Um, well, we listened to aggressively cheerful music sung by people chosen for their ability to dance. Then we ate cookie dough, and talked about boys.

Giles ,'Get It Done'


Natter 74: Ready or Not  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, butt kicking, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


Steph L. - Aug 01, 2016 9:26:06 am PDT #25428 of 30003
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine

Ah, one of the freelance coordinators gave me a template for an icily polite letter that basically says "No, we're the fucking AMA, and we WILL edit your article, but obviously if we change the meaning, we need to know so we can change it back. Don't come for me, bro."


erikaj - Aug 01, 2016 9:45:09 am PDT #25429 of 30003
Always Anti-fascist!

Just because someone else gets angry doesn't mean their anger is your problem. I have very little interest, for instance, in mending fences with the six people who twitter-teamed me about bathroom laws, and they were totally angry at me, probably because it's a strain for six people to have one brain.( I understand, and sympathize, with it being harder when it's a relationship that you do care about, but I find it hard to believe that you are always the one that's wrong.) For the record, that's why I get in fights in twitter, for principle, but also to remind myself that I don't die if people don't like me or call me some stupid name.


erikaj - Aug 01, 2016 9:48:31 am PDT #25430 of 30003
Always Anti-fascist!

Because, basically, special-education prepared me to live on Sesame Street and that's about all. Or in one of those movies when we were kids where somebody loved the dork after she showed what was inside.


Gudanov - Aug 01, 2016 10:01:23 am PDT #25431 of 30003
Coding and Sleeping

On the plus side of things, I just had some really damn good pizza.


Gudanov - Aug 01, 2016 10:04:37 am PDT #25432 of 30003
Coding and Sleeping

For those of us missing Cute Overload:

I've become rather fond of WeRateDogs.


Jesse - Aug 01, 2016 10:17:53 am PDT #25433 of 30003
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

Just because someone else gets angry doesn't mean their anger is your problem. I have very little interest, for instance, in mending fences with the six people who twitter-teamed me about bathroom laws, and they were totally angry at me, probably because it's a strain for six people to have one brain.

The internet bums me out a little because it does away with the best piece of advice I heard from an old boss. She used to run a group home for people with brain injuries, so there were a lot of interpersonal conflicts. She would tell residents, if one person gives you a piece of feedback, it could be their issue, not yours. Even if two people give you the same piece of feedback. But when three people tell you the same thing, you should seriously consider if it is something to work on. I still hold on to that!


Gudanov - Aug 01, 2016 10:37:40 am PDT #25434 of 30003
Coding and Sleeping

On the minus side, I ate too much pizza.


Dana - Aug 01, 2016 10:39:46 am PDT #25435 of 30003
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.

The whole thing where Trump tried to convince the world that he's sacrificed things got me thinking about the meaning of the word, in kind of a modern context. Obviously, the military and their families probably make the most obvious sacrifice for the country.

But what else is a sacrifice? Can we say that politicians make sacrifices? They get paid, but so do members of the military.

Parents sacrifice things for their children, and family members for each other. They go without so that the other person can get something -- food, money, clothes, entertainment, a whole range of things. And the higher up the income ladder you go, the degree of sacrifice probably gets less and less.

So that gets you to Trump. What about someone like Bill Gates or Warren Buffet or Mark Zuckerberg, who've pledged huge amounts of their wealth to charity? It still leaves them with enough to live in plenty of luxury, so is it really a sacrifice?

Anyway, I was thinking that as a childless person who's been incredibly lucky and always financially secure, I'm not sure I've ever done anything you could call a sacrifice.


msbelle - Aug 01, 2016 10:49:23 am PDT #25436 of 30003
I remember the crazy days. 500 posts an hour. Nubmer! Natgbsb

Trump does back down. First he aggressively counterattacks, but if it looks like he will lose (see lawsuits), he settles. I think most of his lawsuit settlements have remained secret and involve him admitting no guilt, but he does settle.

Not sure what the equivalent is to this mess we are in.


Steph L. - Aug 01, 2016 10:50:17 am PDT #25437 of 30003
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine

Oh my god, my author doubled down and replied to my email and said "Frankly, I do not endorse any of the changes made to the article, which was clear and understandable as written." So now this gets kicked up the food chain, because we do not run un-edited articles. Even Pres. Obama was edited!

I know the senior editors/staff know that some authors are always going to be shitheads, and this doesn't reflect poorly on me, but this is fucking ridiculous. The author is saying that her article should not have been edited. What the hell. She's not Anne Rice.