The huge disadvantage to being the guy who knows how to fix everything is that everyone comes to you to fix everything.

This isn’t actually good as it creates dependence and it means when you’re out no one is doing all that much. I’m trying to break that dependence at work now by just refusing to get involved even if it takes my team 10x as long to do something. This is with my boss’s complete blessing, by the way, as he also sees it as a huge disadvantage that one dude knows everything and is needed the moment any minor or major problem crops up or there is the slightest speedbump.

It’s hard, though, watching people flail and just…letting them.

How awful would I be if I quit a job the same week I got my Christmas bonus?

Naw, man, not awful at all. Any company would fire you in a second if it benefited them. They deserve exactly the same treatment. A bonus in this and in most cases is something paid for work already done anyway.

I quit a job where I’d just vested and just received a large bonus (enough to buy a lower-end car) with no regrets. Was even invited to come back anytime to work there as they were professionals at least. Companies should be treated exactly as they would treat you — no better, no worse.

It’s the only sane way to conduct yourself.

Here’s what I wish had gotten popular rather than terrible tattoos — really weird haircuts:

Bizarre cuts have the advantage of impermanence, can do some quite creative things and don’t destroy the lines of the body. Anyway, she’s in this video if you want to see more of her cut and a bit of the back of her head:

I have no idea what the hell is going on in that vid but it’s hard to go wrong with a bunch of Druid/Goth chicks conducting arcane rituals in the woods. I surely cannot find a single thing to complain about there.

This is good, though I think all of Vivaldi sounds better on acoustic violin. And I say that as someone who loves electric violins. However, those are cool damn violins and cello. They are awesome.

Looking at the stats, most people who visit this site do it from a smartphone.

And that’s sad. In the past, I’ve thought of blocking all smartphone visits but if I did that now there’d be no traffic. Ah well. It is often true that the world regresses. We are in one of those periods now, mostly. A new Dark Age of sorts is upon us.

The first ten on today’s playlist:

One thing I love about the Sleigh Bells’ song there (besides that it’s just a great song) is that the phrase “Rill Rill” is never in the song. But thinking about it, that is true of all songs that are instrumentals (that one is not).

Obama was a worse president than Trump, and it wouldn’t even be close if it hadn’t been for Trump’s hamfisted attempted coup at the end of his term. Obama intentionally torpedoed the largest opportunity for a president (and Congress) to improve Americans’ lives since the 1930s and then allowed millions to lose their homes to keep Wall Street happy. Relatedly, he also gleefully oversaw the largest loss of Black wealth in US history.

And he was in office longer — he was fucking things up for two entire terms and Trump only managed one. Obama was also competent while Trump bungled most things he attempted which thus allowed Obama to do more damage.

Trump was a mistake; Obama was a tragedy.

This comment takes me back.

I do not miss the days of having to explain that the computer having “wireless” means it still needs power to work. And that, yes, you still have to plug in a USB cable too if that item works off USB. And also no, we do not have anything in IT to magically automate your job (though I guess these days I could point them at ChatGPT).

I swear, people get around computers and their IQ drops to the level of hamster. Makes no damn sense.

Americans are weird. Most of them believe mild nudity is worse than torture and murder. We are a deeply fucked-up people.

Brick and mortar retail appears to be in a death spiral now, largely of its own making. More and more places have many items effectively unreachable now behind locked cabinets and are severely understaffed — meaning that one would have to spend 10-45 minutes (or more) hunting down already-harried staff to unlock the cabinet so you can get your laundry detergent or Q-Tips.

This is not a smart nor winning strategy and is very much MBA thinking. It means I will be unlikely to buy much from Target or Walmart again if I can get it online. Also, because of this chronic understaffing the lines are extremely long. And I sure won’t stand in them. Many people will make the same decision.

So, Amazon it is I guess. Don’t gotta stand in no lines or wait an eternity to have a cabinet unlocked. And what I want comes right to my door without me doing anything. Sounds vastly superior to the alternative that exists now.