You might be interested in this story about leaks in the white house.

When asked Tuesday night for an update on the unfolding situation, one top White House aide simply texted a reporter two fireworks emoji.

It strikes me how good-looking everyone is in those pictures. There must have been a beauty requirement to join in those days.

Thank you for all the work you (and everyone else) do in keeping this place going, mk.

Haha. That article exemplifies exactly what he's complaining about. It's poorly written, doesn't clearly explain his point and is basically an ad for his book. He doesn't define what he means by "bullshit" until 3/4 into the article.

Bullshit is communication that wastes the reader’s time by failing to communicate clearly and accurately. With no editors, clarity and accuracy are hit or miss, and bullshit is inevitable.

Did he have an editor? His article lacked clarity. As for the accuracy, it was opinion piece. That's not a factual thing, as is most communication on the internet.

If you’re lucky, soon after you graduate, you get a job. The first thing they do is show you the employee manual, which is full of legalese and jargon. Your colleagues are writing long, cover-your-ass bullshit in the reports and emails you read. So you take those skills you learned in school and become part of the corporate bullshit machine.

CYA memos clearly and accurately convey what they're trying to convey. They're trying to CYA. They don't fall under the definition of "bullshit" as he's defined it.

It's true that print media was a lot more edited before the internet. There are a lot of ramifications of that. His analysis is simplistic and unhelpful.

Until every writing teacher, administrator and legislator in America reads and changes the way we teach writing, this won’t be any different. But that’s ok. I’ll settle for changing you. Just recognize that what you learned in high school and college is not what you need now to write without bullshit.

This is just an ad for his book and a good example of what he considers "bullshit". If he could clearly and accurately convey what needs to be changed to create writing that is not "bullshit", the might be a step in the right direction. He has not done that here. Given there's so much access to the internet, there's no way to get everyone to the same level of education and ability to clearly and accurately convey their point.

That's not THE definition of happiness. That's HIS definition of happiness.

I've read easily over half a dozen books on happiness -- from a Buddhist point of view, from a Christian point of view, from an atheist point of view, from a neuroscientist point of view, from a historical point of view and from a experimental point of view. None of those books defined happiness as constant joy. That would be highly unlikely to maintain. It would be too exhausting.

His source of inspiration is also a little dubious. He cites Augusten Burroughs as his source. Augusten Burroughs wrote a memoir about being abandoned by his psychotic mother and fostered by a crazy psychiatrist, looking at the Amazon review. I wouldn't take my definition of happiness based on that one person.

That article is horrible. It's like back office gossip with all the names replaced with "sources". That it was written on anything more than toilet paper or someone's personal journal is amazing to me. As lurid gossip, it kept my attention. But it wasn't very illuminating.

There's no substantiation for pretty much anything. The whole article is incredibly vague. It's difficult to tell which employees were laid off and which left voluntarily. The employees leaving voluntarily could have left for any number of reasons. But she lumped them all together when she claimed that there's an atmosphere of being with an abusive boyfriend, which was claimed by one anonymous source.

If the atmosphere was really that bad, it should have been possible to find ex-employees who were claiming the same thing but were now in better jobs. If she had been able to show that, it would have been a more credible article.

The number of visitors by month at the end of the article didn't really say much. It was all just written in a way that implied negativity, even when the numbers were trending positive.

I've done this. I've unsubscribed from all the major subs on reddit, particularly the news subs. I don't have a Facebook account. I blocked all the tags you suggested from Hubski from months before the election.

I'm still inundated with articles and discussions about Trump, mostly in sarcastic, vitriolic and hateful tones. Several people I follow here have decided to make Trump the major focus of many discussions. I'm wondering if I unfollow them if I'd have anything left to read.

I understand the OP's frustration. It has gotten really hard to filter out all the noise without feeling like you're living in a cave and not having access to news that might affect you.

Microsoft Admits It “Went Too Far” with Aggressive Windows 10 Updates

Ya think?!

The only thing they're admitting in this article was the point when they changed the 'x' in the corner to mean yes instead of cancel. That was so far past the line that even they had to admit it.

10/10. Would listen again. This is more like the introduction to a podcast. Nice job with all the background stuff.

Refuse to choose. Maybe you could combine everything you enjoy into one thing.

What didn't get much attention in the article is how the staff is getting funding for what they're doing. I kept wondering how the teachers and staff can afford to live in that area. Teacher salaries are notoriously very low. Living in an area surrounded by either shelters or high-priced housing, my thought was that it must be tough to find housing on a limited salary there.

All the other stuff, like extending hours and giving the children gifts, in light of the lack of resources is amazing.

After reading the article, I'm still curious about why Walmart has so much more crime and why Walmart chooses to invite it. One of the practices that the article noted was Walmart had products in aisles, giving the impression that no one cares and inviting thieves to take advantage of that. That's something that's really noticeable in the Walmarts that I've visited because it stands out from other stores. I don't see products left in aisles in other stores.

I've seen Target employees picking up garbage and products left in the aisles. If nothing else, products left in aisles won't be sold if they get damaged by people walking over them.

I wondered if that was a cost-cutting measure that would translate to the bottom line. If it is, it's not working well. According to this article, in the beginning of 2015, Target was beating Walmart in gaining profitability.

Since Target price matches, I don't buy the idea that Walmart's margins are so thin that the store has to prosecute petty theft and can't find another solution. At my local Walmart, the prices aren't the lowest in the area for most things.

There's something about the culture of Walmart that invites those problems.

mk, I just want to take this opportunity to say you're the best!

Thank you so much for all you do for this forum.

It's the week between Christmas and New Year's and you're here fixing an issue in just a few short hours after it's reported. That's amazing!

Thanks for all you've done in 2016. Best wishes for 2017!

First, why are they necessarily correlated? They could be two functions that happened for different reasons at different times.

You'd have to be more specific by what you mean by languages and how you're determining self-awareness.

Sometimes, I don't think some humans are self-aware. :P

Then you could extrapolate from animals. Some animals are said to be self-aware. From wiki,

Studies have been done mainly on primates to test if self-awareness is present. Apes, monkeys, elephants, and dolphins have been studied most frequently. The most relevant studies to this day that represent self-awareness in animals have been done on chimpanzees, dolphins, and magpies. Self-awareness in animals is tested through mirror self recognition. Animals who show mirror self recognition go through four stages 1) social response, 2) physical mirror inspection, 3) repetitive mirror testing behavior, and 4) the mark test; which involves the animals spontaneously touching a mark on their body which would have been difficult to see without the mirror.

Apes and monkey have been taught to recognize human language effectively. Whether dolphins or magpies can understand language is debatable, but there's more evidence that they do communicate with each other.

Teaching apes and monkeys language hasn't made them more self-aware. If they are self-aware, their language doesn't seem to have developed much in the same time that human language has developed.

I think the ability to communicate self-awareness to others comes from the ability to express language, but that doesn't mean that animals aren't doing the same. Humans just can't understand them if they are.

Nice job!

I've done a couple quilts before, but they were machine sewn. I've done enough hand sewing to have a few thoughts about your project.

Skip this part if you want to experiment. Sometimes it's fun to just learn as you go along.

A few thoughts:

A couple pieces of equipment might be helpful. I don't think they're too expensive. The first is a thimble. I saw one on Amazon for under $2. It's a metal piece to put over your finger to help push the needle through the fabric because you're right, poked fingers are no fun. I just picked the cheapest one. You might want to look for one you like.

The other thing that might be helpful is a set of needles of different sizes. About $2 on Amazon. The right needle for the right job makes all the difference. You want a needle that is right for the fabric. If the needle is too thick, you're fighting the weave of the fabric. It's easier if you can go between the weave of the fabric.

This part is a bit advanced, so you might want to skip this paragraph. I've seen hand quilters use a longer needle and sort of weave the needle back and forth on the needle with the fabric still on the needle until they've done 8-10 stitches or so, then pull it through. Keep in mind those stitches are tiny, However, if you use the needle that is too long, they're easier to get bent and mess things up, so you have to weigh how you want to go with that.

The other piece of equipment is a piece of beeswax. About $2 on Amazon . The beeswax is to strengthen the thread and to prevent knotting. As you've found, thread tangles easily when you're hand sewing. Sometimes detangling can lead to weak thread and breakage. The beeswax helps to strengthen the thread and prevent tangling. You run the thread through the groove in the plastic and over the wax. You can do the same thing with just a piece of wax as well, but candle wax is harder than beeswax.

Your stitches look a little big. It may just be the picture. 8-10 stitches per inch is super tiny. If you look at some stitching on your clothing, it should be about that size. Depending on what you're going to do with it, it might not matter. If you're going to stuff it with batting, the batting might start to poke through the gaps, and it might pucker a little. If you're not going to use batting, it might work.

You're not at this point yet, but something that helps a quilt piece look good is the flattening or ironing stage. Once you're happy with how the stitching turned out, you're going to want to flatten the seams. You can finger press them open, but an iron is better. Lay the pieces with the right side down, open the seam with one edge on each side and press it open.

Happy quilting!

I disagree that CYA memos are wasted effort. They serve an important function. They are documentation and internal paper trail devices that give the person's stance on something. If there's an issue that's blowing up around you, it's important to create a document about why you did or did not take action, what authority you had to do it and why you took that action.

In the memo, the original issue is likely to be obscure because in order for it to be clearer, the person taking a stance would have to point a finger at the person they think is at fault. It's better not to do that. It's still a clear and accurate portrayal of what the person is trying to convey. They're trying to convey a CYA memo.

I agree that it has to do with working in an authoritarian organization, but almost all organizations are authoritarian by their nature.

The spam has been judged.

Next case. :p

Good post. Would ignore again.

How exactly would that happen without the election chair also being deemed unconstitutional ?

Election chair. With US elections in the news so much lately and in such a negative light, I chuckled at the typo.

Or maybe you really did mean that? ;)

I don't know the financials, but I wonder if this is all good business sense in the end.

And of course Apple is doing this in part to mess with Uber. Apple has already signaled it’s getting into the self-driving car game along with Google and Tesla. Unlike Tencent and Alibaba, Apple is a potential Uber competitor in and of itself. It has the same incentive Didi does in making sure Uber doesn’t get too dominant in the meantime. And Google-- while it’s sparred with Uber-- is also an investor in Uber. So this is as much about Apple versus Google as it is Didi versus Uber and Lyft versus Uber.

This all sounds more like petty rivalries more than sound business sense. From the other article on Uber vs. Apple uploaded today on Hubski, Didi is losing billions battling Uber.

From the other article:

Though Didi Chuxing is valued at upwards of $20 billion, according to a person familiar with its ongoing funding round, the company has been losing billions in a costly battle with Uber for market share in China.

Recently, I was watching a really old video where Steve Jobs was introducing Bill Gates in his presentation because Bill Gates had just invested in Apple to help get them out of bankruptcy. The Apple crowd soundly booed him. Jobs noted that the culture at Apple was so competitive that their hatred didn't allow them to see how alliances could help them.

I don't know anything about this deal or any of Apple's financial decisions, but from these two articles, I'm not seeing much in the way of strategy, only petty rivalries.

I copy pasted the title.. because it was so good. Did you notice the lacking 'i' .. not mindful enough ;

I may not be mindful enough either, but that YES in your post title is not in the header that it looks like you copied. That YES is what is misleading given what the article says.

For those who are not clicking on the article, here's what I saw:

The header: "Is Mindfulness Meditaton BS?"

The title: "Going Up

Is mindfulness meditation a capitalist tool or a path to enlightenment? Yes"

The article on the question in the header:

"All of which raises a question: Is mindfulness meditation, as it’s practiced by millions of Westerners, bullshit? Not bullshit in the sense of being worthless. Even Adam Grant admits that meditation has benefits and that, for some people, it’s the best way to get them. But has meditation practice strayed so far from its Buddhist roots that we might as well just call it a therapy or a hobby?"

While I may agree with your point to an extent, that's doesn't seem to be the basic point of this article.

I tried mindfulness meditation for a couple years. It didn't work for me for a number of reasons. Everyone kept telling me that I wasn't doing it right or that I needed to give it more time. It was annoying. For a while, I wasn't a big proponent of it. I'm still not its biggest fan, or more accurately, I'm not a fan of its biggest fans. The hype for it has gone over the top.

That said, I'm considering trying it again. In some ways, it's just a different way of looking at things.

I can empathize with the people who weren't paying attention. I was so frazzled yesterday that I don't think I would notice the color of the send button. It didn't really occur to me that the actual button is blue. It would have to be in rainbow or psychedelic for me to notice yesterday. I can imagine people on a deadline yesterday not taking the time to notice something like that, particularly if they forgot it was April Fool's day because they had their head down working on their project.

I'm new here, but this is nice to see. I like that people can share their accomplishments here. I can already tell that you, thenewgreen, have worked hard to make this a nice place for many people. Thank you for working so hard and for sharing.

Thanks for the welcome!

Glitch was fixed by someone I PMed on reddit. Maybe mk? I don't know all the names here.

I really wasn't clear about what I meant by "bump it". I probably should have given an example. What I had in mind was if I started a post on a topic like a TV show or a series and then later, I had a review on another piece of it or the next week in a TV show or just more to add to the topic but no one else seemed interested. I was wondering whether it was considered poor etiquette to continue posting in the comments, adding new information even if no one else joined in.

Thanks for the tip of the random button. That sounds like fun. I check out random subs at reddit all the time.

I love that picture! Thanks!

Thank you for that poem also. It's very beautiful.

I don't think I explained myself well in regards to bumping threads. I meant adding comments to them without replying to anyone, sort of blog style. I'm following a couple TV shows that I really like but maybe no one else will. Could I add commentary to the season's thread after a show even if no one else is participating? There might be people who are interested in reading it even if they don't want to comment.

We see the idea of consensus differently; I imply that everyone agrees upon a point, not merely the majority. Is it idealistic? Most definitely.

I don't share your vision about that ideal. One thing I appreciate about being in the US is my right to have my voice heard. I also share the fundamental belief that the sharing of diverse voices leads to better solutions and more rights and freedoms for everyone. Innovation comes from the sharing of different ideas.

Getting to the point where everyone agreed on everything is not only unrealistic, it's stifling. People would become like walking zombies, agreeing on the same things.

There was an episode of Star Trek, The Next Generation where it seemed like people agreed on everything. Everything looked placid and calm on the surface. When someone disagreed, there was a device to reprogram that person's brain to get back in agreement. People who disagreed with having the device used like that were forcibly taken to it. Even if the tool weren't an actual device, that's not a future I'd be interested in.

But the reason I stopped to take the time to respond to your argument that "anything's possible" is because you've used it on me before as a rhetorical device and debate strategy. I feel that it's a poor tactic to further open discussion. It stops discussion because it's difficult to deal with the idea that anything is possible. It has people trying to shoot down possibilities that aren't even in the realm of possibility.

Skeptics might ask, “Well, how do we precisely define intolerance, and who gets to make that determination?” This is admittedly a potential point of contention (one that I plan to write about soon)

I'll be interested when the author writes on this question which is the crux of the issue.

While we may each have somewhat different opinions on precise definitions, I believe that we can (and should) easily come to a consensus

I disbelieve this.

This is MIchael Moore's speech at the women's march.

He gave everyone a to do list. He's instructing the crowd to call their congressmen every day to let them know their thoughts. He gave the number (202) 225-3121.

He's giving a list of things people will tell their congressmen to do. I suppose people could make their own list.

He's also instructing people to join groups like the ACLU, Planned Parenthood and lists others.

He says it works and that when the administration tried to get rid of the Congressional Office of Ethics, people called and flooded the phone. He says that they pulled back from closing down the office.

Part of the transition to the new President that was planned in advance. I hate the guy, but let's hate him for the shit he does, not the false nonsense.

Seriously.

I saw this on Reddit as well. All of this false information is getting ridiculous. It's getting hard to sift through to find any real information.

It was irresponsible of Imzy to put out an email like that.

Real information is more important now than ever for people to get their voice heard on the issues they care about.

I happened to stumble on an AskReddit asking:

Russians of Reddit, how is Donald Trump being portrayed in your Media?

There were answers from both Russians in the US and in Russia.

If you're interested, I'll leave the link.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/5ng6fu/russians_of_reddit_how_is_donald_trump_being/

About to? Hasn't it been going on for the last month?

Just seconds ago, I read a comment about Trump's twitter feed. Was it real or a parody? I don't know.

Every post about Trump is barely substantiated or its evidence is an article that is unsubstantiated and that may or may not be a parody. I've seen people arguing with articles that read like parodies to me.

Where do we find this proven accurate and true information? Generally, you'd have to trust the source. When all sources can't be trusted to not be satirizing, that leaves fewer and fewer ways to find this slowly evaporating proven accurate and true information.

Edit: More and more, I'm seeing more of the Law of the Echo Chamber.

"If you feel comfortable enough to post an opinion of any importance on any given Internet site, you are most likely delivering that opinion to people who already agree with you."

Caveat: I'm a stranger on the internet. Research everything I say before taking action and see if it works for you.

The answer to the question you asked is that it depends on what you mean by headhunter.

Here's what I would do.

I'd set up a new email account that's different than the one you're using. If you do this right, it could get flooded with stuff.

I'd go to Indeed.com (or another job search engine - there are a lot out there) and set the parameters to your area and the types of positions you're looking for. Based on your job descriptions, you've done some data collections, accounts payable, accounts receivable, worker's comp and insurance. You'll have to decide at some point which career path you want to go on, but at this point, you can just collect data on what's available. Put in general descriptions like accounting or insurance or data collections just to get a feel for the job titles, job descriptions and salaries. You can have job listings sent to the new email you just set up.

Places like Glass Door (to get a feel for the employee side of things) and LinkedIn (some good group discussions here) might be helpful as well.

Then ask yourself what career path you're interested in. The accounting path goes from where you are and can go to CFO or higher but you might need some education along the way, but maybe not until you're sure about the direction. The insurance path also has some growth but again you might need some education along the way. Indeed also has salary searches so you can see what people in the field in your area make. You'll also get a sense of the job titles and the duties and responsibilities of the person holding that job.

Then I would set up a free google phone number. This is a number you can give out to people and link to your phone if you choose. I wouldn't answer this number when I was working.

After you've gathered some information on some of the positions, then I'd look on a recruiter site like Robert Half. (roberthalf.com) Filter by your area and the positions you're looking for. Look at the recruiter who owns the lead. Look for the leads by that person. If that person has a lot of leads that look interesting to you, call the office that person works in and ask to speak to them.

If you like them, then you might want to interview in person. They should be able to give you assessment tests if you're interested. If you see any jobs available from the site you like, call your recruiter and see if he/she can get that job for you. If some other recruiter owns the job lead, it might be harder to get so choose your recruiter carefully.

You can go to several recruiters in your area. You can do a quick search for them based on your area, the field you're interested and the word 'recruiter' or 'temp. agency' or 'employment agency'. The downside is that some employers will drop you out of the list if more than one application comes in your name. You can try to make it clear that the agency may not apply without notifying you first, but that doesn't always work, so it's a risk.

Here's what I would NOT do.

I would not pay anyone to get me a job.

Recruiters work on commission from the company. Ask them to make sure. Headhunters are paid a fee of your salary when you get a job. I would not pay a headhunter. I would make very sure that anyone I'm talking with won't be getting any compensation from me at any time.

Good luck! I hope this helps.