Random Thoughts That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread Go Here

[Ksyrup]

Great minds...

[NobodyHere]

Yeah I thought that the whole litter box thing was conservative propaganda. Don't tell me it's true.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by tarcone

So my Asst. Principal is saying that 2 large neighboring school districts have put litter boxes in the bathrooms of their schools. The custodians are expected to clean these boxes.

Is that really legit? Or is like "my conservative/regressive Assistant Principal is making up stories like Nicki Minaj's cousin's friend from two school districts over because Tucker Carlson likes to rail against things that don't exist"?

SI

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Is that really legit? Or is like "my conservative/regressive Assistant Principal is making up stories like Nicki Minaj's cousin's friend from two school districts over because Tucker Carlson likes to rail against things that don't exist"?

SI

It's been a fake conservative thing for a while. It started on facebook and some politicians of course ran with it.

https://apnews.com/article/nebraska-...78b58641c4a75e

[tarcone]

He is conservative, but I dont think a trumper. I asked a guy I teach with whose wife works in one of those districts if it is true.

Will update.

[21C]

From January 2022
Did a Michigan School District Install Litter Boxes in Bathrooms? | Snopes.com

[CrimsonFox]

my brain is trying to deal with children remainds in suitcases and what that would look lioke after a few years...and litter boxes in places they shouldn't be and trying to work out if they are related

[stevew]

Every time the Furries come to Pittsburgh there’s a bunch of litter box talk but there’s never any pictures to back it up. Like surely they’d get put on blast

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by 21C

From January 2022
Did a Michigan School District Install Litter Boxes in Bathrooms? | Snopes.com

do you remember back when moron bush jr claimed there were human-animal hybrids being created and they must be stopped?

it's kinda like that

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

do you remember back when moron bush jr claimed there were human-animal hybrids being created and they must be stopped?

it's kinda like that

I remember a lot of his shenanigans and like to bring them up but this one I don't remember. I'm going to have to go Google this today

SI

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

do you remember back when moron bush jr claimed there were human-animal hybrids being created and they must be stopped?

it's kinda like that

I thought Bush Jr was confirmed to be a lizard person.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by tarcone

He is conservative, but I dont think a trumper. I asked a guy I teach with whose wife works in one of those districts if it is true.

Will update.

Considering how much projection seems to be the political tool of the day, might want to check and see if he's got a litter box hiding in a closet in his office

SI

[Edward64]

Kinda funny. I chuckled at each pic but think 6/25 would get my vote.

Mullet Championship: Meet the top kid's finalists

[Ksyrup]

What an upset - not a single KY finalist. They were hyping some kid on the news stations here but I guess he didn't make the cut.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

What an upset - not a single KY finalist. They were hyping some kid on the news stations here but I guess he didn't make the cut.

[CrimsonFox]

maaaaaaan

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Or maybe he made too much of a cut!

[Ksyrup]

Apparently KY's younger mullet crop isn't up to snuff.

The teen division is where it's at!

Josh is the local favorite.

Kentucky, Ohio kids go all out for USA Mullet Championships

[miami_fan]

I may start a parent support group for those of us who have HS school kids. Things seem to have change since I did this a decade ago.

When did high school become Spirit Airlines? Things that were just part of going to high school when my oldest went a decade ago are now coming at a cost.

There are course fees for PE/Health. There is a specific CTE course fee for his computer class. Finally, there are district fees which include a general fee, a PE locker rental fee, a special project fee, and student technology service fee. I also see there will be a school locker fee when they issue those out.

Is this the way things are now?

[NobodyHere]

Is there a fee for using the litter box or is that complementary?

[Ksyrup]

Not here. Now, certain clubs/sports may have costs, and things like AP courses or special interest courses might have an additional fee or extra expense associated with them (my daughter took a culinary class that didn't have a fee, but they were expected to buy the food they would cook), but not things at the level of general district fees for lockers. Sports tickets cost extra, but it wasn't a fee everyone had to pay. You could buy per game or a year sports pass that got you in to every home game for every sport.

[flere-imsaho]

Speaking as someone who has volunteered for our K-8 district's finance advisory board for 3 years now it's generally happened because:

• Revenue is typically restricted by statutory mandate. For instance, our district can only raise the property tax levy annually by 5% or CPI, whichever is lower.
• Cost can easily escalate faster than revenue. One slip in negotiating a new contract with a teachers' union, for instance, so that the overall cost escalates higher than CPI (which you can't predict anyway), and you soon have an upside-down balance sheet.
• Related to the above, there are more and more unfunded mandates each year, from governing bodies (state, federal) which have all the authority to enforce those mandates, but no responsibility whatsoever to fund them.
• If you have an underwhelming finance department in the corporate sector and they screw you up, there are a lot of remedies available to restructure debt, cashflows, etc.... By comparison, the remedies available to school districts (due, again, to statute) can be counted on one hand.

I don't want to absolve school districts (or school boards) of all responsibility, but keeping a district budget in the black requires a lot of careful planning and diligence and, quite frankly, luck.

[miami_fan]

That is good insight flere. Thanks. It makes sense now that I think about it.

[miami_fan]

Wife and son went to the high school football game so I have nothing better to do but post on FOFC.

Born November 25, 1971, Christina Applegate is 18,530 days old today, matching Wilford Brimley's age on the day 'Cocoon' was released. Congrats @1capplegate! You've reached the Brimley/Cocoon Line. pic.twitter.com/YFfqBnfLxG

— Brimley/Cocoon Line (@BrimleyLine) August 19, 2022

[Edward64]

I don't remember Cocoon too much but would have sworn he was (or looked) much older than 50 in that movie.

[tarcone]

The worlds heaviest pug is 46.2 pounds.

My pug got to 40 pounds but lost a couple.

The world record stated above is 9 pounds heavier than the previous record.

In my mind that mean I have the 2nd heaviest pug of all time!!!!!!!! And my pug is only 3 years old. Lots of girth ahead.

FUCKING AWESOME!

[tarcone]

animals world: World's Heaviest Pug


My pugs legs are longer. He has more room for growth as he is not over weight as is.

Im going for the world record.

[Edward64]

This sounds interesting. I like tempura but can't quite imagine what this will taste like with the special sauce.

Beginning later this month, the burger chain is testing the fan favorite at select restaurants in Miami for a limited time. The Chicken Big Mac is similar to its meaty sibling, however it replaces the two burgers with two tempura chicken patties. Of course, it also includes the signature Big Mac sauce, pickles, shredded lettuce and a slice of American cheese.

[stevew]

It’s a troupe that the “heavy” or “cleaner” type guy drives a early 2000s American sedan typically. Think Mike Ehrmantraut type. Well those kind of cars are rapidly becoming extinct. So in 15 years what does this type of character drive? Is it maybe like a 2010 Ford Fusion or a Chevy Malibu. or would it morph into something like an explorer or CRV.

Anyways that’s my random thought.

[Austin90]

Hey Guys! Just wanted proudly announce my engagement! It's been a long time coming, I've been going around ranting about it on anywhere I can think of. That happened to include this forum too! I'm getting help from Love&Lavendar to plan things out, and I've never been more excited!

[Lathum]

47 years after I was born I am going to talk to my biological father on the phone tomorrow and I have no idea what I am going to say.

[Ksyrup]

Do you know any of the circumstances surrounding your birth, or is this somewhat of a fact-finding mission?

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Lathum

47 years after I was born I am going to talk to my biological father on the phone tomorrow and I have no idea what I am going to say.

Ask him for back child support?

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Do you know any of the circumstances surrounding your birth, or is this somewhat of a fact-finding mission?

Not really. I was adopted at birth. All I know I have learned in the last couple of weeks from a biological cousin who found me on 23 and me and reached out. I suspect I will learn a lot more tomorrow if he is willing to be forthcoming.

He apparently knows I existed. What a mind fuck knowing you had a kid out there for 47 years but not knowing anything more.

[Ksyrup]

I think that's the way I would approach it. I'm sure there are a ton of emotions, not all of which are conducive to a constructive conversation, that could spill out, but I'd focus mostly on what information he is willing to provide about the circumstances, mom (do you have any idea about your birth mom), extended family, etc.

I suppose the fact that he's willing to get on a call with you means he's willing to share at least something, so I'd go the route of less emotion and more fact-finding and just see where it goes.

As far as the greeting/breaking the ice... that's a tough one for sure!

[GrantDawg]

I just watched a house burn down just around the corner from us. That was crazy.

[Kodos]

Did you just burn down a house?

[GrantDawg]

Not that anyone can prove.....
No. Weirdly, they said it was a space heater. In August. In Georgia. I suspect it was a grow light or something like that.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

[Ksyrup]

The house behind us didn't burn completely down, but the inside was gutted. Over a year ago now. 80 year old couple lived there, the guy was riding his lawnmower and it was acting up, so he put it away and got his second mower out and the first one caught fire in the garage. He had no idea, some neighbors saw the smoke, got him off the mower and they found his wife and got out.

Someone bought the house, completely renovated it, and sold it about 2 months ago at the height of the housing market.

[NobodyHere]

There's a very noisy cricket outside my patio door that needs to meet the end of a boot.

While I'm fantasizing the boot needs to be worn by a leather clad dominatrix.

Maybe that dominatrix could be Liz Cheney.

Don't judge me.

[CrimsonFox]

This snake ate himself

Using hand sanitizer to prevent the snake from swallowing himself. : Damnthatsinteresting

[21C]

I'm in the middle of a really big personal project. My parents (both deceased) were born in Poland and lived through the war before migrating separately to Australia.

My mother had a lot of negative life experiences during the war and even after when she lived for a while in the Soviet Union. She was a prolific notetaker with people's birthdays and other major events. She eventually sat down about 40 years ago and wrote her autobiography which took up 215 handwritten pages in Polish.

I have the original copy and have scanned and shared it with my two older brothers.

My own kids as well as my niece and nephews have often asked about getting an English translation of her life history. It was always a daunting task. I can speak Polish but my written Polish and my reading skills are very elementary. I didn't believe that I had the translation skills to pull it off.

Just recently I saw that Microsoft had introduced extra languages into the Office suite to allow dictation in those languages. I saw an opportunity to dictate her handwritten notes into Word and then translate it all into English.

I have been working solidly on this for the last two weeks and have just finished phase one - dictating the notes. My reading skills have improved over that time but have stumbled many times over four and five syllable Polish words. I've just started on phase two - which is proofreading the Polish and picking up errors in the speech to text. I think this will take just as long as the first phase.

The last phase will be to do the autotranslate and then improve the English translation. It often comes out messy and stilted so I want it to be an easy read.

This has been a real labor of love. I have choked up a couple of times when reading various passages. It was also a little unnerving to read that my mother wrote the last section of her story when she was about the same age that I am right now.

When I was reading this back, it started to read like it was written by a bot. I'm glad that I didn't have to include a link to a website to really sow those seeds of doubt. Don't worry. My join date is not Aug 2022.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by stevew

It’s a troupe that the “heavy” or “cleaner” type guy drives a early 2000s American sedan typically. Think Mike Ehrmantraut type. Well those kind of cars are rapidly becoming extinct. So in 15 years what does this type of character drive? Is it maybe like a 2010 Ford Fusion or a Chevy Malibu. or would it morph into something like an explorer or CRV.

Anyways that’s my random thought.

And this goes back longer than that. Mob guys always drove big, American sedans with a big trunk.

You could just see an outtake with some Joe Pesci character: "My 1983 Buick Regal may only get 12 miles to the gallon but you can stuff a whopping 4 FBI informants in the trunk with room to spare for extra tarps, bleach containers, and the rest of your kit. It's made of solid Pittsburgh steel so no matter how much they struggle, they're not getting out of this baby."

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I think that's the way I would approach it. I'm sure there are a ton of emotions, not all of which are conducive to a constructive conversation, that could spill out, but I'd focus mostly on what information he is willing to provide about the circumstances, mom (do you have any idea about your birth mom), extended family, etc.

I suppose the fact that he's willing to get on a call with you means he's willing to share at least something, so I'd go the route of less emotion and more fact-finding and just see where it goes.

As far as the greeting/breaking the ice... that's a tough one for sure!

I can't even imagine - I think if I were in that situation, it would tumble out of me something like "So... uh.... how 'bout the Mets? Look, I got nothing. I have no idea what the right ice breaker is here so this is just going to turn into some rambling fairly quickly."

SI

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by 21C

I'm in the middle of a really big personal project. My parents (both deceased) were born in Poland and lived through the war before migrating separately to Australia.

My mother had a lot of negative life experiences during the war and even after when she lived for a while in the Soviet Union. She was a prolific notetaker with people's birthdays and other major events. She eventually sat down about 40 years ago and wrote her autobiography which took up 215 handwritten pages in Polish.

I have the original copy and have scanned and shared it with my two older brothers.

My own kids as well as my niece and nephews have often asked about getting an English translation of her life history. It was always a daunting task. I can speak Polish but my written Polish and my reading skills are very elementary. I didn't believe that I had the translation skills to pull it off.

Just recently I saw that Microsoft had introduced extra languages into the Office suite to allow dictation in those languages. I saw an opportunity to dictate her handwritten notes into Word and then translate it all into English.

I have been working solidly on this for the last two weeks and have just finished phase one - dictating the notes. My reading skills have improved over that time but have stumbled many times over four and five syllable Polish words. I've just started on phase two - which is proofreading the Polish and picking up errors in the speech to text. I think this will take just as long as the first phase.

The last phase will be to do the autotranslate and then improve the English translation. It often comes out messy and stilted so I want it to be an easy read.

This has been a real labor of love. I have choked up a couple of times when reading various passages. It was also a little unnerving to read that my mother wrote the last section of her story when she was about the same age that I am right now.

When I was reading this back, it started to read like it was written by a bot. I'm glad that I didn't have to include a link to a website to really sow those seeds of doubt. Don't worry. My join date is not Aug 2022.

Ancestry stuff is always great.

Share what you can/want, but any big surprises or significant things you didn't know?

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

There's a very noisy cricket outside my patio door that needs to meet the end of a boot.

While I'm fantasizing the boot needs to be worn by a leather clad dominatrix.

Maybe that dominatrix could be Liz Cheney.

Don't judge me.

Definitely don't bring this up in your group events.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I can't even imagine - I think if I were in that situation, it would tumble out of me something like "So... uh.... how 'bout the Mets? Look, I got nothing. I have no idea what the right ice breaker is here so this is just going to turn into some rambling fairly quickly."

SI

I literally have no idea what we are going to say. I suspect most people in this spot have a lot to say, but I have never felt like there was anything missing from my life so I have never played out this scenerio.

[stevew]

Make notes of your broad points if you haven’t already.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by stevew

Make notes of your broad points if you haven’t already.

Yeah, this is a good idea - just like for a job interview

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by 21C

I'm in the middle of a really big personal project. My parents (both deceased) were born in Poland and lived through the war before migrating separately to Australia.

My mother had a lot of negative life experiences during the war and even after when she lived for a while in the Soviet Union. She was a prolific notetaker with people's birthdays and other major events. She eventually sat down about 40 years ago and wrote her autobiography which took up 215 handwritten pages in Polish.

I have the original copy and have scanned and shared it with my two older brothers.

My own kids as well as my niece and nephews have often asked about getting an English translation of her life history. It was always a daunting task. I can speak Polish but my written Polish and my reading skills are very elementary. I didn't believe that I had the translation skills to pull it off.

Just recently I saw that Microsoft had introduced extra languages into the Office suite to allow dictation in those languages. I saw an opportunity to dictate her handwritten notes into Word and then translate it all into English.

I have been working solidly on this for the last two weeks and have just finished phase one - dictating the notes. My reading skills have improved over that time but have stumbled many times over four and five syllable Polish words. I've just started on phase two - which is proofreading the Polish and picking up errors in the speech to text. I think this will take just as long as the first phase.

The last phase will be to do the autotranslate and then improve the English translation. It often comes out messy and stilted so I want it to be an easy read.

This has been a real labor of love. I have choked up a couple of times when reading various passages. It was also a little unnerving to read that my mother wrote the last section of her story when she was about the same age that I am right now.

When I was reading this back, it started to read like it was written by a bot. I'm glad that I didn't have to include a link to a website to really sow those seeds of doubt. Don't worry. My join date is not Aug 2022.

That's really cool - to have a resource like that to connect you back to a family member and family history, even some of the darker stuff.

SI