{{DJ}}

javachick, I'm so sorry. That had to be an incredibly hard thing to do.

Cash, that's great news about your MiL! Yay for aspirin therapy!

I am no help when it comes to the maths. While I'm fairly decent in algerbra and calculus, I fail at geometry and trig. I can handle simple volume sort of stuff, but once you start taking slices of spheres and cones and stuff, I can't quite get there. Give me imaginary numbers and polar to rectangular notation, I'm your girl. Electronics training will do that for you.

Wait ... someone in your line of work doesn't know the value of the non-reaction? I mean, there is a whole range of behaviors that fit in non-reaction that are very effective.

Apparently if it doesn't involve whining until other people's ears bleed, it doesn't count as effective.

WindSparrow, is your manager person a parent? Because the behavior you're trying to model, which beth calls non-reaction, works on offspring, too. And if she had any, I'd think she'd have learned that.

Yup, she's got 4 kids. And I have had this conversation with her, when I point out the ineffectiveness of her freaking out over simple bodily functions. She excuses herself by saying that she just automatically slips into "mom mode". So I asked, very gently, if she found it particularly effective with her kids, and she said, no.

She constantly complains about how her kids and husband will not help out around the house, and how gross they all are about burping and passing gas. Of course no one wants to help at her house - when one of the residents puts a hand to any housework, I always praise them for their efforts, and then ask if I can help put the finishing touches on. It's not the best detail cleaning, so yeah, we kinda have to go over stuff again, but I am so not ever going to say anything to discourage the folks from trying to clean up after themselves. Her reaction to their attempts to clean? "OMG, look at all this that you missed! This is so gross! That will attract rats, we can't have this! I'm going to have to do it all over again!" and on and on for longer than it takes to do the job. Only, the sick-making part of it is, she says it with the kind of cheerful tone of voice that you would expect of a kindergarten teacher handing out crayons. If this is the way she thinks is appropriate to talk to people with developmental disabilities, can you imagine how stultifyingly shaming she is to her family?

And now for some earth-shaking revelations to hit a city in Minnesota, today:

Drug-sniffing dogs had never found contraband at Chaska High School until a random search recently turned up six student vehicles containing marijuana or other illegal substances. The sweep was the first time the student parking lot had been searched for drugs.

Drugs? High school students? I'm shocked! Shocked!

If you could take one class right now, just for yourself, what would you study?

You're an evil man, Hecubus. Like I could limit it to just one. Something more intensive in Chinese is an obvious direction, but I'd really like to take up French again as well. And I want to know more about Chinese history. Post-election, of course, I'm in for something on political theory or economic development. Then there are the old staples, like philosophy (probably philosophy of mathematics) and of course the life sciences.

So thanks to you, I'm now trawling the Melbourne Uni website, checking out course availability and the texts they're using that I could profitably pick up and go through on my own. Check this one out: [link] I know what you're thinking: how is that not an echidna on the front cover?

Andi, it sounds like this woman needs therapy herself. I daresay, that's probably how she was treated so she just does it. I'd hate to be her family. She really needs to unlearn that shit.

please tell me I'm not the only one who has heard of and/or follow the philosophy of "Golden Mean". Office worker bees had never heard of it before. Even most favorite boss. Sad.

heard of it, seems basically sound, but I wouldn't say I follow it, exactly.

I just looked it up. I'd only heard the term "golden mean" used in a mathematical context before. Seems similar to the Middle Way?

I just looked it up. I'd only heard the term "golden mean" used in a mathematical context before. Seems similar to the Middle Way?

I'm with Hil here. The Aristotelean Golden Mean reminds me of the tale from Greek mythology with Artemis accusing her brother Apollo of preaching moderation, but then letting his own passions run away with himself. Apollo replies "I preach moderation in all things, including moderation."

From which we can conclude that Apollo was a pretentious jerk, and Artemis really needed a hobby.

Random House has been reorganized, including disbanding Doubleday.

This makes me sad. Doubleday is older than Random House. Doubleday was Kipling's publisher. Doubleday Page solicited Booker T Washington to write his autobiography.