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Samson's Wig

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Posts posted by Samson's Wig

  1. 47 minutes ago, gmr548 said:
    2 hours ago, Samson said:
    All but one summer camp my kids were enrolled in has been cancelled (and that one is now online remote camp - should be awesome [eye-roll]), from the first week of summer to the last.  Refunds have been processed.  It's a done deal.  It's going to be interesting to see how many try to sell parents on signing up and forking money over again and how many camps (and parents) just say fuck it.

    I'm gonna go out on a limb and say, at this point, there are plenty of parents who would still pay you if you promised to never give the kid back.

    No doubt, I'm one of them.  But the summer camp planning and signup process is such a fucking nightmare every year, and I could see some folks just saying, "to hell with it I'm not going through that twice in the same calendar year".

  2. 1 hour ago, C-Man said:

    As per Gov Abbott, we are going to 50% capacity at restaurants and bars are open to 25% capacity starting Friday.

    Summer school is open 6/1 if districts choose and it sounds like all summer camps are OK to proceed starting then too.

    All but one summer camp my kids were enrolled in has been cancelled (and that one is now online remote camp - should be awesome [eye-roll]), from the first week of summer to the last.  Refunds have been processed.  It's a done deal.  It's going to be interesting to see how many try to sell parents on signing up and forking money over again and how many camps (and parents) just say fuck it.

  3. I had laser surgery to correct astigmatism and nearsightedness.  I was nearsighted, but never understood exactly that it meant my close up vision was actually better than 20/20, as things were essentially magnified for me up close.  I just couldn't see shit at a distance and was tired of wearing glasses.    After the procedure, I'm 20/20 and see great near and far, but I was so accustomed to seeing thing up close with super-vision, that plain old 20/20 makes me want to reach for reading glasses.  If I had understood it better prior to the surgery, I may not have done it.  But at least I can drive, fish, hike, etc, without prescription shades on. 

  4. This one will fucking tear you up, so fair warning.   I can't imagine what these guys are going through, but damn if it isn't a good reminder to stay aware of your kids' mental health as best you can.

     

     

    • Like 1
  5. On 5/11/2020 at 4:21 PM, Lobo said:

    Every fucking street in Texas has the cock-sucking piece of shit that wants to grow St. Augustine grass.  9 times outta 10, in my experience, it's a guy who says, "I'm 5th generation Texan.  I hunt, I fish.  I know what's what.  I respect nature."  But the dumb fuck is the reason we're running out of water and I look forward to him dying soon.  The absolutely disgusting disrespect that some "outdoorsman" pay to Texas' resources blows me away.  As we say among groups of people with normal intelligence...you're either a Conservationist, a Preservationist, or a "Saint Augustine Sportsman"  If you don't know how water, flora, and fauna work...stay the fuck inside. 

    Don't you live in/around Austin?  You must be pissed all the time.  That shit is in just about every single yard.

  6. On 2/7/2020 at 12:07 PM, Biff Tannen said:

    I'm 37 and technically a millennial (Oregon Trail Generation is the preferred nomenclature) and you know my feelings on that hideous beast.

    I hear this one from time to time and it's a bit of a head-scratcher.  Oregon Trail was first released in 1971 (although not widely until '78).  You were born in 82/83, didn't hit elementary school until 87/88, and wouldn't have been of an age to access that game until around '92 or '93.  What on earth does what was at the time you played it, an relatively ancient game that people were playing on an Apple II half a decade before you were born?   I think people will come up with anything to not be called a Millennial, but sorry dude - that's your generation.  You were in high school for 9/11.  You're a prime Millennial.  Someone in their mid forties could maybe make an argument for "Oregon Trail Generation", but they're already generally considered GenX and safe from Millennial shaming.  Someone who was in fifth or sixth grade circa 1985 (when the game had a wide rerelease) would probably have the best claim for the OTG moniker, and I've seen some reasonable arguments that those born 75-79 fit the bill for a pocket generation between X and M.  But born in 82/83?  You're just in denial, man.  :)

    • Like 3
  7. 52 minutes ago, XYZ said:

    Regarding education one thing that some countries do that the USA doesn’t want to do is to segregate the students, as in, the smart students go to this school, the so-so students go to this other school, and the special ed students go to this special ed school. In Austin ISD the special ed kid that requires an aid and drools on him/herself and can hardly participate in any classroom activity is in the same classroom as everyone else. That is insane.

    Inclusive classrooms.  Some egghead genius who never taught a day in his life came up with that one back in the 80's, and it has permeated public schools ever since.  It was a feel good message, so it was easy to sell to parents.  It has since been proven to be absolutely terrible for all parties involved, but states have enjoyed how much cheaper it is than providing different facilities and special teachers for these kids.  If you've ever had a kid in a classroom with a severely disabled student, especially at the elementary level, it's clear that all that happens is the teacher spends the majority of her day dealing with the kid who stands to benefit the least from being in that classroom while the other kids suffer.  The net result is entire classrooms full of kids missing an entire year of education in the crucial early years.  It's certainly not the only reason our nation is full of dumbasses, but it doesn't help.  Meanwhile, the special needs kid doesn't gain much at all which is even more terrible than what happens to the other kids.  But it makes some parents feel better and state budgets love it, so...

    I think the approach you describe above regarding separating out the more academically driven kids from the norms does happen here, just not on separate campuses.  Perhaps that would be better, I dunno (public school educated).

    • Like 2
  8. 10 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

    Well, it shows that the progression of premiums in the small-business context is just about as bad as ACA (but I imagine you still get better actual coverage than I do).  

    Large-employer health plans seem to be maintaining halfway reasonable premiums, as per usual.

    Unless you connect the rise in small-group premiums to ACA.

    I assumed you meant something along the lines of, "at least we're fucked either way".  Just wanted to be sure. 

    We were on ACA plans early on, but the options dried up in Texas when the major carriers bailed around 2015/16.  We shifted into a small group policy at that time rather than providing a stipend to everyone. I've got employees in multiple states and the business covers 100% of premiums for everyone so we needed a national carrier.  Outside of Texas, and other states who didn't play ball, there were/are some decent options on the ACA.  I haven't looked at ACA in a while so perhaps the big carriers came back in to Texas?     

    Like most well intended legislation involving subsidies, the ACA robbed the little the guy to help out other little guys and the rich just get richer.  I'd like to think that the current situation we're in will motivate folks on all sides to come up with a better way of doing things, but I won't hold my breath.

    • Like 1
  9. I used to find Nextdoor somewhat entertaining.  It was a great way to find a quick laugh at your neighbor's expense, or at the least weed out the assholes/racists/etc. in the area without having to engage them directly.

    Lately that place is a bigger shit show than ever.  The media has done too good of a job of scaring the shit out of everybody and now the finger waggers really think they have some moral high ground from which to preach from.  There's undoubtedly some red meat mouth breathers spewing their garbage on there as well, but in our area the extremists are those who are just so eaten up with fear that they call out anyone who even leaves their house.  The most common complaint is along the lines of, "I saw people out jogging and not wearing a mask. They're going to kill us all!  Someone should call 311 and get this taken care of!"   Reading that stupidity makes one wonder how we'll recover as a society after this mess.  People are fucking crazy.

    Anyway - if you're not bummed out enough from everything going on, go have a look at Nextdoor and learn just how shitty your neighbors really are.  A crisis has brought out the worst in them.

    • Like 4
  10. 23 hours ago, CHIEF said:

    I've been lucky enough to see two. One was when I was on a walk with Mrs. CHIEF down to the waterfall on Bull Creek right off of 360. The other one was up at Stillhouse Hollow one time. I feel pretty lucky, apparently coral snake sightings are really rare in central Texas.

     

    CHIEF

    We live near Bull Creek and 360.  Corals are a fairly regular sighting around here.  So are rattlers and copperheads.

  11. 14 hours ago, BrazilHorn said:

    My 13 yo was fucking with my 10 yo Ipad so my 10 yo changed the password and now of course has forgotten it. Can't get stupid thing to trigger factory reset. So my mental health getting ready to be impacted if I have to listen to more crying over this fucking device.

    Dude.  Just leave the house now and don't look back.  There is no other way out of this.

    • Like 1
  12. Yeah, those gender questions are bound to upset some folks.  Although if they had offered more options that would have upset some folks as well.   Maybe they should just stop asking questions.

  13. 1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

    Dyson doing amazing stuff, designing a ventilator specific to the needs of covid patients, in 10 days.  

    https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/26/tech/dyson-ventilators-coronavirus/index.html

    “Dyson has received an order from the UK government for 10,000 ventilators to support efforts by the country's National Health Service to treat coronavirus patients. 

    James Dyson, the company's billionaire founder, confirmed the order in a letter to employees shared with CNN on Wednesday.

    'Desperate' shortage of ventilators for coronavirus patients puts manufacturers on wartime footing

    "A ventilator supports a patient who is no longer able to maintain their own airways, but sadly there is currently a significant shortage, both in the UK and other countries around the world," Dyson wrote.

    Dyson said the company had designed and built an entirely new ventilator, called the "CoVent," since he received a call 10 days ago from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

    "This new device can be manufactured quickly, efficiently and at volume," Dyson added, saying that the new ventilator has been designed to "address the specific needs" of coronavirus patients.

    A spokesperson for the company, which is best known for its vacuum cleaners and hand dryers, said the ventilators would be ready by early April. Dyson, who has wealth worth $10 billion according to Bloomberg, wrote in his letter that he would also donate 5,000 units to the international effort to tackle the pandemic. 

    "The core challenge was how to design and deliver a new, sophisticated medical product in volume and in an extremely short space of time," he added. "The race is now on to get it into production."

    WTF is Elon doing?

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