anything that would prompt a US attack.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2023 05:42

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Kazinsal posted:

Sisko owns and to this day I am upset that Avery Brooks got blacklisted from Hollywood somehow and we never got a version of First Contact where it's a proper TNG/DS9 crossover.

Just imagine the line "Jean-Luc, blow up the drat ship!" but in his voice.

DS9 is my all time favorite show, but I don�t believe Brooks got blacklisted at all. It�s my impression he prefers to be a stage actor and isn�t interested in further Star Trek projects. He appeared in the documentary What We Left Behind (highly recommended) but didn�t seem to have any animosity or tension.

I think Next Generation got movies as it was a bigger series and was expected to draw a bigger crowd. I�m not bummed we didn�t get a DS9 movie as it ended so strongly I�d be worried about where they�d go next, and while if they had a DS9 movie as good as First Contact yes that would own but an Insurrection or Nemesis would have been a sour note. Considering the mess that is Picard because of the poor present day management of the brand I�m fine with DS9 characters not being brought back to be killed off in a barely written story.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2023 03:25

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 00:51

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Kazinsal posted:

Cirroc Lofton said a couple years ago that Brooks would come back to the screen if he was allowed to but for mysterious reasons no agent will take him. If that's not a blacklisting I don't know what is.

Ah dang didn�t know that.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2023 07:03

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