Yes, Chicago is in Gary.

I think Chicago is its own state -- aren't the all-caps names the state names?

Hivemind, help me with a research project. Can you think of any impromptu speeches (i.e. not written in advance), or any speeches that could inspire empathy? Has to be post-1950 (i.e. has a chance of being found in a broadcast news archive) and nothing from MLK since we've already pulled all of his that we can use.

We have a decent list already, but I'm hoping the brilliant Buffistas can add to it.

or any speeches that could inspire empathy?

Rodney King's "can't we all just get along" speech.

...and the emails are still rolling in. "Please take me off this distribution list!" Interspersed with the occasional desperate "STOP REPLYING TO ALL!"

It's amazing. You could take down the entire DHS this way, I suspect: even when the volume isn't apparently slowing the system, we're all watching the parade with gleeful shadenfreude.

...and the emails are still rolling in. "Please take me off this distribution list!" Interspersed with the occasional desperate "STOP REPLYING TO ALL!"

That shit is classic.

Can you think of any impromptu speeches (i.e. not written in advance)

I'd be surprised if there were many of those post-1950, really.

Walter Cronkite getting all emotional when Kennedy died? I mean, he was supposed to deliver the news, but

I finished reading the article on schizophrenia and voice-hearing, and the bulk of it is discussing a UK movement to normalise the experience of hearing voices (or source-monitoring errors, where you can't tell the thought is yours). Apparently psychiatrists agree that hearing voices isn't a problem until hearing voices gets in the way of your goals, but this group is adamant about mainstreaming and regards it as a civil rights issue. Well, actually, the regard it as "the last great civil rights movement" which predictably gets up my nose. It seems remarkable how many groups think that they're the last ones against whom it's copacetic to be publicly prejudiced towards. News flash: humanity? Still fucked up.

But that's not the main point. They also talk about managing the impact of voices with CBT (not that CBT--you know who you are, naughty people). Some people in the Hearing Voices Network do take medication, though. It doesn't mandate against that. And at the very least, it seems responsible for giving some people experiencing voices a conviction that they can re-integrate themselves into society (even if it requires faking talking into a phone from time to time).

[link]

And...in other hearing news...how grumpy is too grumpy when it comes to hearing your co-worker's music from his headphones. I feel that if he can't hear me when I yell his name (I throw things at his desk instead) that's already too loud. But I also feel on the verge of being able to identify his tunes.

Another random etiquettish question: in my office building there's a doorman assigned to a set of doors--two swing doors flanking one revolving door. Normally, when I'm approaching the building from a given side, the normal doorman comes to the door on that side and holds it open for me. The new guy today stood at the far door and held it open. Next time I'm going to ignore him, but why would he even bother? I ended up walking through it because I was pre-occupied with wondering if he thought he was being helpful (I have to swing back towards where the other door would have put me to get to the elevators--everyone would) or just meeting the minimum requirements of his role.

ION, ugh -- I knew my mother would be out of town Sunday night, but it turns out she's leaving Sunday morning and not back until Monday night and I don't have any legitimate plans to say I CAN'T spend all that time with my father, but crap -- now I have to come up with stuff to do with him. I wonder if anything is open on Monday.

SHIT! Another person terminated yesterday. NOt my department, but someone at the corporate HQ where I work, versus the plants. crap crap crap. I thought we might have a week without any. This guy was a nice guy too. more than 10 years with the company.

3 departments at hq have fired a single employee in the last 30 days for unknown reasons not connected to the big violation of core values firings that happened last week. If all departments were tasked with cutting some, then 3-4 more people will be going soon. They need to do more than one a week if that is the plan, because this cannot drag on for another month.