Useless Conversation

[DevilsAdvocate25]

I don't know how you get through therapist school and tell people "Just stop it".

Niacin could be good also, haven't tried it.

Sounds like you had Bob Newhart as your therapist. 

[Signe]

I once dumped an entire serving tray of paper cups filled with beer on someone who was just about to walk out on a stage in front of a gazillion people.  I was embarrassed for years.  I can laugh about it now.  Kinda.

[Miasma]

Biggest mistake I've ever heard of was working at a large bank (I wasn't involved it just became legend in IT there).

The bank had a particularly large merger between two corporations to reconcile, at this time (some years ago) the dollar amount was so large it would have blown the mainframe counters in the jobs run overnight.  The solution was to set a boolean (true/false for non IT people) flag to indicate that this huge number was being transferred and then looping the value over and over to deal with it in smaller, more manageable chunks.

So, the night of the merger comes.  The huge amount is noted and the boolean flag is set so the next transactions will depost five hundred million dollars each.  It works like a charm!  No problem, the merger is complete and went flawlessly!

Unfortunately, no one had put in the code to reset that boolean value...  So, the rest of the night's mundane transactions like payroll, mortgage payments, simple cheques and so on all had five hundred million dollars tacked on.  People were made incredibly rich or horrificly in debt over night.  Holidays over Christmas were cancelled to handle all the fubar'd transactions.

[Engels]

I dropped a latte on the server room floor on my first day at a job. Not a well tended server room, I should add. One with cables all across the floor, a few computers on the floor itself, not on racks. Nothing happened, but not exactly the best first impression.

[Paelos]

I once messed up the calculating values of a spreadsheet with a plug number that didn't tie. The client then took the numbers into a sales meeting and got clubbed over the head for having numbers that didn't add up, and it blew a potential line of credit loan. That wasn't a fun meeting afterwards.

[Ironwood]

Hey, question :

President dies 7 years in.  Vice is sworn in.

I naturally assume that after a year, there's a normal re-election.  Can the Vice now stand ?  If so, can he/she do a full 8 ?

[bhodi]

I love my vibrams, but I hate looking like a d-bag in public. So, I switched to Merills.

[Chimpy]

Hey, question :

President dies 7 years in.  Vice is sworn in.

I naturally assume that after a year, there's a normal re-election.  Can the Vice now stand ?  If so, can he/she do a full 8 ?

The term limit is two elected terms. If a president died a month (or I guess, technically, even a minute) after taking the oath of office, the vice president would be able to serve the remainder of that term plus two more.

[Ironwood]

Cheers.

[Merusk]

That's wrong.

The text of the 22nd amendment says if you act as President for more than 2 years of a term it counts as a full term towards the limit.  So it's possible to be President for only 6 years but serve two full terms.

[Cyrrex]

Hey, question :

President dies 7 years in.  Vice is sworn in.

I naturally assume that after a year, there's a normal re-election.  Can the Vice now stand ?  If so, can he/she do a full 8 ?

JUST WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING.

[Ironwood]

That's wrong.

The text of the 22nd amendment says if you act as President for more than 2 years of a term it counts as a full term towards the limit.  So it's possible to be President for only 6 years but serve two full terms.

So what happens then ?  They call an election half-way into the term ?

And nothing Cyrrex, was just watching some shitty film where this happened and wondered.

...

honest.

[Cyrrex]

You pose an interesting question, actually.  Would they just hold the election during the mid-term?  My mind is a little blown.

Or wait....Maybe it is just saying that the VP in that scenario only gets the time served, plus an additional four.  So he finishes out the term of just over two years, does one more term, and that is considered 2 terms (even if in reality it is just over 1.5).

[Chimpy]

Elections are kept on the same schedule. They would just be barred from running for re-election.

[Merusk]

No, elections would still be every 4 years.

If the President is replaced 2 years in, then the following 2 years count as a full term for the replacement. So the prior example of "Well president dies a minute after taking his Oath of Office. VP can fulfill and then run for re-election twice" is wrong. The VP would only have one more election he could be the candidate in. Meaning they'd be President for only 6 years.  

If the President were replaced 2 1/2 years in, THEN the new President could run in the next 2 follow-up elections, meaning they could have served as President more than 8 years.  We have examples of both possible scenarios: Johnson and Ford.

Might be easier to just reference Wiki at this point. : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

[Morat20]

The 22nd Amendment rounds the replacement term. Less than half? Counts as zero. Half or more? Counts as a full term, for the "no more than two terms" rule. :)

[Yegolev]

I don't know how you get through therapist school and tell people "Just stop it".

Niacin could be good also, haven't tried it.

Sounds like you had Bob Newhart as your therapist. 

THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING OF!

HP still big on work-from-home for employees?  I never minded that at first, but it sucked after a while.

I'm not sure about HP in general, but HPES (previously EDS) is.  Also I am.  I'm not sure I know anyone that doesn't work in ES.

Last week during a team meeting, we discussed how silly Yahoo is being with the removal of remote working.  Although someone said that Yahoo reviewed the VPN logs and not many people were logging in.  Maybe it makes sense for Yahoo but not from the CEO level.  I'm betting that they want to thin out the workforce, but I don't think this is a great tactic.  Alternately, the executives are stupid.

[Merusk]

There's plenty of reasons to have collaborative workers meet in an office in design and technology fronts.  The least of which is overhearing conversations between coworkers and adding your expertise and experiences from a similar situation.   

Yeah, we could all work from home and Skype the office expert on something, but we'd never overhear a question two pods over and be able to point out, "oh hey, Reno requires water heater bracing and structural nailing patterns on the drawings, too."  Even experts forget things, or aren't aware of notations made on plan review comments that someone else dealt with.

I'm not sure IT has the same requirements, though.

[Yegolev]

This is what emails to the team are for.

However, yes, some easy collaboration is lost.  When working remotely, you do have to actually put some effort into collaboration instead of relying on luck.

[Merusk]

My department is 40 people. It'd get noisy really quick and it's not the same.  My team is me and my client relations guy.  That's less productive.

It'd be interesting if it had become the norm though.  Loyalty both ways is reduced in a removed environment.  Less stress about cutting people loose if you've only been e-mailing them.  "Jones, your poject is over. See ya."   Another step to everyone being an independent contractor, hired-on for brief use and then left to hop on the next contract gig.

It's a tool like any other.  Works for some things, not for others.  As I said, design is a very collaborative thing.  I can't imagine it working at all for our designers and interiors folks who need to be around the materials library and discussing on a multi-hour and at-will basis.

[Morat20]

One of my coworkers has complained his productivity has halved since the cubicals around him filled up. He used to be pretty isolated (by request) in a far corner that was mostly empty, and thus quiet.

Ambient noise and such is apparently a real distraction to some people.

In other news: My dog (the old one) went to the vet today. Fine yesterday, woke up this morning and she was sluggish and turning up her nose at food and treats, and by afternoon didn't even want to get up. Take her in, she's running 106 temp -- which is apparently "oh shit" levels for dogs. The vet does an exam, finds nothing obvious, she hasn't been into anything or licked up poison or anything (as far as I know)....

So X-rays and bloodwork (fucking expensive) that shows...nothing good. Nothing at all good. It boils down to it being one of a handful of things. One of which is treatable (immune system going a little apeshit, fucking up blood cells and generally being a dick) -- steroids, fluids, and antibiotics to handle whatever started it and it'll probably fix itself. No actual sign of infection (no elevated white count, no cuts, no sore spots,no nothing).

The other things -- maybe a mass/lump on her liver or spleen (the vet was really iffy on that, thought it was just an artifact from the way she was laying for the Xray). Internal bleeding of some sort that's not showing up. Liver or bone marrow cancer. In short -- shit that can't be fixed. Not on a young dog, not on an 12 year old one.

So I left her there overnight, so she could get fluids and her meds. The vet really suggested an animal hospital, but the only difference is if she died overnight, someone would notice. They really couldn't DO anything -- not if she's sick enough to die. (Remember, she was fine 24 hours ago).

So either she'll be noticeably better tomorrow, will have died overnight (and alone, sadly, but at least getting some fluids and some meds that'll make her at least feel a little better), or will probably have to be put to sleep tomorrow. :(

Fucking sucks. I've had that dog for over a decade. Hell, I use a picture of her for my Facebook profile. (I'm far more goofy looking).

And of course, the vet bill was outrageously high. :( X-rays cost a lot.

[IainC]

Manhugs Morat. That's the sucky end of the deal we make when we bring a pet into our lives. Hope she's better tomorrow, everything crossed for the old girl.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Manhugs Morat. That's the sucky end of the deal we make when we bring a pet into our lives. Hope she's better tomorrow, everything crossed for the old girl.

Yeah. Sucks that pets don't live long enough for us to return all the love they give us. Hope it turns out for the best.

((Hugs))

[Nebu]

Sorry Morat.  That sucks. 

[Evildrider]

I know what are you going through Morat, my condolences.

My Lab, Buddy, of 10 years had to be put down last week.  His liver was failing and red blood cells were turning against him.  His skin and eyes had went yellow and they pretty much told me there was nothing we could do. 

He went from a lilttle lab puppy my uncle found on the side of the road to the best dog I've ever had.

[Yegolev]

All the best.  Happened to me last year.  Very shitty.

[Morat20]

Well, it looked like she might be getting better this morning, but afraid not. She died this morning.

On the bright side, it was pretty quick all told. She was barking and being a pain about treats, playing with the other dog, and generally being active on Sunday. The vet didn't think there was much pain. (At least the fever had broke so she was more comfortable).

It's kinda weird not knowing what, exactly, caused the problem in the end -- just there was internal bleeding. (If she swallowed something, it didn't show up on X-rays). Given she seemed to be bleeding in a number of places (lungs and intestines, at least), it was probably something long term (they'd been worried about her liver for years and the vet was obviously thinking bone marrow problems yesterday) that just hit a tipping point.

Dogs are totally worth it, but this part sucks so much. And strangely, I'm most upset because it was almost summer and she'd taken to swimming in my father-in-law's pool the last few years. That and laying on a step in the water, trying to chew her bone and getting confused when she couldn't figure out how to chew her bone without submerging her face. She'd get...irritated. :)

[Signe]

I'm sorry, Morat.    

[Engels]

Blech dude. Been there, done that. Never feels fair.

[WayAbvPar]

 

That sucks. Have a cat going on 10 and am dreading the future.

[Reg]

Same here. My cat is 12 now and I'm dreading the first signs of a decline. He's always been an indoor cat and apparently that about doubles their life expectancy to 15. If I'm really lucky he'll turn out to be one of the rare cats that lives to be 20 or 25.

And sorry Morat. I know how it feels to lose a dog you've had for years too.

[Engels]

My first cat was an outdoor city dweller cat that lived to be 19 after living in two countries and three states. So you can never tell.

[HaemishM]

Sorry to hear that Morat. My first dog Snow Beast just turned 8 this year and I'm dreading the shit out of when she finally dies. Nothing like the loyalty and love a pet gives you.

[Furiously]

Sorry to hear that Morat. My first dog Snow Beast just turned 8 this year and I'm dreading the shit out of when she finally dies. Nothing like the loyalty and love a pet gives you.

So odd...  I remember you posting puppy picture what seemed a week ago.

[Soln]

Sorry to hear that Sir.