Octopus Overlords

A US woman is suing a casino that told her the slot machine displaying a $43m (£34m) jackpot was faulty and offered a steak dinner instead, reports say.

Katrina Bookman took a selfie showing the machine saying "printing cash ticket $42,949,672.76" at the Resorts World Casino in New York last August.

But she was escorted out and was told the next day she could have only $2.25 (£1.76).

Spoiler:

Or nineteen.

LordMortis wrote:If I has any talent at all and could combine it with any sort of independent motivation to do something I would write an allegory about high availability electronic communication work environments and how it is draining the life out of us in parasitic or perhaps vampiric fashion.

The best thing about vacations and weekends. No IM, no texting, no email. I often go so far as to say no Internet. I'm on the edge of losing that.

How cool would it be to have a job where you just sort of work on projects and if someone wanted to interrupt your work, they would have to make the effort to physically come over to disturb you?

Brian wrote:So we just had a tornado roll through here and we were watching the live radar feed and they zoomed in on the "hardest hit" area and I said, "oh shit, that's right on top of Doug's house."

So I called my friend and sure enough, the tornado pretty much destroyed most of his home. Thankfully, everybody is OK with the only injury being one of his kids getting scratched up a bit when their kitchen window exploded.

This was a brand new construction home that they just moved into last month. Fortunately, since they didn't sell their previous house yet, he and his family can move back into that home while his new one gets rebuilt.

Worst thing that happened in our neighborhood was the power flickering a couple of times. So we got pretty lucky. Reports are that there are 60,000+ homes without power right now.

Blackhawk wrote:
Damn. Is that the Doug we just met last night?

hentzau wrote:Dammit!!!

Max Peck wrote:

hentzau wrote:Dammit!!!

Dammit because you missed out on the auction, or Dammit because of the price range?

Brian wrote:

Blackhawk wrote:
Damn. Is that the Doug we just met last night?

Indeed it is.

Update Edit: None of these are Doug's house but they are a block or so over from his so you can get an idea.

gbasden wrote:I dunno. At least for me, I love connected work. Instead of being chained to a desk for 8 hours or more, I now have the freedom to do my work how I see fit. I can work on a project at home for three hours in the morning, go into the office for awhile for meetings, take my kid to taekwondo and work from my laptop or take a customer call on my cell during my commute. I can't imagine going back to a traditional 8-5 job.

RunningMn9 wrote: At the time, I loved it and couldn't imagine going back to a rigid 9-5 schedule. Now that I've gone back to a rigid 8 hour day where I have to be at the office, I'm conflicted. It's certainly less flexible, but my work day doesn't begin until I sit down at my desk, and it ends the instant I walk out the door. Compartmentalizing work has its advantages too.

RunningMn9 wrote:

gbasden wrote:I dunno. At least for me, I love connected work. Instead of being chained to a desk for 8 hours or more, I now have the freedom to do my work how I see fit. I can work on a project at home for three hours in the morning, go into the office for awhile for meetings, take my kid to taekwondo and work from my laptop or take a customer call on my cell during my commute. I can't imagine going back to a traditional 8-5 job.

It's interesting, I used to work for a Telecom back in the day and they had an incredibly liberal flex policy. I had a USB headset that I kept with me, and whatever computer I plugged it into, all of my office calls got routed to that headset. I could work anywhere, on my own schedule. The result was working 10-12 hours a day. I started working when I got up (rather than starting when I got to work) and I stopped working when I would have gotten home (rather than when I would have left work). And I did extra work at night because I had a work thought and my work computer was 10 feet away.

At the time, I loved it and couldn't imagine going back to a rigid 9-5 schedule. Now that I've gone back to a rigid 8 hour day where I have to be at the office, I'm conflicted. It's certainly less flexible, but my work day doesn't begin until I sit down at my desk, and it ends the instant I walk out the door. Compartmentalizing work has its advantages too.

RunningMn9 wrote:Compartmentalizing work has its advantages too.

Kasey Chang wrote:San Francisco today hit a new high temp record... 88 f. Normally the city rarely go above 80. Right now I just soaked through my second T-shirt today. I live upstairs without much ventilation.

Kasey Chang wrote:

Kasey Chang wrote:San Francisco today hit a new high temp record... 88 f. Normally the city rarely go above 80. Right now I just soaked through my second T-shirt today. I live upstairs without much ventilation.

Was going to order a fan off Amazon, ended up finding a fan in local Home Depot for cheaper, even when accounting for tax. (Lasko 3-speed 20 inch box fan, white, $18 + tax)

I had been serious with my girlfriend for over a year, and had always talked about marriage. I thought it's time to talk about taking the next step.

My monthly income was 45000 NTD (about 1500 USD, medium income in Taiwan), no debt, owns a car, lives in a house, have savings, even enough to put on a down payment for a house or condo.

Around New Years our family met at a restaurant, to get to know each other, so we won't be so awkward when my family would finally go to her family to arrange the marriage traditionally.

Ten days before the arrangement I went to talk to her mother, and told her I'll do what I can to make your daughter very happy, and you too, of course. But just to set the stage, what are her requirements she'll raise at the arrangement?

She discussed things with her family and came back with the demands:

* 12000 USD in primary dower (that's reverse of dowry), 6000 USD in secondary dower, 5000 USD in tertiary dower, and ZERO dowry (i.e. no rebate)
* Groom pays for ALL wedding costs, at least 30 tables, and bride side gets ALL gifts and any red envelopes left by guests
* After marriage, all of her income (about $820 USD) will NOT be contributed to his household but rather, to her family. All of her expenses are to come out of the husband's income

I was stunned, and I asked, "Wait, but how are we supposed to pay for a house if she doesn't contribute?"

My prospective mother-inlaw said, "Go ask your own family to contribute. Oh, and the house had to be in my daughter's name."

My jaw was probably on the floor, and I was about to say something when she also added, "These are simple demands. If you can't meet them, don't bother coming."

I had to control my temper as I went home, and told my family the bad news, as I relayed the demands. The mood in my house, along with the relatives who were to come with me to arrange the marriage, was quite dark.

Now I am just sad, as we are definitely not going.

hitbyambulance wrote: those Laskos are garbage and they can barely stand on their own (you have to attach the plastic feet). i miss the heavy-duty box fans of yesteryear

Blackhawk wrote: Today I finally made it into the optometrist. I was actually excited.

Turns out that the variation of Medicaid I'm on only covers emergency medical vision, not exams or glasses.

Daehawk wrote:Ok what am I not seeing?

Blackhawk wrote:

Blackhawk wrote: Today I finally made it into the optometrist. I was actually excited.

Turns out that the variation of Medicaid I'm on only covers emergency medical vision, not exams or glasses.

Good news and bad news.

The good news is that Medicaid covered the exam after all.

The bad news is that Medicaid covered the exam because it became a medical thing when they found cataracts.

The good news is that this means that the money I was repurposing for the exam can be spent to order the glasses online now, today.

The bad news is that I have cataracts. They are most likely a bonus side effect of all the radiation directed toward my head. I guess cataracts are my super power.

Oh, and that was the first time I've had my eyes dilated. It was like playing Oblivion all over again - everywhere the bloom!