Micah "Zem the Mattress" Philson 2017-09-13T16:18:31-04:00
Yeah, but rest assured tons of people have already crashed as many brain cells as possible together to no avail. Of course it's possible, it's just not viable on large scales, plus then you have to transport it. Plus finding the funding for what could very well be a wild goose chase that even if you did find a way, it probably wouldn't pay that great in the end, since much of the work is humanitarian.
Lord Zombitten 2017-09-13T16:24:23-04:00
See, that last bit there is why it hasn't happened yet. If there was money to be made, it would have happened a while ago.
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-13T21:53:41-04:00
Oh I think there's plenty of money to be made. Think what the Saudis would pay? Or California or the tropical islands? The problem is that there is currently no better option than distillation and it's wicked expensive due to a large energy suck. You'd basically need something like cold fusion to power it and not have the cost of water through the roof. As it is, it's not worth the cost unless they find a new method. Basically.
Micah "Zem the Mattress" Philson 2017-09-14T04:39:33-04:00
Yeah, that's pretty much the entirety of how I see it. Unless you discover a new purification process, it's absolutely not worth it, and if there were some obscure way to make it worth it utilizing normal processes, it would have been done a decade ago unless you're an absolute, uncharted genius. So, good luck either finding the process or making a profit on it.
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-14T08:53:36-04:00
Morning kittens!
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-14T09:08:30-04:00
@Zem, I think its going to require a bio engineering approach. I'm not educated enough to know how all the whoosits and whatsits do but in my mind its not actually all that complicated. You need to make a huge garden. Have the ocean water enter at one end. Have different bio systems (plant life/animal life) in place that filter, and pull different things out of the water, especially salt, and at the other end, pure, clean drinking water. Basically, just doing what nature does, but in a more controlled / efficient way. Again, I would have not clue (or money...) to do something like this, but I really think it would be much more sustainable and cost much less than burning fuel to boil water. I saw something like that used in India (on a documentary) that cleaned up toxic water supplies. The most disgusting sewage and toxins (almost looked like thin tar really) would flow into a man made swamp, then go through a different series of vegetative eco systems over the course of 4 hectares (around the size of four football fields) if I recall correctly, and at the other end the water was clean, purified and totally safe to drink. We need more stuff like that. I don't even know if that one still exists or not, and what the cost was to set it up. I can't imagine that the upkeep would be all that bad, seeing as how the plants are actually fed off of whatever is in the water.
dns12999 "Dave The Quack" 2017-09-14T09:34:24-04:00
Hey all. I was under the incorrect impression that these comments died out. After bumping into Geist on another comment board I was corrected. How's everyone doing?
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-14T09:56:41-04:00
@DtQ, good to see you man! Things are going pretty well over here, hope the same with you! ;)
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-14T10:17:10-04:00
@Dave: LOL! Nope. Not dead at all. Tell Cha to come by and visit us. I noticed she has posted in that campaign as well.
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-14T10:18:24-04:00
I wonder how Creeper is doing with her new bakery? Methinks I'll have to make a trip to see in sometime in the new year.
@Geist: I was actually wondering that myself earlier this week. Hopefully everything is going good, since no news is good news, right?
dns12999 "Dave The Quack" 2017-09-14T11:16:55-04:00
Cha! did comment early on when the that campaign launched but haven't seen her since. She said she was well but other than that I didn't get much interaction with her. If I see her I'll let her know to come by!
dns12999 "Dave The Quack" 2017-09-14T11:19:07-04:00
As for Creeper I backed her GoFundMe for her bakery so I've been getting occasional updates on that. She seems to be settled in and the bakery is doing well!
dns12999 "Dave The Quack" 2017-09-14T11:22:32-04:00
As for myself I'm doing well. Backed a few games I'm excited to get and thinking about another.
@DTQ: That's definitely good to hear. I've had to tone down my backing...partly due to financials, and partly due to a diminishing of friends(aside from people from here, two friends from online gaming, and a few from work...I only have 1 that I regularly see/hangout with...so not many people to play games with most of the time).
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-14T12:12:25-04:00
@Dave: When are you coming to Kitten Con? I'm positive BaKhan would love to host you and it is much fun!
Micah "Zem the Mattress" Philson 2017-09-14T13:13:10-04:00
Dave! How are you?
Died out? If there's one thing I've learned, it's that a good party never ends! I don't go to many parties, though.
dns12999 "Dave The Quack" 2017-09-14T13:15:28-04:00
@GM that's a shame. I don't get to see my group of friends in person much more either.
Micah "Zem the Mattress" Philson 2017-09-14T13:15:48-04:00
I backed Creeper way in the beginning, so I've sort of been the go-between for people here wondering how she's been. She doesn't update the gofundme too often, but it's good to see how well it's coming along so far! Also stressful and tiring, but that's nothing too new for her.
dns12999 "Dave The Quack" 2017-09-14T13:17:55-04:00
@Geist where/where is said KittenCon?
dns12999 "Dave The Quack" 2017-09-14T13:19:04-04:00
@Zem haha well I'll make sure to check in here more often.
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-14T13:49:20-04:00
@Dave: Kitten Con is at BaKhan's house. This will be my second time going there and it's so much fun. You should go next year. I might not make it then because of my Romanian trip.
dns12999 "Dave The Quack" 2017-09-14T14:15:16-04:00
ah. Well that would depend on how far away BaKHan live's from me. I can't really justify flights right now.
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-14T14:28:24-04:00
@Dave: Ooooh. Well he is in Calgary so that might be a bit of a hike.
If memory serves, aren't you in school? Getting a master's degree?
dns12999 "Dave The Quack" 2017-09-14T15:50:17-04:00
Yea I'm in NJ that's a little far for me right now. I'm not in school. I think last you checked I was taking courses to sell insurance. I passed all those courses and got certified. However I was mostly unsuccessful in that venture and got out of it. I am now back in the software development world where I belong.
Lord Zombitten 2017-09-14T16:08:28-04:00
It's Dave the Quack! Awesome to see you, man!
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-14T16:09:35-04:00
@Dave: At least you tried. I don't know if I am smart enough to get a medical degree but I would regret it if I didn't try. Glad you had something to fall back on.
Lord Zombitten 2017-09-14T16:09:51-04:00
Software development... If I knew anything about that, I would totally make an RPG that would be a spoof of RPG's. I've already got a rough outline in my head of what I would do.
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-14T16:10:42-04:00
@Dave: I didn't mean to pry but about those skull dice...what the heck is going on with that?! The creator has more drama than any soap opera that I've ever watched.
Micah "Zem the Mattress" Philson 2017-09-14T21:48:20-04:00
Haha, whoops, completely forgot to check in here today since this morning! I'm pretty sick, so I guess I haven't been thinking much of here. Just feel really tired and sore and my tummy, it turns out, is a great debater and is making some strong arguments about me doing anything today.
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-15T09:41:32-04:00
Morning kittens!
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-15T09:41:51-04:00
@Zem, hope you feel better soon buddy!
Micah "Zem the Mattress" Philson 2017-09-15T09:43:54-04:00
Thanks, BaKhan, me too. If I still feel about like this tomorrow, when I have to usher the football game, I'm going to hate my life for a few hours. But I'm better enough today to go to classes and stuff.
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-15T10:23:39-04:00
@Zem, good luck! You're young enough that you should bounce back relatively quickly... ;)
dns12999 "Dave The Quack" 2017-09-15T10:35:51-04:00
Morning Kittens!
@LZ - It's good to see you too buddy. I've never done game deveopment other than a text based game while in school. If you put some time into learning I'm sure you could pick up the necessary skills.
@Geist - Yea I was getting frustrated with getting and losing programming gigs so I decided to try something in left field. I have no regrets about it and am proud of all that I managed to accomplish. Are you trying to get a MD degree? Good luck
Finally Friday, get to go for a CPA(Canadian Payroll Association) luncheon - that will take 2 hours of my day - and have to research which SSN a guy provided is correct(just realized there are 3 different ones on the paperwork...)
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-15T10:37:56-04:00
Morning kittens! I have the day off today. It feels so weird to still be in bed at this hour. I won't even have to use any vacation time because I logged so many hours on my time card.
The reason why I wanted this time off is that I've volunteered to help set up the tables at the Small Press Expo in order to wrangle a free weekend ticket. There are 3 festivals that are happening this weekend and for the first time I'm going to try to visit them all. This will be a very busy (but way fun) weekend. I love my birthday month so much just for all of the fun stuff that happens around the DMV area.
Fun fact: There is an comic artist by the name of Keith Knight who usually comes to the Small Press Expo. I'm a big fan of his so one day I gifted him a bottle of ale the first time he came to the festival. He mentioned it in a comic a few weeks later. Now every year that he visits, he gets a gift of ale from me. It's tradition now. If you haven't checked him out, he is very witty and funny. If you get a chance, check him out.
dns12999 "Dave The Quack" 2017-09-15T10:43:48-04:00
@Gesit - I consider the dice a lost cause at this point. I think he shipped out some coins but never any dice nor the miniatures. That guy did have a lot of drama and perhaps without it he might have finished the dice but we'll never know. If they show up one day I'd be ecstatic but that's the risk you take with kickstarter some projects will fail and there's nothing you can do about it. At this point it's about 5 years past delivery. A bunch of the backers bitched and asked for their money back but while sporadic he did put a lot of effort into them and i'm sure he spent more than he raised so I never asked for mine back.
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-15T10:43:57-04:00
@Dave: I'm frustrated with the unstable nature of the kind of work I do as well as the boredom. I'm pretty sure that within the next 5 years they will come up with a program to do my job and then I'll be unemployed again. I was never meant to sit in front of a desk all damn day.
The only good thing about this job is that I will be paying for at least half of the schooling out of pocket so that I don't get in a ton of debt and it will give me a better understanding of whether or not I can actually accomplish this.
@Geist: Sounds like you have a fun filled weekend planned. Mine is rather lackluster in comparison. Family dinner tomorrow night, sister flies out early(ungodly hour) to go to do her practicum at the Smithsonian on Sunday, and then back to work on Monday.
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-15T10:52:07-04:00
@Dave: Half a decade? Why are people still posting on the board then? Complaining at this point doesn't make any sense. Out of the 200 plus campaigns that I've backed, only one has refunded my money and I didn't even ask for it. Of course, it's also the reason why I will watch a campaign instead of backing one. The rule is mostly for electronic/mechanical stuff. They seem to have a fairly high failure ratio.
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-15T10:53:13-04:00
@GM: Someone who list 3 SSN might be scamming you. I mean, once you get one, it's yours for life.
@Geist: Which is why we're having the branch get a scan of it and send it to us. That way we have the correct one on file.
Though, there was a lady who tried to scam us by filing for unemployment due to disaster. We have no record of her having worked here even in the last 9 years.
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-15T11:16:48-04:00
@GM: Now that is one I'd never heard before. Never worked at the company and filing due to "disaster". Curious: What are the unemployment rules in Canada? I know that in the DMV area, you can't file if you have been fired. In Maryland, you have to provide proof that you are actively looking for work or they will cut you off.
@Geist: Not sure, I got them email regarding them being laid off in Texas due to the storm(which wouldn't happen unless the building was flattened and there was no way for them to work for us remotely/at another location...I think).
Lord Zombitten 2017-09-15T12:53:45-04:00
Morning, all! I'm so glad it's almost the weekend and I only have one more day of this coming to work at six nonsense
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-15T13:13:27-04:00
@GM: I didn't know you had a Texas office. How many branches does your company have?
@Geist: We have three here in Alberta, four if you count our downtown office. Then in the US we have one division in OKC, 4 in Texas - Marshall, Midland, Pleasanton, Houston(corporate office), 1 in PA, 1 in ND, and 1 on WY.
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-15T13:17:34-04:00
@LZ: So you have to work on Saturday?
@BaKhan: I haven't forgotten about the food coloring. I have been carrying them around in my purse for the past month. Since it's so close to my arrival, would it be all right if I bring them with me?
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-15T13:19:22-04:00
@GM: Looks like none of those offices are near me. PA is the closes but that is a 3 hour drive each way.
Ok kittens, I'm going to hop in the shower and be off. Enjoy your weekend!
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-15T13:50:55-04:00
@Gesit, yeah, that will work out fine! No worries! I am about to start with the baking, and I want to keep things a little easier this year. So there won't be much icing to worry about. I'm still burned out after that wedding cake. Although I do have a ton of stuff left over from that, that I should probably use up... sigh... ;)
Lord Zombitten 2017-09-15T14:32:21-04:00
@Geist, no, the one more day is Tuesday of next week. I have someone else coming in on Monday and Wednesday mornings. The regular opener will be back on Thursday.
Micah "Zem the Mattress" Philson 2017-09-15T18:43:42-04:00
Aha! Finally. For whatever reason, I've been having infinite trouble connecting to Kickstarter and one other website, but only them. I've been gone all day because I just couldn't get here for some reason!
Micah "Zem the Mattress" Philson 2017-09-15T18:48:31-04:00
And now that I think of it, it's the weekend and nobody'll even see this until monday anyways... oh well.
Lord Zombitten 2017-09-15T20:09:33-04:00
I just got back from Wendy's. I ordered a quadruple cheeseburger. When my food came, I was surprised to find that they had screwed up my order. Instead of the four patties and four slices of cheese, what should be staring back at me?
....
....
....
Five of each! It's a really good thing I didn't have lunch today, or I don't think I would have been able to finish the quintuple cheeseburger with which the place blessed me.
Micah "Zem the Mattress" Philson 2017-09-15T21:16:27-04:00
Just order the meat cube, they probably won't mix that up since it's pretty clearly 4, but still, as order messups go, that's a good one!
You ate 25% more, but today for supper, I'm pretty sure I ate like 3 times as much as normal. I'm still full.
Lord Zombitten 2017-09-15T21:30:58-04:00
Well, I didn't use the word 'quadruple'. My exact words were 'I'd like a large number three with an extra patty, please'. So, if I had asked for a meat cube, they probably still would have given me a quintuple.
Micah "Zem the Mattress" Philson 2017-09-15T21:36:28-04:00
well, the meat cube is an actual, off-menu item that's exactly what you were asking for. Still, yeah, how did they take "I'll have the triple, plus one" and give you +2? That's a great mix-up!
Lord Zombitten 2017-09-15T22:47:54-04:00
It's a fantastic mix-up!
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-16T09:01:10-04:00
@LZ: I don't know how your stomach managed to squeeze in a sandwich of that size. I assume you also had fries and a drink with it and if you ate all of that, it must have looked like you were carrying a baby afterwards
Lord Zombitten 2017-09-16T14:52:20-04:00
I got a large combo. I ate maybe 1/8th of the fries; my wife ate the rest. I drank about 2/3 of the drink.
Lord Zombitten 2017-09-16T14:54:22-04:00
Eating that much was a commonplace thing for me 10 or 15 years ago. And that would have been per meal. I skipped lunch yesterday, otherwise I don't think I would have finished it all.
Micah "Zem the Mattress" Philson 2017-09-16T16:08:08-04:00
You know it's gonna be a long day when, in your first 2 or 3 drives, your sportsball team hands the ball to the other team and opens up a path all the way to the goal for them. From there, the game kinda stalled, and then they gave us hope, then they tripped on their own shadow somehow and gave it all up.
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-18T07:13:53-04:00
Morning kittens!
Holy crap, did I have a busy weekend. I had great fun at the Small Press Expo. Spent the majority of my money (and went over budget) there buying t-shirts, art works, earrings and stickers. The H Street festival was a lesson in "too much of a good thing". 50,000 people with vendors stretched out over 15 city blocks. The only saving grace was that the sun went behind the clouds which cooled the air and bought a few nice breezes. With all of those vendors, you would think I would be buying up a storm, right? Nope. Most of what I saw were vendors for serves. Good thing I ate something before I got there. There was an hour long wait for any food or beer you wanted to consume and if you tried to eat in any of the restaurants, you'd have to scream at your partner to be heard over the other patrons.
The third festival was nicer. Too pricey for me but I like looking at the merchandise and shop in some of the other stores.
On another note, I finally got in contact with Cheetabutt. He didn't want to log in and get rid of the spam in the litter box nor give me admin rights so I could do it. He didn't seem interested at all. I told him I'd rather keep everything right where it was at since it had our pictures and stuff. He told me to contact Go Daddy and ask to have the rights transferred. Not sure why he drifted away from our group but I wish him the best.
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-18T08:07:56-04:00
@LZ: your food luck must be rubbing off. I went to a chicken joint on Saturday. Ordered the number 2 which comes with a wing, drumstick and thigh. What I got was two drumsticks and two thighs.
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-18T08:38:40-04:00
Morning kittens!
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-18T08:40:23-04:00
@Geist, glad you had such an awesome weekend! Sounds like so much fun! Too bad about CB, but what can you do? We've lost many kittens along the way, all we can do is hope that they come back some day. ;)
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-18T08:47:34-04:00
Speaking of food luck, I've recently discovered and become hopelessly addicted to Korean fried chicken! Holy smokes thats some good stuff there I say! I had one on Saturday that was supposed to have a little kick... I gotta say Asians know how to spice! ;) It almost took me out (I have not the host sauce tolerance of the mighty LZ you know...) I soaked a dish towel with sweat off of that chicken! It was so damn good though!
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-18T09:09:58-04:00
@BaKhan: Was that from a restaurant or did you make it yourself?
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-18T09:39:36-04:00
@BaKhan: Maybe we can try some of the mumbo sauce with the Korean fried chicken?
Micah "Zem the Mattress" Philson 2017-09-18T09:44:38-04:00
Geist, that sounds awesome! Just one convention after another sounds super great, but also like I'd lose my willpower and buy all the cool things. ;)
Kinda sad about CB. He was sort of the core of the corps. I don't know why, if he doesn't really want to be a part of this, he won't give you the admin rights and be done with it, though. Hope you're able to get them from GoDaddy and we can clean out the Litter Box! Also hope we can see CB again sometime, but I understand why he sort of drifted away.
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-18T09:49:05-04:00
@Geist it was from a restaurant. Called "YUM YUM BBQ Chicken" couldn't go wrong right? ;) I'd still like to learn how to make fried chicken though! So, don't think you're off the hook! ;) I think the thing that made it special was the sauce, not so much the fried chicken part, but they did do it right. Nice and crispy on the outside, nice and tender juicy on the inside... Damn, now I want more! ;)
Micah "Zem the Mattress" Philson 2017-09-18T09:49:06-04:00
BaKhan, oh lord do southeast asians know spice! Korean food isn't even the worst, but it's too much for all but the best of us sometimes!
My dad is very good with his spice. Maybe not "gimme the hottest pepper you have!" kind of good, but he typically doesn't have any problem with even extreme spice. He had a Thai friend, and once when he ate with him, my dad put in as much hot sauce as he could stand. The Thai friend just dumped like a third of the bottle in and ate it like it was cold ramen! When my dad tried it, he said he could barely breathe for a minute, and the guy just slurped it down like it was nothing!
I kind of envy them sometimes, that's skill!
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-18T10:04:52-04:00
@BaKhan: I was hinting of maybe letting me buy some when I arrive next month. That chicken sounds real real good.
@Geist: I think I ate too much sugar on Saturday...aside from that, it wasn't bad. The cake we had Sat night was chocolate, with raspberry or strawberry or cherry jam(couldn't really tell which, just that it was super sweet), and chocolate icing, with chocolate gnash on it. Such a rich, and sweet cake...even the small piece I had was probably too much.
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-18T11:56:30-04:00
@GM: chocolate frosting AND ganuche? Eww. Even I couldn't eat that and I LOVE sugar.
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-18T12:16:56-04:00
@Geist, well, I could probably eat fried chicken every night for quite a while before needing to have something else... so we could definitely get some while you're up! ;)
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-18T12:17:56-04:00
@GM, a cake like that should have almost a bitter chocolate for the layers of cake to balance the rest of that sugar! ;) It did sound tasty though... ;)
@BaKhan: It was definitely tasty...and not even a dense cake. It was nice a fluffy.
@Geist: I love sugar too...but for me it's a terrible thing to have in large quantities(at least, more so that a normal person).
Micah "Zem the Mattress" Philson 2017-09-18T14:48:58-04:00
Sorry to bring the discussion a bit down from sugar and delicious treats, but I just did some very interesting thinking.
You know how many people say "forgive and forget"? Well, my philosophy is exactly the opposite: forget and forgive. Over time, I forget even very serious transgressions, and I very rarely harbor a grudge for more than even a week or so for very serious issues. Once I've forgotten, it's forgiven. Clearly it wasn't bad enough for me to think of that person as a literal demon and avoid them for life, so I don't ever hold it against them, and in fact I love to try to patch things up and be friends again, or at least not end on a sour note.
`
For instance, there are some people who've caused me serious emotional and mental trauma. I'm still socially crippled because of it. Imagine what it takes to MAKE someone introverted. Yet, just this weekend, one of the people who treated me the absolute worst in my entire life, very possibly even THE worst, just had her 21st birthday, and I was one of 3 close friends there from high-school drinking and joking and partying with the rest! It's always baffled me that I so don't harbor grudges that I'm now good friends with 2 of the 3 people who actually made me into a socially-crippled severe introvert, people who actually for the only time in my life made me even think of being severely depressed or even harming myself.
Am I just weird in this? Is this ability in fact another product of my experiences? I think maybe I was in such a bad place that I gave up on feeling bad or holding things against people, and in fact I remember the day I knew that those people would be cool one day and I would be their friend, a virtual prophecy as it turns out!
`
Sorry to detract from delightful delectables, let's go back to talking about those now. Speaking of which, I should grab lunch.
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-18T15:02:07-04:00
@Zem, sure drop something like that and then try and switch back to food....
I think it is an admirable character trait! It actually shows a maturity and a grasp on your faith that few have. This is a hard conversation to have in text but, I think that in this case it is both a product of nature and nurture. If you didn't have that capacity to start with, no amount of nurturing would have been able to bring it out. More likely it just made you more aware of it. Rather than look a gift horse in the mouth, I think you should be happy that's the way you're wired! ;)
One question though, do you still think of yourself as a socially crippled introvert? The answer to that to me would be the most telling.
The
Micah "Zem the Mattress" Philson 2017-09-18T15:41:23-04:00
Oh, I'm absolutely still severely introverted. That's probably permanent. I'm much more outgoing now, but... I don't know, it's hard to understand if you're not one, but I don't think I'll ever be fully able to have a stress-free interaction with people I'm not already at least well acquainted with.
I just think it's funny, though, because I know so many people who've taken a minor event as reason to cut a person straight out of their life, someone they were the closest of friends with just a month or two before. I know so many people with stories of how they're no longer even associated with someone, even (especially) family, because of some past event or disparate belief, and to me it's just unthinkable, I can't understand it at all. Sometimes, yes, there's a good reason, but often I think I'd have trouble completely shunning someone from ever contacting me again if they legitimately attempted to murder me!
`
But thanks! And yeah, it's pretty interesting come to think of it that it might be partially nature as well. Almost as if I might be the antithesis of naturally paranoid people. I feel sorry for people who often think someone has an ulterior motive and can't trust or sometimes forgive trespassers, but then that shows another thing about me that links into this topic: I'm very trusting. Sometimes too much, though it hasn't actually been too much of a problem, not many people actually want to abuse trust or loyalty, they're valuable commodities.
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-19T06:04:25-04:00
Morning kittens.
Just got word that, despite it being written in the rule book at work, any days that we take off have to be PTO days. Never mind that I had over 91 hours logged in despite the fact that I took off Friday. Apparently, we get punished if we try to have a life. My manager would much rather we burn out than have a balance. Just another reason why I've got to switch careers.
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-19T08:47:12-04:00
Morning kittens!
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-19T08:48:17-04:00
@Zem, seriously, I think its best we table that conversation for barstools and brass taps... ;) I think that self awareness is the key to growing as a person. I'm proud of you man!
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-19T08:53:22-04:00
@Geist, you know it all too well! I'm so sorry that its so hard to find employers that value you, and actually want you to be happy. Everyone knows that happy staff, make for a happy, productive, great place to work. This is common knowledge, right? Why then are so many managers so poor at doing it then? Studies have found that job satisfaction is less tied to money than it is work environment. A raise will hold you over for a short bit, but when their actions don't follow along with it (ie: making you feel valued), it doesn't last, and the frustration quickly returns or exceeds previous levels. I wish nothing but the best for you, as you are an amazing person, and you deserve to be recognized as such! ;)
Hooray for fire drills first thing in the morning...when you are already waist deep in work. -.-
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-19T13:50:50-04:00
@GM, wow! I don't think I've participated in a fire drill since elementary school... ;)
Micah "Zem the Mattress" Philson 2017-09-19T13:58:14-04:00
Geist, holy cow! 91 hours? Wow, you need some time off, and you've absolutely earned it! Even more power to you when you make the leap to changing careers!
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-20T09:05:54-04:00
Morning kittens!
Geist de la Muerte Gatito 2017-09-20T09:50:35-04:00
Morning kittens! I haven't been ignoring you. They dumped more work on my with uploads and I have to have all that done by the end of the week. (Only 72 hours left)
I'll check in when I can.
Micah "Zem the Mattress" Philson 2017-09-20T09:58:06-04:00
Wow, Geist! Well, we know you can do it! Just gotta push through all that, just keep thinking of the prize at the other end, the sweet, relaxing weekend! That I assume you have, but looking at how much work you keep getting, I wouldn't be surprised...
In other news, my company is thinking of making a lab change that would require me to get a master's degree or a phd...
Rod "BaKhan" Mitchell 2017-09-20T14:21:39-04:00
@LZ, damn thats nuts! How do you feel about that, as far as getting that education, would they let you do it while keeping your position? Is there a legitimate reason for this change?
Micah "Zem the Mattress" Philson 2017-09-20T14:38:01-04:00
Would people with years of experience in the position need to get it? I mean, I'd assume so, but as BaKhan said, I'd also really hope they'll let you work towards that while also keeping your job. Otherwise, that's not good news for the job front.
Also, it's kind of strange. Does that job particularly need that kind of education for some reason? Or do they just want to make sure they have 100+% qualified people doing it?
Yeah, but rest assured tons of people have already crashed as many brain cells as possible together to no avail. Of course it's possible, it's just not viable on large scales, plus then you have to transport it. Plus finding the funding for what could very well be a wild goose chase that even if you did find a way, it probably wouldn't pay that great in the end, since much of the work is humanitarian.
See, that last bit there is why it hasn't happened yet. If there was money to be made, it would have happened a while ago.
Oh I think there's plenty of money to be made. Think what the Saudis would pay? Or California or the tropical islands? The problem is that there is currently no better option than distillation and it's wicked expensive due to a large energy suck. You'd basically need something like cold fusion to power it and not have the cost of water through the roof. As it is, it's not worth the cost unless they find a new method. Basically.
Yeah, that's pretty much the entirety of how I see it. Unless you discover a new purification process, it's absolutely not worth it, and if there were some obscure way to make it worth it utilizing normal processes, it would have been done a decade ago unless you're an absolute, uncharted genius. So, good luck either finding the process or making a profit on it.
Morning kittens!
@Zem, I think its going to require a bio engineering approach. I'm not educated enough to know how all the whoosits and whatsits do but in my mind its not actually all that complicated. You need to make a huge garden. Have the ocean water enter at one end. Have different bio systems (plant life/animal life) in place that filter, and pull different things out of the water, especially salt, and at the other end, pure, clean drinking water. Basically, just doing what nature does, but in a more controlled / efficient way. Again, I would have not clue (or money...) to do something like this, but I really think it would be much more sustainable and cost much less than burning fuel to boil water. I saw something like that used in India (on a documentary) that cleaned up toxic water supplies. The most disgusting sewage and toxins (almost looked like thin tar really) would flow into a man made swamp, then go through a different series of vegetative eco systems over the course of 4 hectares (around the size of four football fields) if I recall correctly, and at the other end the water was clean, purified and totally safe to drink. We need more stuff like that. I don't even know if that one still exists or not, and what the cost was to set it up. I can't imagine that the upkeep would be all that bad, seeing as how the plants are actually fed off of whatever is in the water.
Hey all. I was under the incorrect impression that these comments died out. After bumping into Geist on another comment board I was corrected. How's everyone doing?
@DtQ, good to see you man! Things are going pretty well over here, hope the same with you! ;)
@Dave: LOL! Nope. Not dead at all. Tell Cha to come by and visit us. I noticed she has posted in that campaign as well.
I wonder how Creeper is doing with her new bakery? Methinks I'll have to make a trip to see in sometime in the new year.
Morning kittens.
@Geist: I was actually wondering that myself earlier this week. Hopefully everything is going good, since no news is good news, right?
Cha! did comment early on when the that campaign launched but haven't seen her since. She said she was well but other than that I didn't get much interaction with her. If I see her I'll let her know to come by!
As for Creeper I backed her GoFundMe for her bakery so I've been getting occasional updates on that. She seems to be settled in and the bakery is doing well!
As for myself I'm doing well. Backed a few games I'm excited to get and thinking about another.
@DTQ: That's definitely good to hear. I've had to tone down my backing...partly due to financials, and partly due to a diminishing of friends(aside from people from here, two friends from online gaming, and a few from work...I only have 1 that I regularly see/hangout with...so not many people to play games with most of the time).
@Dave: When are you coming to Kitten Con? I'm positive BaKhan would love to host you and it is much fun!
Dave! How are you?
Died out? If there's one thing I've learned, it's that a good party never ends! I don't go to many parties, though.
@GM that's a shame. I don't get to see my group of friends in person much more either.
I backed Creeper way in the beginning, so I've sort of been the go-between for people here wondering how she's been. She doesn't update the gofundme too often, but it's good to see how well it's coming along so far! Also stressful and tiring, but that's nothing too new for her.
@Geist where/where is said KittenCon?
@Zem haha well I'll make sure to check in here more often.
@Dave: Kitten Con is at BaKhan's house. This will be my second time going there and it's so much fun. You should go next year. I might not make it then because of my Romanian trip.
ah. Well that would depend on how far away BaKHan live's from me. I can't really justify flights right now.
@Dave: Ooooh. Well he is in Calgary so that might be a bit of a hike.
If memory serves, aren't you in school? Getting a master's degree?
Yea I'm in NJ that's a little far for me right now. I'm not in school. I think last you checked I was taking courses to sell insurance. I passed all those courses and got certified. However I was mostly unsuccessful in that venture and got out of it. I am now back in the software development world where I belong.
It's Dave the Quack! Awesome to see you, man!
@Dave: At least you tried. I don't know if I am smart enough to get a medical degree but I would regret it if I didn't try. Glad you had something to fall back on.
Software development... If I knew anything about that, I would totally make an RPG that would be a spoof of RPG's. I've already got a rough outline in my head of what I would do.
@Dave: I didn't mean to pry but about those skull dice...what the heck is going on with that?! The creator has more drama than any soap opera that I've ever watched.
Haha, whoops, completely forgot to check in here today since this morning! I'm pretty sick, so I guess I haven't been thinking much of here. Just feel really tired and sore and my tummy, it turns out, is a great debater and is making some strong arguments about me doing anything today.
Morning kittens!
@Zem, hope you feel better soon buddy!
Thanks, BaKhan, me too. If I still feel about like this tomorrow, when I have to usher the football game, I'm going to hate my life for a few hours. But I'm better enough today to go to classes and stuff.
@Zem, good luck! You're young enough that you should bounce back relatively quickly... ;)
Morning Kittens!
@LZ - It's good to see you too buddy. I've never done game deveopment other than a text based game while in school. If you put some time into learning I'm sure you could pick up the necessary skills.
@Geist - Yea I was getting frustrated with getting and losing programming gigs so I decided to try something in left field. I have no regrets about it and am proud of all that I managed to accomplish. Are you trying to get a MD degree? Good luck
@Zem feel better. Feeling sick is the worst.
Morning kittens.
Finally Friday, get to go for a CPA(Canadian Payroll Association) luncheon - that will take 2 hours of my day - and have to research which SSN a guy provided is correct(just realized there are 3 different ones on the paperwork...)
Morning kittens! I have the day off today. It feels so weird to still be in bed at this hour. I won't even have to use any vacation time because I logged so many hours on my time card.
The reason why I wanted this time off is that I've volunteered to help set up the tables at the Small Press Expo in order to wrangle a free weekend ticket. There are 3 festivals that are happening this weekend and for the first time I'm going to try to visit them all. This will be a very busy (but way fun) weekend. I love my birthday month so much just for all of the fun stuff that happens around the DMV area.
http://www.smallpressexpo.com/
http://www.hstreetfestival.org/
http://www.artfestival.com/festivals/alexandria-king-street-art-festival
Fun fact: There is an comic artist by the name of Keith Knight who usually comes to the Small Press Expo. I'm a big fan of his so one day I gifted him a bottle of ale the first time he came to the festival. He mentioned it in a comic a few weeks later. Now every year that he visits, he gets a gift of ale from me. It's tradition now. If you haven't checked him out, he is very witty and funny. If you get a chance, check him out.
http://www.kchronicles.com/comic/women-only/
@Gesit - I consider the dice a lost cause at this point. I think he shipped out some coins but never any dice nor the miniatures. That guy did have a lot of drama and perhaps without it he might have finished the dice but we'll never know. If they show up one day I'd be ecstatic but that's the risk you take with kickstarter some projects will fail and there's nothing you can do about it. At this point it's about 5 years past delivery. A bunch of the backers bitched and asked for their money back but while sporadic he did put a lot of effort into them and i'm sure he spent more than he raised so I never asked for mine back.
@Dave: I'm frustrated with the unstable nature of the kind of work I do as well as the boredom. I'm pretty sure that within the next 5 years they will come up with a program to do my job and then I'll be unemployed again. I was never meant to sit in front of a desk all damn day.
The only good thing about this job is that I will be paying for at least half of the schooling out of pocket so that I don't get in a ton of debt and it will give me a better understanding of whether or not I can actually accomplish this.
@Geist: Sounds like you have a fun filled weekend planned. Mine is rather lackluster in comparison. Family dinner tomorrow night, sister flies out early(ungodly hour) to go to do her practicum at the Smithsonian on Sunday, and then back to work on Monday.
@Dave: Half a decade? Why are people still posting on the board then? Complaining at this point doesn't make any sense. Out of the 200 plus campaigns that I've backed, only one has refunded my money and I didn't even ask for it. Of course, it's also the reason why I will watch a campaign instead of backing one. The rule is mostly for electronic/mechanical stuff. They seem to have a fairly high failure ratio.
@GM: Someone who list 3 SSN might be scamming you. I mean, once you get one, it's yours for life.
@Geist: Which is why we're having the branch get a scan of it and send it to us. That way we have the correct one on file.
Though, there was a lady who tried to scam us by filing for unemployment due to disaster. We have no record of her having worked here even in the last 9 years.
@GM: Now that is one I'd never heard before. Never worked at the company and filing due to "disaster". Curious: What are the unemployment rules in Canada? I know that in the DMV area, you can't file if you have been fired. In Maryland, you have to provide proof that you are actively looking for work or they will cut you off.
@Geist: Not sure, I got them email regarding them being laid off in Texas due to the storm(which wouldn't happen unless the building was flattened and there was no way for them to work for us remotely/at another location...I think).
Morning, all! I'm so glad it's almost the weekend and I only have one more day of this coming to work at six nonsense
@GM: I didn't know you had a Texas office. How many branches does your company have?
@Geist: We have three here in Alberta, four if you count our downtown office. Then in the US we have one division in OKC, 4 in Texas - Marshall, Midland, Pleasanton, Houston(corporate office), 1 in PA, 1 in ND, and 1 on WY.
@LZ: So you have to work on Saturday?
@BaKhan: I haven't forgotten about the food coloring. I have been carrying them around in my purse for the past month. Since it's so close to my arrival, would it be all right if I bring them with me?
@GM: Looks like none of those offices are near me. PA is the closes but that is a 3 hour drive each way.
Ok kittens, I'm going to hop in the shower and be off. Enjoy your weekend!
@Gesit, yeah, that will work out fine! No worries! I am about to start with the baking, and I want to keep things a little easier this year. So there won't be much icing to worry about. I'm still burned out after that wedding cake. Although I do have a ton of stuff left over from that, that I should probably use up... sigh... ;)
@Geist, no, the one more day is Tuesday of next week. I have someone else coming in on Monday and Wednesday mornings. The regular opener will be back on Thursday.
Aha! Finally. For whatever reason, I've been having infinite trouble connecting to Kickstarter and one other website, but only them. I've been gone all day because I just couldn't get here for some reason!
And now that I think of it, it's the weekend and nobody'll even see this until monday anyways... oh well.
I just got back from Wendy's. I ordered a quadruple cheeseburger. When my food came, I was surprised to find that they had screwed up my order. Instead of the four patties and four slices of cheese, what should be staring back at me?
....
....
....
Five of each! It's a really good thing I didn't have lunch today, or I don't think I would have been able to finish the quintuple cheeseburger with which the place blessed me.
Just order the meat cube, they probably won't mix that up since it's pretty clearly 4, but still, as order messups go, that's a good one!
You ate 25% more, but today for supper, I'm pretty sure I ate like 3 times as much as normal. I'm still full.
Well, I didn't use the word 'quadruple'. My exact words were 'I'd like a large number three with an extra patty, please'. So, if I had asked for a meat cube, they probably still would have given me a quintuple.
well, the meat cube is an actual, off-menu item that's exactly what you were asking for. Still, yeah, how did they take "I'll have the triple, plus one" and give you +2? That's a great mix-up!
It's a fantastic mix-up!
@LZ: I don't know how your stomach managed to squeeze in a sandwich of that size. I assume you also had fries and a drink with it and if you ate all of that, it must have looked like you were carrying a baby afterwards
I got a large combo. I ate maybe 1/8th of the fries; my wife ate the rest. I drank about 2/3 of the drink.
Eating that much was a commonplace thing for me 10 or 15 years ago. And that would have been per meal. I skipped lunch yesterday, otherwise I don't think I would have finished it all.
You know it's gonna be a long day when, in your first 2 or 3 drives, your sportsball team hands the ball to the other team and opens up a path all the way to the goal for them. From there, the game kinda stalled, and then they gave us hope, then they tripped on their own shadow somehow and gave it all up.
Morning kittens!
Holy crap, did I have a busy weekend. I had great fun at the Small Press Expo. Spent the majority of my money (and went over budget) there buying t-shirts, art works, earrings and stickers. The H Street festival was a lesson in "too much of a good thing". 50,000 people with vendors stretched out over 15 city blocks. The only saving grace was that the sun went behind the clouds which cooled the air and bought a few nice breezes. With all of those vendors, you would think I would be buying up a storm, right? Nope. Most of what I saw were vendors for serves. Good thing I ate something before I got there. There was an hour long wait for any food or beer you wanted to consume and if you tried to eat in any of the restaurants, you'd have to scream at your partner to be heard over the other patrons.
The third festival was nicer. Too pricey for me but I like looking at the merchandise and shop in some of the other stores.
On another note, I finally got in contact with Cheetabutt. He didn't want to log in and get rid of the spam in the litter box nor give me admin rights so I could do it. He didn't seem interested at all. I told him I'd rather keep everything right where it was at since it had our pictures and stuff. He told me to contact Go Daddy and ask to have the rights transferred. Not sure why he drifted away from our group but I wish him the best.
@LZ: your food luck must be rubbing off. I went to a chicken joint on Saturday. Ordered the number 2 which comes with a wing, drumstick and thigh. What I got was two drumsticks and two thighs.
Morning kittens!
@Geist, glad you had such an awesome weekend! Sounds like so much fun! Too bad about CB, but what can you do? We've lost many kittens along the way, all we can do is hope that they come back some day. ;)
Speaking of food luck, I've recently discovered and become hopelessly addicted to Korean fried chicken! Holy smokes thats some good stuff there I say! I had one on Saturday that was supposed to have a little kick... I gotta say Asians know how to spice! ;) It almost took me out (I have not the host sauce tolerance of the mighty LZ you know...) I soaked a dish towel with sweat off of that chicken! It was so damn good though!
@BaKhan: Was that from a restaurant or did you make it yourself?
@BaKhan: Maybe we can try some of the mumbo sauce with the Korean fried chicken?
Geist, that sounds awesome! Just one convention after another sounds super great, but also like I'd lose my willpower and buy all the cool things. ;)
Kinda sad about CB. He was sort of the core of the corps. I don't know why, if he doesn't really want to be a part of this, he won't give you the admin rights and be done with it, though. Hope you're able to get them from GoDaddy and we can clean out the Litter Box! Also hope we can see CB again sometime, but I understand why he sort of drifted away.
@Geist it was from a restaurant. Called "YUM YUM BBQ Chicken" couldn't go wrong right? ;) I'd still like to learn how to make fried chicken though! So, don't think you're off the hook! ;) I think the thing that made it special was the sauce, not so much the fried chicken part, but they did do it right. Nice and crispy on the outside, nice and tender juicy on the inside... Damn, now I want more! ;)
BaKhan, oh lord do southeast asians know spice! Korean food isn't even the worst, but it's too much for all but the best of us sometimes!
My dad is very good with his spice. Maybe not "gimme the hottest pepper you have!" kind of good, but he typically doesn't have any problem with even extreme spice. He had a Thai friend, and once when he ate with him, my dad put in as much hot sauce as he could stand. The Thai friend just dumped like a third of the bottle in and ate it like it was cold ramen! When my dad tried it, he said he could barely breathe for a minute, and the guy just slurped it down like it was nothing!
I kind of envy them sometimes, that's skill!
@BaKhan: I was hinting of maybe letting me buy some when I arrive next month. That chicken sounds real real good.
Morning kittens.
Morning GM! How was your weekend?
@Geist: I think I ate too much sugar on Saturday...aside from that, it wasn't bad. The cake we had Sat night was chocolate, with raspberry or strawberry or cherry jam(couldn't really tell which, just that it was super sweet), and chocolate icing, with chocolate gnash on it. Such a rich, and sweet cake...even the small piece I had was probably too much.
@GM: chocolate frosting AND ganuche? Eww. Even I couldn't eat that and I LOVE sugar.
@Geist, well, I could probably eat fried chicken every night for quite a while before needing to have something else... so we could definitely get some while you're up! ;)
@GM, a cake like that should have almost a bitter chocolate for the layers of cake to balance the rest of that sugar! ;) It did sound tasty though... ;)
@BaKhan: It was definitely tasty...and not even a dense cake. It was nice a fluffy.
@Geist: I love sugar too...but for me it's a terrible thing to have in large quantities(at least, more so that a normal person).
Sorry to bring the discussion a bit down from sugar and delicious treats, but I just did some very interesting thinking.
You know how many people say "forgive and forget"? Well, my philosophy is exactly the opposite: forget and forgive. Over time, I forget even very serious transgressions, and I very rarely harbor a grudge for more than even a week or so for very serious issues. Once I've forgotten, it's forgiven. Clearly it wasn't bad enough for me to think of that person as a literal demon and avoid them for life, so I don't ever hold it against them, and in fact I love to try to patch things up and be friends again, or at least not end on a sour note.
`
For instance, there are some people who've caused me serious emotional and mental trauma. I'm still socially crippled because of it. Imagine what it takes to MAKE someone introverted. Yet, just this weekend, one of the people who treated me the absolute worst in my entire life, very possibly even THE worst, just had her 21st birthday, and I was one of 3 close friends there from high-school drinking and joking and partying with the rest! It's always baffled me that I so don't harbor grudges that I'm now good friends with 2 of the 3 people who actually made me into a socially-crippled severe introvert, people who actually for the only time in my life made me even think of being severely depressed or even harming myself.
Am I just weird in this? Is this ability in fact another product of my experiences? I think maybe I was in such a bad place that I gave up on feeling bad or holding things against people, and in fact I remember the day I knew that those people would be cool one day and I would be their friend, a virtual prophecy as it turns out!
`
Sorry to detract from delightful delectables, let's go back to talking about those now. Speaking of which, I should grab lunch.
@Zem, sure drop something like that and then try and switch back to food....
I think it is an admirable character trait! It actually shows a maturity and a grasp on your faith that few have. This is a hard conversation to have in text but, I think that in this case it is both a product of nature and nurture. If you didn't have that capacity to start with, no amount of nurturing would have been able to bring it out. More likely it just made you more aware of it. Rather than look a gift horse in the mouth, I think you should be happy that's the way you're wired! ;)
One question though, do you still think of yourself as a socially crippled introvert? The answer to that to me would be the most telling.
The
Oh, I'm absolutely still severely introverted. That's probably permanent. I'm much more outgoing now, but... I don't know, it's hard to understand if you're not one, but I don't think I'll ever be fully able to have a stress-free interaction with people I'm not already at least well acquainted with.
I just think it's funny, though, because I know so many people who've taken a minor event as reason to cut a person straight out of their life, someone they were the closest of friends with just a month or two before. I know so many people with stories of how they're no longer even associated with someone, even (especially) family, because of some past event or disparate belief, and to me it's just unthinkable, I can't understand it at all. Sometimes, yes, there's a good reason, but often I think I'd have trouble completely shunning someone from ever contacting me again if they legitimately attempted to murder me!
`
But thanks! And yeah, it's pretty interesting come to think of it that it might be partially nature as well. Almost as if I might be the antithesis of naturally paranoid people. I feel sorry for people who often think someone has an ulterior motive and can't trust or sometimes forgive trespassers, but then that shows another thing about me that links into this topic: I'm very trusting. Sometimes too much, though it hasn't actually been too much of a problem, not many people actually want to abuse trust or loyalty, they're valuable commodities.
Morning kittens.
Just got word that, despite it being written in the rule book at work, any days that we take off have to be PTO days. Never mind that I had over 91 hours logged in despite the fact that I took off Friday. Apparently, we get punished if we try to have a life. My manager would much rather we burn out than have a balance. Just another reason why I've got to switch careers.
Morning kittens!
@Zem, seriously, I think its best we table that conversation for barstools and brass taps... ;) I think that self awareness is the key to growing as a person. I'm proud of you man!
@Geist, you know it all too well! I'm so sorry that its so hard to find employers that value you, and actually want you to be happy. Everyone knows that happy staff, make for a happy, productive, great place to work. This is common knowledge, right? Why then are so many managers so poor at doing it then? Studies have found that job satisfaction is less tied to money than it is work environment. A raise will hold you over for a short bit, but when their actions don't follow along with it (ie: making you feel valued), it doesn't last, and the frustration quickly returns or exceeds previous levels. I wish nothing but the best for you, as you are an amazing person, and you deserve to be recognized as such! ;)
Morning kittens.
Hooray for fire drills first thing in the morning...when you are already waist deep in work. -.-
@GM, wow! I don't think I've participated in a fire drill since elementary school... ;)
Geist, holy cow! 91 hours? Wow, you need some time off, and you've absolutely earned it! Even more power to you when you make the leap to changing careers!
Morning kittens!
Morning kittens! I haven't been ignoring you. They dumped more work on my with uploads and I have to have all that done by the end of the week. (Only 72 hours left)
I'll check in when I can.
Wow, Geist! Well, we know you can do it! Just gotta push through all that, just keep thinking of the prize at the other end, the sweet, relaxing weekend! That I assume you have, but looking at how much work you keep getting, I wouldn't be surprised...
Morning kittens.
In other news, my company is thinking of making a lab change that would require me to get a master's degree or a phd...
@LZ, damn thats nuts! How do you feel about that, as far as getting that education, would they let you do it while keeping your position? Is there a legitimate reason for this change?
Would people with years of experience in the position need to get it? I mean, I'd assume so, but as BaKhan said, I'd also really hope they'll let you work towards that while also keeping your job. Otherwise, that's not good news for the job front.
Also, it's kind of strange. Does that job particularly need that kind of education for some reason? Or do they just want to make sure they have 100+% qualified people doing it?
@Zem: Education =/= qualified
I know people who have huge amounts of education, and aren't qualified to do their jobs because they refuse to use their brains.