finance people: so my best friend has a baby and she's trying to figure out if she should invest in a 529 or a CD. she's got a bunch of concerns for either but wants to know what the better option is. james says CDs aren't good but 529s seem like a big risk.

— ghost wife (@eponawest) January 18, 2020

No, no, no, no FUCKING WAY should you do a CD for this. Just no no no no no.

Why do people think this way? This is common, so I am not critizing her specifically. CDs are terrible investments at the best of times but over an 18+ year time frame they are and will be tragic underperformers.

A CD should not even be considered in this case. Almost anything is better than this option.

Many liberals today get so angry when you point out that our bad economy is a major contributor to the rise of the far right. But here’s a 2009 report from Obama’s Department of Homeland Security making that exact point. pic.twitter.com/ykqgSoLX5e

— Walker Bragman (@WalkerBragman) October 28, 2018

The truth basically doesn’t matter to anyone. Facts are irrelevant and becoming more so by the day. I used to think liberals were better than conservatives, but they’re not. It’s just that their fantasies sometimes accidentally comport with a version of the real world more often than conservative’s imaginings. It’s just that, though: accidental. I wish I could believe anything else but the evidence is just too apparent.

“Being occasionally destroyed is, I think, a necessary part of the human experience.”

-Catherine Lacey in Nobody Is Ever Missing

I watched Ready or Not with Samara Weaving.

A sharp little movie that was buried putatively because it was to be released shortly after a mass shooting (which movie is not, these days?), but really was shelved because it’s extremely anti-plutocrat, portraying them as people who’ve sold their souls and relinquished their humanity for wealth, but aren’t actually even really competent at anything. So, much like real life.

Weaving gives a great performance as Grace. I can’t explain this scene in depth because it’d require too much background, but following the carnage she endures, and all the trauma that she’s experienced, after her husband who of late had been trying to murder her explodes in front of her, some of his blood and viscera splatters into Grace’s mouth and onto her face.

She’s already seen and done so much she’s not disgusted by it, or really bothered by anything anymore. She smacks her lips a few times and gives an almost-perceptible look saying, “Ok, whatever” and almost seems to be laughing at herself — presumably at the contrast of who she was a few hours before to now, from happy bride to mouth filled with blood in a burning house.

It’s a great scene, both explosive in its effects and subtle in its acting. It’s a flawless juxtaposition. (And I’d bet the lip smacks were improvised.) Lady has talent. Movie is good. Recommended.

Had an online algorithm white board exam for an iOS native position. Neither Swift nor Objective-C was an option in the software. The interviewer wouldn’t let me use C because he only knew Java. At the end of the interview he said the recruiter didn’t tell him I was not technical https://t.co/Mu8hqUF7gD

— Janie Larson (@RedQueenCoder) January 17, 2020

I’ve had a whole lot of bad job interviews which just goes with being in tech I think. Many I’ve walked out on. The worst was probably one where I was supposed to be interviewing for a Windows/Exchange admin position and the interviewer kept asking me mainframe and AS/400 questions. I said that I wasn’t familiar with those technologies, never said I was, and I was unsure why I was being asked about those as I had no interest in or experience with them.

The interviewer aggressively said to my polite query, “I’ll ask about whatever I want to ask about,” and I said, “Well, I’ll leave whenever I want to leave, then,” stood up and did just that.

Always stuns people. But the fucks I do not give are vast.