My fox story is a bummer:
I used to work at a (plant) nursery. Once a fox wandered into the middle of the nursery in the middle of the day and just sat there panting. I was very excited because it was the first time I'd seen a fox in the wild except for fleeting glimpses of them crossing roads or scurrying away when I'd been hiking.
But something was wrong; we could get very close and he just wasn't at all wary. He seemed disoriented. So we called animal welfare. They told us to close the nursery and they'd send someone. We did and they did; a guy arrived with a rifle and shot the fox. There'd been a rabies outbreak in the area and apparently foxes are especially likely to contract it and animal welfare assumed that any fox behaving oddly was rabid. It was very sad but we found out later that tests confirmed the fox did have rabies.
I've heard that Wal-mart's "Net 30" or "Net 90" is understood to be "Net whenever we feel like it and if you don't like it, well too bad".
A large percentage of what's sold at Wal-mart is sold at a loss (to the supplier, not to Wal-mart). Wal-mart's policy has become one item/one supplier (this is the general trend in "big box" retailing). They essentially auction the "right" to be the supplier for each item. Many manufacturers are afraid of the hit their brand awareness would suffer if their product isn't on display at Wal-mart, even if they make little or no money actually selling via Wal-mart.
Wal-Mart won't pay for products until they're purchased by consumers.
Wal-mart is notorious for paying suppliers verrrrrry slowly. They don't pay for products until well after the consumers already.
I happened to read the Wikipedia Dracula article recently (I stumbled upon it while searching for info on Elizabeth/Erzsebet Bathory). For what it's worth the article downplays any connection between Stoker's Dracula and Vlad Tepes.
If you don't have a calling then stick with what you're doing. Work sucks; that's why it's called work and why you get paid. Unless you have an overwhelming passion to do something for which you can also get paid (and you'd know it if you did) then you might as well do what you're already doing, or a different aspect of what you're already doing. You've made a huge commitment in time, money, and effort. It'd be more than somewhat disheartening to give that up to find out the grass over there is just as brown.
Having said that, there are other directions that you can take within your current field that might appeal to you more. A psychiatrist friend now teaches and writes exclusively; another MD friend runs a non-profit org involving 3rd world medicine; an EMD is now involved in city health planning. You don't necessarily need a revolution; let your career evolve.
But why is it so hard to walk up or down a broken escalator? It should be just like walking up or down stairs but it isn't. At least not for me. I'm completely spastic as though my mind can't reconcile that it has to move my legs even though I'm on an escalator. And I'm on broken escalators a lot; the MBTA's motto is "Driven by customer service. But first, you'll have to walk down this broken escalator like a spazz."
Another picture of the Santa Maria del Tule cypress that maybe gives a better idea of how massive it is.
My favorite big local (Boston area) tree is a huge old Camperdown Elm at Mt. Auburn Cemetery. The outer branches weep to the ground and because the whole thing's 50+ feet in diameter it's like being in a room when you're underneath. It's a very peaceful and cool spot in the shade on a summer day.
Damn, one of the stone chambers is near me. Or was. Entrance. Interior. "NEARA members watch helplessly as it is destroyed". Kaput. This was in Marlboro, MA. There are others in the area listed, though, and some near my sister in NH and near where I grew up in NY. I had no idea about this stuff - definitely something to investigate further.
Lieberman doesn't come across to me as "flipping out" from that clip at all. He was insistent about a couple of points but seemed generally relaxed and good-natured about his differences with his interviewer. I don't like Lieberman but the clip nothing to further my dislike.
I also didn't think Dean's "moment" was the catastrophic embarassment that it was portrayed as. Quite the contrary: I admired him for it. Yeargh! I wish more of us were willing to stand up and yell "Yeargh!"
Yeargh!
That's Bobbie Gentry with an extraordinary rendition of "Fool on the Hill". If you're a one-hit wonder but that one hit is "Ode To Bille Joe" then you get a permanent pass from me for any atrocities you may later commit in life. You could show me a video of her biting the heads off baby animals and sucking the blood from their neck stumps and I wouldn't hold it against her.
Little known fact: pubic hair was unknown in the US until FDR enacted the WPA (Wooly Pubes Act) in 1935 in an effort to spur the recovery of the pornography industry hard hit by the Great Depression.
It's from a Korean commercial so I'm guessing they're speaking Korean.
And as a consolation prize for anyone who was hoping for genuine aquatic mayhem: shark attack. *** WARNING - GORE - NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH - WARNING ***
My fox story is a bummer: I used to work at a (plant) nursery. Once a fox wandered into the middle of the nursery in the middle of the day and just sat there panting. I was very excited because it was the first time I'd seen a fox in the wild except for fleeting glimpses of them crossing roads or scurrying away when I'd been hiking. But something was wrong; we could get very close and he just wasn't at all wary. He seemed disoriented. So we called animal welfare. They told us to close the nursery and they'd send someone. We did and they did; a guy arrived with a rifle and shot the fox. There'd been a rabies outbreak in the area and apparently foxes are especially likely to contract it and animal welfare assumed that any fox behaving oddly was rabid. It was very sad but we found out later that tests confirmed the fox did have rabies.
posted by timefactor 17 years ago
In "Another step in the Google Empire:"
Totally bogus. No automated scrolling status bar text. No Comic Sans font. And they call it web development! Hah!
posted by timefactor 17 years ago
In "Kill Your Television 2006"
Schindler's shopping list: buy Tide, Ford, and Miller?
posted by timefactor 18 years ago
In "The Hole in the Wal"
I've heard that Wal-mart's "Net 30" or "Net 90" is understood to be "Net whenever we feel like it and if you don't like it, well too bad". A large percentage of what's sold at Wal-mart is sold at a loss (to the supplier, not to Wal-mart). Wal-mart's policy has become one item/one supplier (this is the general trend in "big box" retailing). They essentially auction the "right" to be the supplier for each item. Many manufacturers are afraid of the hit their brand awareness would suffer if their product isn't on display at Wal-mart, even if they make little or no money actually selling via Wal-mart.
posted by timefactor 18 years ago
Wal-Mart won't pay for products until they're purchased by consumers. Wal-mart is notorious for paying suppliers verrrrrry slowly. They don't pay for products until well after the consumers already.
posted by timefactor 18 years ago
In "Why Did The British Spaz?"
Has there ever been a more inapt nickname than "Magic Johnson" or a better euphemism than "man chowder"?
posted by timefactor 18 years ago
In "In Search of the Real Dracula"
I happened to read the Wikipedia Dracula article recently (I stumbled upon it while searching for info on Elizabeth/Erzsebet Bathory). For what it's worth the article downplays any connection between Stoker's Dracula and Vlad Tepes.
posted by timefactor 18 years ago
In "Why Did The British Spaz?"
He isn't the only one. My sincerest apologies to any spazzes who may have been offended by my comment.
posted by timefactor 18 years ago
In "Curious, George...new career?"
If you don't have a calling then stick with what you're doing. Work sucks; that's why it's called work and why you get paid. Unless you have an overwhelming passion to do something for which you can also get paid (and you'd know it if you did) then you might as well do what you're already doing, or a different aspect of what you're already doing. You've made a huge commitment in time, money, and effort. It'd be more than somewhat disheartening to give that up to find out the grass over there is just as brown. Having said that, there are other directions that you can take within your current field that might appeal to you more. A psychiatrist friend now teaches and writes exclusively; another MD friend runs a non-profit org involving 3rd world medicine; an EMD is now involved in city health planning. You don't necessarily need a revolution; let your career evolve.
posted by timefactor 18 years ago
In "I hereby post this item: Performative Verbs."
I click the "Post new comment" button.
posted by timefactor 18 years ago
In "I'm against protesting, but I just don't know how to show it."
But why is it so hard to walk up or down a broken escalator? It should be just like walking up or down stairs but it isn't. At least not for me. I'm completely spastic as though my mind can't reconcile that it has to move my legs even though I'm on an escalator. And I'm on broken escalators a lot; the MBTA's motto is "Driven by customer service. But first, you'll have to walk down this broken escalator like a spazz."
posted by timefactor 18 years ago
In "Today in Japanese Amputee Sex Doll news"
The Candy Girl Light flash animation is strangely mesmerizing (and NSFW also, I'm guessing).
posted by timefactor 18 years ago
In "Trees, Old and Odd"
Another picture of the Santa Maria del Tule cypress that maybe gives a better idea of how massive it is. My favorite big local (Boston area) tree is a huge old Camperdown Elm at Mt. Auburn Cemetery. The outer branches weep to the ground and because the whole thing's 50+ feet in diameter it's like being in a room when you're underneath. It's a very peaceful and cool spot in the shade on a summer day.
posted by timefactor 18 years ago
In "Curious George: Proctology."
I can't wait to see how this thread comes out.
posted by timefactor 18 years ago
In "Vermonts platform cairns"
Damn, one of the stone chambers is near me. Or was. Entrance. Interior. "NEARA members watch helplessly as it is destroyed". Kaput. This was in Marlboro, MA. There are others in the area listed, though, and some near my sister in NH and near where I grew up in NY. I had no idea about this stuff - definitely something to investigate further.
posted by timefactor 18 years ago
In "Lieberman Flips Out On Talk Radio"
Lieberman doesn't come across to me as "flipping out" from that clip at all. He was insistent about a couple of points but seemed generally relaxed and good-natured about his differences with his interviewer. I don't like Lieberman but the clip nothing to further my dislike. I also didn't think Dean's "moment" was the catastrophic embarassment that it was portrayed as. Quite the contrary: I admired him for it. Yeargh! I wish more of us were willing to stand up and yell "Yeargh!" Yeargh!
posted by timefactor 18 years ago
In "Why 70's variety shows don't exist anymore."
That's Bobbie Gentry with an extraordinary rendition of "Fool on the Hill". If you're a one-hit wonder but that one hit is "Ode To Bille Joe" then you get a permanent pass from me for any atrocities you may later commit in life. You could show me a video of her biting the heads off baby animals and sucking the blood from their neck stumps and I wouldn't hold it against her.
posted by timefactor 18 years ago
In "Bad girls smoke!"
Little known fact: pubic hair was unknown in the US until FDR enacted the WPA (Wooly Pubes Act) in 1935 in an effort to spur the recovery of the pornography industry hard hit by the Great Depression.
posted by timefactor 18 years ago
In "Your Latest Nightmare"
In three recent cases here in Boston, surgeons left patients in the middle of surgery to perform surgery at another hospital, to give a lecture, to cash a check at the bank.
posted by timefactor 18 years ago
In "So there you are, just enjoying a nice day out kayaking."
It's from a Korean commercial so I'm guessing they're speaking Korean. And as a consolation prize for anyone who was hoping for genuine aquatic mayhem: shark attack. *** WARNING - GORE - NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH - WARNING ***
posted by timefactor 18 years ago
(limited to the most recent 20 comments)