Octopus Overlords

Blackhawk wrote:This stinks. I have a couple of hours to actually watch TV. Everything I watch is caught up and on hiatus, but only for another week or two, so I don't want to start anything new.

Isgrimnur wrote:What's the book?

Prizes with a value of less than $600, including free tickets, can be collected at any NCEL retailer or Regional Office. See Regional Office location map below or use our zip code search to find a retailer near you.

Isgrimnur wrote:NC Education Lottery

Prizes with a value of less than $600, including free tickets, can be collected at any NCEL retailer or Regional Office. See Regional Office location map below or use our zip code search to find a retailer near you.

LawBeefaroni wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:NC Education Lottery

Prizes with a value of less than $600, including free tickets, can be collected at any NCEL retailer or Regional Office. See Regional Office location map below or use our zip code search to find a retailer near you.

Similar limit here I think. I've seen someone win $500 and walk across the street to cash it in.

Gas stations won't balk if they're an authorized seller because the ticket is like cash for them.

Scuzz wrote:How/Why was the Martian in the comedy/musical category at the Golden Globes?

Is that just where they put sci-fi stuff?

Remus West wrote:

Scuzz wrote:How/Why was the Martian in the comedy/musical category at the Golden Globes?

Is that just where they put sci-fi stuff?

I wondered the exact same thing last night.

Well, the gambit paid off. The Martian, director Ridley Scott’s sublime Mars survival-and-rescue thriller, won the Golden Globe tonight for best comedy/musical. Even though, some might argue, it isn’t really a comedy. (And certainly isn’t a musical.) Is that fair?

Well, producers of movies like Trainwreck and Spy, outright comedies nominated against The Martian at the Globes, would probably say no. Maybe they would even invoke the buzz phrase of the year, “category fraud,” a term usually reserved for lead actors being run in supporting to better their chances. In many ways, they’d be right to. The Martian, adapted from Andy Weir’s novel by Drew Goddard, has plenty of jokes, but it’s mostly a straight-faced paen to science and determination. So it is a stretch to classify it as a comedy.

But the two other films nominated in the category, Joy and The Big Short, arguably skirt the same line as The Martian does. Joy is the collage-like story of one woman’s drive to transcend the less than ideal circumstances of her life—there are funny parts, sure, but a lot of it is serious stuff. And The Big Short, though directed by comedy vet Adam McKay and featuring a host of lively performances from funny actors, is about the near ruination of the global economy, so it’s not exactly a laughfest. Really, this was a muddled category to begin with, as the comedy/musical category often is at the Globes.

Kasey Chang wrote:Koenigsegg calls out poser pretending to have recently driven a black One:1 at Monte Carlo.

http://jalopnik.com/koenigsegg-hilariou ... 1752283380

My beast [purple demon head] [fire] [wind or fart] for driving tonight on Monte-Carlo streets [sunglass face] [fingers signing roman numeral 5] [crescent moon] [palm tree] #BestMate @koenigsegg #OneBlack 450kn.h #IsARealMadness!

Isgrimnur wrote:I don't feel good and I wanna go home.

Isgrimnur wrote:Unfortunately, I have a couple afternoon meetings that are rather important. New project and tax reporting meetings that I need to be here for.

Isgrimnur wrote:The CIO would probably have something un-PC to say about "El Guapo".

El Guapo wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:I don't feel good and I wanna go home.

You can tell your bosses that El Guapo, on the internet forum that you sometimes post to from work, said that it's fine with him if you go home.

Skinypupy wrote:Had a nasty bout of stomach flu hit me right in the middle of a conference call yesterday. I literally had to mute the phone to puke, then try to jump back into the conversation. That was fun.

Now I just feel like I've been hit by a truck. Fuck this...I'm staying in bed.

LawBeefaroni wrote:TD;DR: found a phone in a snow bank, got on bus, bus was delayed for shift change, girl who lost phone got on bus, gave her her phone back. Odds of everything breaking that way, crazy.

Spoiler:

So I had a pre-hire physical at the other hospital yesterday. I decided to take the bus home to check out one possible commute route.

It is cold and very windy. I'd say well below zero f with wind chill. So I'm standing at the bus stop waiting for the 92 and a 151 pulls up (the 151 doesn't run on this road). Now this route has a lot of busses returning to the garage that do not stop so I ignore it but the guy opened the door and said "Going east?" I got on and said yes, told him where I was going, and he said he was going that way. I thought it was weird but he picked up someone else on the way, a very skeptical Korean woman who nonetheless wanted out of the cold too, so at least I wasn't alone if this was some kind of weird abduction. Anyway, I made it to my stop and we both thanked the driver profusely for saving us from frostbite. I went to my next stop thinking about what how it was a nice thing he did.

This bus stop is in a weird spot. It's at a high school and there is a bike-share station there. So it's not cleared of snow very well, well out into the stteet, and I'm standing on a pile of ice and snow and slush. As I'm standing there, I caught a glint of metal in the snow right in front of me and upon inspection, realize it's a cell phone. I look around and there is no one, except for the Korean woman across the street. I pick it up, dust it off, and try to power it on thinking to call/text someone to let them know I found it. The "needs charging" thing comes up, which is well and good since it's an iPhone of some sort and I have no idea how to operate it anyway. I put it in my pocket figuring one of my universal chargers at home will charge it and then I can find the owner somehow. I think, "I guess that's karma somehow, that bus driver picked me up and now I get to be nice to someone else."

A few minutes later, a guy in a CTA uniform carrying a lunchbox comes up and a few seconds after that a bus pulls up. It was very close to the curb despite the snow and ice, I note that it ran over right where I found the phone. I get on, the CTA guy gets on and I guess it's a shift change because he take over and the other driver heads to the back. This takes about 5 minutes as they do whatever they have to do. Just as the bus is ready to pull out, a group of girls gets on and as they're scanning their cards, another girl runs up in a panic and they all start talking. I'm checking market data on my phone at this point but I hear bits an pieces. "...he swore he didn't take it...lying...I just ran all the way back from Lawrence to try to find it....just got the phone, my dad is going to kill me...." That last bit kind of sinks in and I call over to them, "Did you lose a phone?" Well, to shorten the long story, it was indeed hers. When I gave it to her she started crying, explosively. Like someone had just rescued her from a desert island or an abducted family member was found. The gaggle of girls were chittering like crazy as they all pulled out their own phones to reassure themselves.

But I'm thinking about everything that had to fall into place for her to get her phone back like that. If that bus driver hadn't decided to pick me up off his route, surely the bus picking me up would have run over the phone. If there hadn't happened to have been a shift change, we would have been gone before she got there. If she hadn't decided, in some desperate shot-in-the-dark, to run back to school she wouldn't have caught my bus to go back home. If there hadn't been a shift change delaying the bus. If her friends hadn't been getting on, delaying the bus. If she hadn't been loudly lamenting the loss of her phone...

LawBeefaroni wrote:TD;DR: found a phone in a snow bank, got on bus, bus was delayed for shift change, girl who lost phone got on bus, gave her her phone back. Odds of everything breaking that way, crazy.

Spoiler:

So I had a pre-hire physical at the other hospital yesterday. I decided to take the bus home to check out one possible commute route.

It is cold and very windy. I'd say well below zero f with wind chill. So I'm standing at the bus stop waiting for the 92 and a 151 pulls up (the 151 doesn't run on this road). Now this route has a lot of busses returning to the garage that do not stop so I ignore it but the guy opened the door and said "Going east?" I got on and said yes, told him where I was going, and he said he was going that way. I thought it was weird but he picked up someone else on the way, a very skeptical Korean woman who nonetheless wanted out of the cold too, so at least I wasn't alone if this was some kind of weird abduction. Anyway, I made it to my stop and we both thanked the driver profusely for saving us from frostbite. I went to my next stop thinking about what how it was a nice thing he did.

This bus stop is in a weird spot. It's at a high school and there is a bike-share station there. So it's not cleared of snow very well, well out into the stteet, and I'm standing on a pile of ice and snow and slush. As I'm standing there, I caught a glint of metal in the snow right in front of me and upon inspection, realize it's a cell phone. I look around and there is no one, except for the Korean woman across the street. I pick it up, dust it off, and try to power it on thinking to call/text someone to let them know I found it. The "needs charging" thing comes up, which is well and good since it's an iPhone of some sort and I have no idea how to operate it anyway. I put it in my pocket figuring one of my universal chargers at home will charge it and then I can find the owner somehow. I think, "I guess that's karma somehow, that bus driver picked me up and now I get to be nice to someone else."

A few minutes later, a guy in a CTA uniform carrying a lunchbox comes up and a few seconds after that a bus pulls up. It was very close to the curb despite the snow and ice, I note that it ran over right where I found the phone. I get on, the CTA guy gets on and I guess it's a shift change because he take over and the other driver heads to the back. This takes about 5 minutes as they do whatever they have to do. Just as the bus is ready to pull out, a group of girls gets on and as they're scanning their cards, another girl runs up in a panic and they all start talking. I'm checking market data on my phone at this point but I hear bits an pieces. "...he swore he didn't take it...lying...I just ran all the way back from Lawrence to try to find it....just got the phone, my dad is going to kill me...." That last bit kind of sinks in and I call over to them, "Did you lose a phone?" Well, to shorten the long story, it was indeed hers. When I gave it to her she started crying, explosively. Like someone had just rescued her from a desert island or an abducted family member was found. The gaggle of girls were chittering like crazy as they all pulled out their own phones to reassure themselves.

But I'm thinking about everything that had to fall into place for her to get her phone back like that. If that bus driver hadn't decided to pick me up off his route, surely the bus picking me up would have run over the phone. If there hadn't happened to have been a shift change, we would have been gone before she got there. If she hadn't decided, in some desperate shot-in-the-dark, to run back to school she wouldn't have caught my bus to go back home. If there hadn't been a shift change delaying the bus. If her friends hadn't been getting on, delaying the bus. If she hadn't been loudly lamenting the loss of her phone...

LawBeefaroni wrote:TD;DR: found a phone in a snow bank, got on bus, bus was delayed for shift change, girl who lost phone got on bus, gave her her phone back. Odds of everything breaking that way, crazy.

Spoiler:

So I had a pre-hire physical at the other hospital yesterday. I decided to take the bus home to check out one possible commute route.

It is cold and very windy. I'd say well below zero f with wind chill. So I'm standing at the bus stop waiting for the 92 and a 151 pulls up (the 151 doesn't run on this road). Now this route has a lot of busses returning to the garage that do not stop so I ignore it but the guy opened the door and said "Going east?" I got on and said yes, told him where I was going, and he said he was going that way. I thought it was weird but he picked up someone else on the way, a very skeptical Korean woman who nonetheless wanted out of the cold too, so at least I wasn't alone if this was some kind of weird abduction. Anyway, I made it to my stop and we both thanked the driver profusely for saving us from frostbite. I went to my next stop thinking about what how it was a nice thing he did.

This bus stop is in a weird spot. It's at a high school and there is a bike-share station there. So it's not cleared of snow very well, well out into the stteet, and I'm standing on a pile of ice and snow and slush. As I'm standing there, I caught a glint of metal in the snow right in front of me and upon inspection, realize it's a cell phone. I look around and there is no one, except for the Korean woman across the street. I pick it up, dust it off, and try to power it on thinking to call/text someone to let them know I found it. The "needs charging" thing comes up, which is well and good since it's an iPhone of some sort and I have no idea how to operate it anyway. I put it in my pocket figuring one of my universal chargers at home will charge it and then I can find the owner somehow. I think, "I guess that's karma somehow, that bus driver picked me up and now I get to be nice to someone else."

A few minutes later, a guy in a CTA uniform carrying a lunchbox comes up and a few seconds after that a bus pulls up. It was very close to the curb despite the snow and ice, I note that it ran over right where I found the phone. I get on, the CTA guy gets on and I guess it's a shift change because he take over and the other driver heads to the back. This takes about 5 minutes as they do whatever they have to do. Just as the bus is ready to pull out, a group of girls gets on and as they're scanning their cards, another girl runs up in a panic and they all start talking. I'm checking market data on my phone at this point but I hear bits an pieces. "...he swore he didn't take it...lying...I just ran all the way back from Lawrence to try to find it....just got the phone, my dad is going to kill me...." That last bit kind of sinks in and I call over to them, "Did you lose a phone?" Well, to shorten the long story, it was indeed hers. When I gave it to her she started crying, explosively. Like someone had just rescued her from a desert island or an abducted family member was found. The gaggle of girls were chittering like crazy as they all pulled out their own phones to reassure themselves.

But I'm thinking about everything that had to fall into place for her to get her phone back like that. If that bus driver hadn't decided to pick me up off his route, surely the bus picking me up would have run over the phone. If there hadn't happened to have been a shift change, we would have been gone before she got there. If she hadn't decided, in some desperate shot-in-the-dark, to run back to school she wouldn't have caught my bus to go back home. If there hadn't been a shift change delaying the bus. If her friends hadn't been getting on, delaying the bus. If she hadn't been loudly lamenting the loss of her phone...

El Guapo wrote:

LawBeefaroni wrote:TD;DR: found a phone in a snow bank, got on bus, bus was delayed for shift change, girl who lost phone got on bus, gave her her phone back. Odds of everything breaking that way, crazy.

Spoiler:

So I had a pre-hire physical at the other hospital yesterday. I decided to take the bus home to check out one possible commute route.

It is cold and very windy. I'd say well below zero f with wind chill. So I'm standing at the bus stop waiting for the 92 and a 151 pulls up (the 151 doesn't run on this road). Now this route has a lot of busses returning to the garage that do not stop so I ignore it but the guy opened the door and said "Going east?" I got on and said yes, told him where I was going, and he said he was going that way. I thought it was weird but he picked up someone else on the way, a very skeptical Korean woman who nonetheless wanted out of the cold too, so at least I wasn't alone if this was some kind of weird abduction. Anyway, I made it to my stop and we both thanked the driver profusely for saving us from frostbite. I went to my next stop thinking about what how it was a nice thing he did.

This bus stop is in a weird spot. It's at a high school and there is a bike-share station there. So it's not cleared of snow very well, well out into the stteet, and I'm standing on a pile of ice and snow and slush. As I'm standing there, I caught a glint of metal in the snow right in front of me and upon inspection, realize it's a cell phone. I look around and there is no one, except for the Korean woman across the street. I pick it up, dust it off, and try to power it on thinking to call/text someone to let them know I found it. The "needs charging" thing comes up, which is well and good since it's an iPhone of some sort and I have no idea how to operate it anyway. I put it in my pocket figuring one of my universal chargers at home will charge it and then I can find the owner somehow. I think, "I guess that's karma somehow, that bus driver picked me up and now I get to be nice to someone else."

A few minutes later, a guy in a CTA uniform carrying a lunchbox comes up and a few seconds after that a bus pulls up. It was very close to the curb despite the snow and ice, I note that it ran over right where I found the phone. I get on, the CTA guy gets on and I guess it's a shift change because he take over and the other driver heads to the back. This takes about 5 minutes as they do whatever they have to do. Just as the bus is ready to pull out, a group of girls gets on and as they're scanning their cards, another girl runs up in a panic and they all start talking. I'm checking market data on my phone at this point but I hear bits an pieces. "...he swore he didn't take it...lying...I just ran all the way back from Lawrence to try to find it....just got the phone, my dad is going to kill me...." That last bit kind of sinks in and I call over to them, "Did you lose a phone?" Well, to shorten the long story, it was indeed hers. When I gave it to her she started crying, explosively. Like someone had just rescued her from a desert island or an abducted family member was found. The gaggle of girls were chittering like crazy as they all pulled out their own phones to reassure themselves.

But I'm thinking about everything that had to fall into place for her to get her phone back like that. If that bus driver hadn't decided to pick me up off his route, surely the bus picking me up would have run over the phone. If there hadn't happened to have been a shift change, we would have been gone before she got there. If she hadn't decided, in some desperate shot-in-the-dark, to run back to school she wouldn't have caught my bus to go back home. If there hadn't been a shift change delaying the bus. If her friends hadn't been getting on, delaying the bus. If she hadn't been loudly lamenting the loss of her phone...

And then you fell in love?

LawBeefaroni wrote:

El Guapo wrote:

LawBeefaroni wrote:TD;DR: found a phone in a snow bank, got on bus, bus was delayed for shift change, girl who lost phone got on bus, gave her her phone back. Odds of everything breaking that way, crazy.

Spoiler:

So I had a pre-hire physical at the other hospital yesterday. I decided to take the bus home to check out one possible commute route.

It is cold and very windy. I'd say well below zero f with wind chill. So I'm standing at the bus stop waiting for the 92 and a 151 pulls up (the 151 doesn't run on this road). Now this route has a lot of busses returning to the garage that do not stop so I ignore it but the guy opened the door and said "Going east?" I got on and said yes, told him where I was going, and he said he was going that way. I thought it was weird but he picked up someone else on the way, a very skeptical Korean woman who nonetheless wanted out of the cold too, so at least I wasn't alone if this was some kind of weird abduction. Anyway, I made it to my stop and we both thanked the driver profusely for saving us from frostbite. I went to my next stop thinking about what how it was a nice thing he did.

This bus stop is in a weird spot. It's at a high school and there is a bike-share station there. So it's not cleared of snow very well, well out into the stteet, and I'm standing on a pile of ice and snow and slush. As I'm standing there, I caught a glint of metal in the snow right in front of me and upon inspection, realize it's a cell phone. I look around and there is no one, except for the Korean woman across the street. I pick it up, dust it off, and try to power it on thinking to call/text someone to let them know I found it. The "needs charging" thing comes up, which is well and good since it's an iPhone of some sort and I have no idea how to operate it anyway. I put it in my pocket figuring one of my universal chargers at home will charge it and then I can find the owner somehow. I think, "I guess that's karma somehow, that bus driver picked me up and now I get to be nice to someone else."

A few minutes later, a guy in a CTA uniform carrying a lunchbox comes up and a few seconds after that a bus pulls up. It was very close to the curb despite the snow and ice, I note that it ran over right where I found the phone. I get on, the CTA guy gets on and I guess it's a shift change because he take over and the other driver heads to the back. This takes about 5 minutes as they do whatever they have to do. Just as the bus is ready to pull out, a group of girls gets on and as they're scanning their cards, another girl runs up in a panic and they all start talking. I'm checking market data on my phone at this point but I hear bits an pieces. "...he swore he didn't take it...lying...I just ran all the way back from Lawrence to try to find it....just got the phone, my dad is going to kill me...." That last bit kind of sinks in and I call over to them, "Did you lose a phone?" Well, to shorten the long story, it was indeed hers. When I gave it to her she started crying, explosively. Like someone had just rescued her from a desert island or an abducted family member was found. The gaggle of girls were chittering like crazy as they all pulled out their own phones to reassure themselves.

But I'm thinking about everything that had to fall into place for her to get her phone back like that. If that bus driver hadn't decided to pick me up off his route, surely the bus picking me up would have run over the phone. If there hadn't happened to have been a shift change, we would have been gone before she got there. If she hadn't decided, in some desperate shot-in-the-dark, to run back to school she wouldn't have caught my bus to go back home. If there hadn't been a shift change delaying the bus. If her friends hadn't been getting on, delaying the bus. If she hadn't been loudly lamenting the loss of her phone...

And then you fell in love?

Made love. To my tonic and gin.



But seriously, it was a kid. Funny thing, she detached from the gaggle to get her phone and thank me and was then quickly reabsorbed like it never happened. That's when I started getting all philosophical about it. Was it some karmic test? Just something for me to think about on the ride home? It's about as close to spiritual as I get.

Default wrote:Waiting to hear if my ex mother-in-law has malinoma or just regular skin cancer. God, my ex sucks as a daughter. It went undetected for a long time, even though it was right on top of her head.

<edit> Diagnosis is angiosarcoma. Fuck. 91 years old and we get to kiss her goodbye.