Why suffer a Farington ?   (Maybe because I'm a Farington, also) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 01:33:01 am
content: Yeah, NO, I didn't bother to read the latest.I've got a TON of personal flaws, lots of bad behaviours, but must say some of it happened simply because there wasn't a feedback coming in, or 'consequences' didn't come visible.But materialize they did, big time. That's my burden.But, regarding employment I was treated unfairly, all over the place. One place I worked, writing test code in Z-80 assembler, could have been a temporary contract type job.I got subtle criticism, for not being a team player. True, I wasn't. But didn't figure out those dynamics, until many years later. Meanwhile I felt treated 'unfairly'. (I guess I'll go actually read the latest 'farington' rant, lol).Point is; I bet some readers don't like MY rants, so much, and thank God I've gotten some tolerance (here), while attempt to decide my own flaws.It's a feedback thing, which should be understandable here!Keepin it positive...(some).Rick

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 02:39:56 am
content: One very common trait seen here comes from the "engineering" mind. In essence, minute details matter - and while we know it, others find them tedious and boring. I'm sure many, if not most, of us have several examples we can cite through our experience.So long as participants maintain a civil and respectful involvement, we can tolerate some eccentricities.I will confess one example of my own... When asked about certain aspects of a project, the questions were posed in a way where an answer of "black" or "white" was expected. The trouble was the correct answer was grey - and sometimes different shades of grey were in that answer. Thus, in order to answer the question accurately, I would have to be a bit more descriptive than a one word answer would allow. (You might imagine where this is going...)At the end of a couple of projects, a night out was organised and at that function, there were some awards presented. I received one of those awards: the "Toastmasters Award", together with two paddles - one with a sign that simply said "YES" and the other "NO". It took me a second to figure it out - but, yeah, OK.To this day, I still don't apologise for trying to be accurate.

author: pcprogrammer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 06:09:44 am
content: One of my hangups is precision although fail at it myself too.The member I assume being referred to is named Faringdon and not Farington.And yes a lot of engineers have this there is more to it then just a simple yes or no. And quite a lot will also be not much of a team player. I'm not and that, at times, hits you in the nuts, so to speak.

author: soldar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 07:57:30 am
content: Dave's Garage is a Youtube channel by Dave Plummer, who worked at MS. He often mentions "being on the spectrum" and how to deal with it.https://www.youtube.com/@DavesGarage/videos

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 08:30:50 am
content: I tend to get bogged down with the order of doing things.eg, I hate doing something only to realize I should have done the thing earlier or later because that would have saved time or money.Trying to find the perfect order so that no task causes issues or wastage due to another task. It often leads to not much being done because a perfect order doesn't always exist.On the plus side, when it does work, things often go together really well.

author: m k
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 09:50:56 am
content: Many times the situation is that you know and others don't, but they still have relevant questions, perhaps from completely different angle.So your goal is to filter and answer in a way that the answer becomes a part of that different angle.In my case that is many times money vs. problem.Or how certain thing is happening later, after this and that have disappeared.Nowadays "can we" has also many times changed to "we can but how."My educated guess is that nitpicking answer is not from the perspective of a question.For nitpicking question it would be spot on.

author: mendip_discovery
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 11:37:43 am
content: I take the attitude we are all on a spectrum as such. Some have social skills which can lead to the struggling with other things, some are not so social so delve into thier own world.I am sure I have a attention issue as my mind wanders regularly. I also suffer when doing a project, as I find other things that I want (i feel i need) to do so I end up going off at a tangent.My other issue is procrastination as I worry too much about everything and I dislike it when I do somthing that isn't right at the end. I don't get that good feeling of satisfaction. I am very good at excuses and even now I am trying to build up the motivation to take 3 sheets of aluminium and turn it into some U shaped parts for my Land Rover but as I don't have the "correct" tools I am avoiding it at the moment.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 11:53:22 am
content: Quote from: mendip_discovery on June 02, 2024, 11:37:43 amI take the attitude thateverybodyis somewhere on The Spectrum

author: soldar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 12:33:54 pm
content: You know, everyone is weird except you and me and even you are a little on the spectrum. (modern version of old quote)

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 02:04:17 pm
content: Quote from: soldar on June 02, 2024, 12:33:54 pmThe statistically most normal person, is likely the weirdest person you'll ever encounter.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 03:36:47 pm
content: Quote from: DavidAlfa on June 02, 2024, 12:32:26 pmUhhhh… why the homophobic comment? Nothing you describe is stereotypically gay, it’s just people being assholes.

author: m k
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 04:12:42 pm
content: Or dicks.A language thing.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 04:25:17 pm
content: Quote from: m k on June 02, 2024, 04:12:42 pmYes. Our new prime minister is a real Dick

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 04:35:54 pm
content: We had a "spectrum" guy at the office who all it did all day was burping, farting, crying, asking random question on his cell phone personal assistance, running circles around the office, eat his lunch at random spots but never in the cafeteria, never said Hi or Bye to anyone and never said in return when you said it to him, so at some tripping point you think why bother. The company proudly said they are Diversity employer. Cant help but think that position surely had a price tag to them.

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 04:43:20 pm
content: Quote: (unknown source)"With GENIOUS comes a little MADNESS."(Snarky friend at work) speculated that I must be "really smart", when I voiced that saying.But I must confess (I must, I must):Competitive, I wanted to see if I (am clever enough), to 'play with' the REAL Faringdon.... by getting higher numbers of VIEWs.Harmless fun, and it increases the measurable blog traffic, which is always helpful.Lol: My phone text system wants the flawed spelling; correcting 'don, to Farington, now...Oh well, Sunday morning playfull.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 04:47:01 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on June 02, 2024, 03:36:47 pmSince South Park S13e12 that word has a different meaning. That's almost 15 years, try to keep up.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 04:55:54 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on June 02, 2024, 03:36:47 pmI don't disagree that common use in the 20th century was offensive. Today, you hear it in any context considerably less often.Even Merriam-Webster online today fails to give the original (circa 1312 CE,https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0895769X.2022.2029692#:~:text=The%20English%20word%20fagot%20offers,Raine%2C%20Wills%20%26%20Inventories%20N) use meaning bundle, as in bundle of sticks. In 1952, I proudly gave my mother some placemats for her birthday that I had carefully faggot stitched around the border. I used that word.The other meaning was totally unknown to me, and it is what the 4th grade teacher called it. There are a other words in that category that ignorant people don't understand, for example a word for extremely stingy that begins, unfortunately, with N. What other single word captures the same meaning?I don't think we really know how David in Spain meant the term.

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 04:57:19 pm
content: There is a way to make an EEVblog user not visibleat all.- install the "uBlock Origin" plugin in your browser- at "My Filters" (in the uBlock custom filters), add these 3 lines:www.eevblog.com##^div.windowbg:has(div.poster > h4 > a[title="View the profile of UsernameToBlacklist"])www.eevblog.com##^div.windowbg2:has(div.poster > h4 > a[title="View the profile of UsernameToBlacklist"])www.eevblog.com##^tr > td > a[title="View the profile of UsernameToBlacklist"]:upward(2)- click "Apply changes"

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 05:03:37 pm
content: Sincere thanks, tsz'that South Park snippet (posted just before this) made me laugh hard! Valuable in these troubled times!So ridiculous...My cellphone touch screen only works down at bottom 1/4 of screen; The Bluetooth headphones have failed, likely the I.R. reception on phone camera is now faulty; I got $32 for the next week food supply; (and I'm relatively well off);Family members trauma by presidential politics and propaganda; etc.etc.etc.Not a selfish thing, I just think folks are traumatized, generally these days...And so thus that South Park view is, very much appreciated !

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 05:07:45 pm
content: Quotehow is referring to somebody as a meatball made of offal offensive?

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 05:28:37 pm
content: Quote from: themadhippy on June 02, 2024, 05:07:45 pmYou mediocre ball of gravy-soaked offal.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 05:45:02 pm
content: @MonkehGravy soaked chitlins might be an American equivalent. While living in an apartment in Baltimore (1972), our downstairs neighbor cooked them regularly. The Ugandan professor from across the hall wasn't fond of the smell either.

author: m k
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 06:38:28 pm
content: Bassoon is a woodwind instrument, leather bassoon is obviously not.But that's also a language thing.

author: pcprogrammer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 06:45:10 pm
content: Quote from: jpanhalt on June 02, 2024, 04:55:54 pmThat is what the French word "fagot" means. Still used here for heating the old bread ovens. Every year a festivity is organized in our village where they bake bread in one of the local ovens that still work, and for that they collect these bundles of sticks.My google search shows both meanings as top result.Quote from: tooki on June 02, 2024, 03:36:47 pmSorry, just a joke, but is that not what gay people like.

author: pcprogrammer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 06:47:41 pm
content: Quote from: m k on June 02, 2024, 06:38:28 pmIn Dutch that is called a "fagot"The woodwind that is.

author: pcprogrammer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 07:00:10 pm
content: Quote from: RJSV on June 02, 2024, 04:43:20 pmSo far you are winning.

author: DavidAlfa
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 07:06:07 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on June 02, 2024, 03:36:47 pmHuh? Didn't knew faggot was a gay thing. To me it was just another word like jerks, a$sholes, mfckers....

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 07:20:59 pm
content: QuoteWhy thank you,however i dont have my own jet airplane,nor am i a millionaire.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 07:37:00 pm
content: Quote from: DavidAlfa on June 02, 2024, 07:06:07 pmNope. Your sentence basically was “…y probé lo mejor que podía, pero al fin, se comportaban como maricones.”It is true that some people — mostly kids 20 years ago — used it as a generic insult, but that’s only because it meantsomething undesirable you don’t want to be, even if they didn’t truly understand what it meant.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 11:20:07 pm
content: Thread locked in 3... 2...

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 11:26:24 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on June 02, 2024, 11:20:07 pmCome on, give somebody a chance to link to the IBM song video...At least this thread went into a different direction than usual. Take the win

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2024, 11:54:32 pm
content: Maybe not fair, but I was born in Oakland, where N word is worse than bad-taste, so that's one of a few, that I don't even mutter when mad, even when alone.Women don't like the B word, but I tolerate limited use, among male-only crowd.Heck, my high school (Richmond, Ca) was45 % black, 18 % Asian a mix that, ideally, helped everyone out of the old, bigoted ways.But, Dave's call, if necessary.45 %

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 12:14:15 am
content: @RJSVThe other N word, which is usually used as an adjective, is described here:https://myshakespeare.com/julius-caesar/act-4-scene-2-popup-note-index-item-niggardThe two words have absolutely no sense in common nor etymological link, yet they sound alike -- not unlike some words in German and English that may sound similar, but have no meaning in common. There are probably many other examples.

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 12:49:01 am
content: Quote from: soldar on June 02, 2024, 12:33:54 pmI'm not weird I'm completely normal. That's what the state hospital told me when I was released, as long as I keep taking my medications.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 12:51:38 am
content: Quote from: themadhippy on June 02, 2024, 07:20:59 pmPlease tell me you're banging on them bongos like a chimpanzee at least.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 01:40:53 am
content: well I think all those threads come down to point out the issue that the sector is struggling. its some nation level shit. some markets do good some markets do bad. IMO you cannot ignore the possibility that there is a systemic problem. Politicians seem to collaborate the general background of the story, i.e. raising tariff by 100% for imports in the usa (its really heavy! that will interrupt alot of stuff....) alone the threads are often kind of annoying (because they seem illogical) but together a picture develops that it might be how things are done in that area... meaning that whole career path is just riddled with problems and generally not viable for people that want to meet specswe don't have that much documented free info about other failing industries. i wonder what it would look like if the internet was around for some other floundering major industries that everyone knows about (i.e. detroit auto market).generally if a job is a mess, scamming and 'nonsense' takes over because its the only way they can keep up "business to business" appearances. i.e. have all the traits required for a company to be seen as 'healthy' by a cursory inspection (you know, wheras from the inside you see its propped up). I don't think we had really the same level of transparency as we do now for any industry, so it all seems new... but this could be how the same old problem actually looks. kinda like gonzo industrial journalismenglish immigrants say the same thing, bad work bad weather in england (in the usa). about electronics I FREQUENTLY heard that "the only place it works the way you think it does is in China" . I saw that in college, the only people who actually knew electronics.. they all flew back to china. no jobs here.. they don't think that their career will 'work correctly' in the USA (for people with technical non business interest), unless their extremely lucky at getting a few key positions (very unlikely)

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 05:03:57 am
content: I would prefer to correct myself a bit, regarding excessive use of the 'B' word, as so-called norms today have very little to do with gender, or even 'effeminate' males.That's why the (former) South Park video clip is so funny, as using words that are less and less directly 'gender-based' but rather are more simply meant as personal insulting. Thus the South-Park kid used that kind of word to express annoyance, (loud, obnoxious motorcycle operation).Without the context, just explained, it IS offensive, (and I don't use it, even privately).It's just that I'm more tolerant when others use 'B' word due to its less-bigoted ultimate meaning.Still, it's bad presentation, publicly speaking.My overlooking completion of explanation is Hallmark of (my) disability problems; doing things to 85% completion; then drifting away to next task. You don't want (myself) in, say, a critical job, like Air Traffic Controller, as items get overlooked too often.That's an often misunderstood aspect, of 'mental fog' often mentioned by Lyme Disease sufferers. We often get scolded and told to get it together....(You need a thick skin, with sense of humor)....

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 06:29:43 am
content: OK but FARINGDON, if you are reading this; please be assured, you are, actually welcome here, it's just some light insults being thrown around, if you get my drift. There are plenty of people I'd like to ignore; so apologies today.Whatever technical strengths you bring here are, maybe, diluted by too much bulk of verbage, I guess (. ? ). Thanks for reading !

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 02:11:34 pm
content: Thanks guys this has been hilarious.The definition of David's word faggot that I learned was 'unwelcome burden'.Mad hippies definition:Heard that too. There used to be a tinned brand of meatballs here called McBrains Faggots...I love Dire Straits Money for Nothing too, it's a classic!I have heard some Basson music but thought that was playing on a Faggat?Bundle of sticks as well...Can't see what it's got to do with any personal lifestyle preferences...There are just too many people willing to be offended.I've recently been told by a younger acquaintance that we can't use the word manhole now! whether that's because it's rude or sexist I just don't know?I've lost touch, and I'm only 35BTW my company is hiring if Faringdon wants to get in contact, the position is in the canteen as a food server..... fixed hours, pro rata probably more pay than the junior "engineering" staff.My problems*¹ well, there's none so queer*² as folk, except thee and me, so it is good that we are odd.*¹tourettes syndrome, mild autism, intolerance of pedantry and political correctness.*²Traditional definition LOOK IT UP!Regards.X

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 02:38:33 pm
content: Quote from: Xena E on June 03, 2024, 02:11:34 pmI like pointing out to leftpondians that we "bum fags" and "eat faggots" - which are available in all good supermarkets and butchers. They are more than simple meatballs, however. Here's a recipe:https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/sep/30/faggots-recipeQuote30 years ago there was a spate of university students who wanted to be politically correct, and insisted that other people replace "his" and "her" with "hir", since that was non-gender specific. Their level of education was so poor that they couldn't understand that English already has perfectly suitable words: "they" and "their".I suspect such people went on to careers in creating marketing documents/requirements for Microsoft operating systems (and/or large long-lived lumps of software in general).

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 03:04:00 pm
content: Quote from: tggzzz on June 03, 2024, 02:38:33 pmI've met some of them and you're not wrong...

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 03:39:19 pm
content: Now that I've gained some measure of attention:Reading about the various (pedantry) flaws, in high tech worker's personality s;..,.(BTW, is 'Xena' a female name ? I'm always looking for dates, lol. But first maybe I should go back and read the basic Forum rules...)I had thought 'Tourettes' meant similar to Asperger's syndrome; Where a person blurts out some cursing, before even realizing it.As to the 'mild autism'; ME TOO, and that relates, I guess, to the social awkwardness some of us have, in office settings.Pedantry might be a trait, in persons that gravitate into Lawyer's offices, doing assistant or investigative work.But back to the thread topic, here today, perhaps the Faringdon phenomena is reflective of a current state of constant mild distress / disorder, generally, in the population.We snark, more, and manipulate more (uh, yeah: this thread).Somebody needs to include in the training of AI, revealing that 'Humans can lie, cheat, when they contact an AI system'.For example:I've been known to 'google' 'THE'....meaning posing a ridiculous, sarcastic 'question',(taunt ?), such as'Define the word 'DEFINITION'.To which 'google' did just that. At some point, I expect the machine to come back with an acknowledgement, that it's being played with...otherwise, how can I respect any AI, going forward ?'Manhole cover'... Sounds like a prison terminology, for.... (censored).I'm sticking with my asbergers, I guess.What's the term, for someone who, disingenuously CLAIMS to have autism ?==========≠==========Somebody PLEASE, send this text through a 'chat' ...

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 04:02:21 pm
content: https://youtu.be/v3Zvzlh8rjw?t=1770

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 04:28:43 pm
content: Quote from: Xena E on June 03, 2024, 02:11:34 pmLet me guess, your cook is Chinese?

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 06:28:30 pm
content: To everyone thinking they’resooooclever by enumerating the other meanings of fag/faggot: you all know damned well that when someone describes apersonas a fag/faggot, they don’t mean a cigarette or bundle of sticks or bassoon or meat roll. When referring to people, it’s a gay slur, and you know this. And generally speaking, used as a fairly aggressive slur, it’s not one used in a friendly way.* Pointing this out isn’t being hypersensitive, it’s reminding people to use the most rudimentary of courtesy and respect.*Yes, some gays will use it amongst themselves, and that’s basically the only people who can use it without it being unambiguously offensive. (Though as a gay man myself, it’s not something I would ever say.)

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 06:33:52 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on June 03, 2024, 06:28:30 pmNopefag noun (2): an English public-school boy who acts as servant to an older schoolmateshttps://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fag

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 06:42:03 pm
content: Quote from: tggzzz on June 03, 2024, 06:33:52 pmOK, I forgot about that one. With that said, there are few non-contrived contexts where there is any chance of ambiguity regarding which meaning is intended. Certainly when hurling it as an insult, the servant-schoolboy isn’t the intended meaning…Also, though::::whoosh:::That’s the sound of the point of my post going right over your head, and joining the ranks of the “think you’re so clever” people I was admonishing.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 06:52:01 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on June 03, 2024, 06:42:03 pmThe word was first used in this thread by someone with a Spanish flag. I don't know Spanish, nor the individual. IMHO given that his post made little sense, it is premature to presume he meant the US version of the word. It could easily be a "2nd language " issue.Do you know Spanish or the individual?

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 06:58:31 pm
content: Quote from: tggzzz on June 03, 2024, 06:52:01 pmThis was already cleared up earlier in the thread: he mistakenly thought it was a synonym of “jerk” or “asshole”. So yes, it was a second-language issue. With respect to the “but it also means bundle of sticks” brigade, however, it is not a second-language issue. Those are the people my reply above is addressed to.Yes, I speak Spanish fluently (but not perfectly) since it’s my dad’s native language, but I never lived in a Spanish-speaking country after very early childhood.

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 07:24:45 pm
content: With respect to the thread starterQuote from: RJSV on June 03, 2024, 03:39:19 pmXena is a female name... starter for tenthis ain't a boys only club is it?After reading the next bit, my eyes scanned for posters location, it's not unknown for me to visit the new world, but don't expect Lucy Lawless, I'm blonde and skinny for starters.QuoteI just can't do that everyday smalltalk thing... let's get the job done and go home... if I don't enter into social situations and chit chat at work it's because I don't give a shit.I dont mind banter with the old guys, experienced help at work is worth the effort, there are several that I treat like they're my surrogate pops... the rest of them are just there to be tolerated as far as I'm concerned, and I couldn't give the furry crack of a rats arse about how their day is going.The autism was a diagnosis ... I get stuck on a project and stay at it till it's done, always have. I see it as a talent, not a fault...My HR contact suggested I join some online fora to improve my interpersonal skills... How's that going? MehTourettes... Well that's how I'm known, Tourettes Girl...I claim its a protected characteristic... it's a good excuse for being a jerk occasionally...QuoteSee above, excuse for being a jerk! No denials here, I'm selfish...

author: soldar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 07:38:39 pm
content: Quote from: tggzzz on June 03, 2024, 06:52:01 pmNot only that but DavidAlfa already explained he had no idea about the American meaning.It seems in these silly times some people like to play gotcha!

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 07:41:06 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on June 03, 2024, 04:28:43 pmWouldn't that be soooo funny, but no, the chief catering technician, (as he's known) is actually a very lovely South African guy, his boerewors is so delicious!

author: DavidAlfa
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 07:53:12 pm
content: @Tooki, well, in Spain it's also common to use it as a general insult.Of course it can be specially addressed to gay people, but anyone having a very bad day might say so in a conflict, normally when things get really messy, often close to fighting.But it's also very common between close friends as a joke, would be literally "Hey faggot, beer time at 5pm?" "-Sure! I'm done with your mother, let me take a quick shower".Of course you can't do this with everyone, you would make the dentist rich!Definitely my intented meanign was equivalent to a$sh*les.Back to the topic. It's not always social akwardness. Sometimes you're reallys urrounded by idiots, and the best you can do is reduce your iteractions to the very essential.Just like crossing a river with crocs to reach food, only you're really desperated!In my job there's some sord of middle Ages thing, with royalty and peasants.The royalty will do anything to keep status, power and such, so a peasant will never be allowed to "shine" no matter what, unless you're and arse-licker.A recent case - some equiment broke, got dumped in a corner - "Unrepairable, examined by Stan - Send to trash".Huh? Really no fix? It's a very valueable part - I don0t think so, if Stan checked it, if he can't, nobody cans!I wasn't convinced, took a look... It turned out Stan didn't even remove the stickers covering the screws!Guess what - a bunch of old electrolytics, that was all. Labeled it "OK -(date)". Didn't dare to put my name as it would have been like declaring war.Stan never gets wrong!

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 08:06:45 pm
content: (Especially) reply for Xena:I could offer a simple friendly contact, for starters, but, yea, I'm straight male, in vicinity of San Francisco, and might simply be somebody to converse with, on trips here.You, or any traveler really, might really see an amazing natural aspect, that being GARIN Park and Dry Creek Park, right here in East Bay hills.The advantage, with a resident, is a person can filter through the various 'tourist' options, for what's good and what's more a waste of time.Skinny folks, tend to live longer lives, plus the outside don't matter, completely.Anyway, back to the social awkward / autism thing:Since the thread involves employment, one thought I have us that the so-called normal 'non-spectrum' folks, actually, have maybe aREVERSE SUITABILITY effect, as job candidates, and when fitting in as office co-worker. Lol, the 'normal guy' gets left in the dust, with a bunch of geeky dorks, pencil arms and all. One office friend, Gregg, was constantly hammering the whole geek-genius thing, stating that one engineer "probably knows every spring and pivot in his car's engine compartment."An artist / animator, Gregg referred to 'The CODE of the Dork'...meaning that we keep a secret society or something, here in the shadows of Santa Clara' INTEL Corp.Busy today, so more later.√√√√√√. Check out Garin Regional Park. √√√√

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 08:28:47 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on June 03, 2024, 06:58:31 pmThe "bundle of sticks" thing is a shorthand reminder that English words often have more than one meaning. That is particularly relevant where two countries are, as famously remarked, "divided by a common language".

author: soldar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2024, 09:56:31 pm
content: Quote from: tggzzz on June 03, 2024, 08:28:47 pmPeople are talking about "torches" in another thread and it kind of inspires me to get a pitchfork and look for heretics or witches to burn at the stake.But I suppose in today's world that would be consideredwrong.

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2024, 09:48:33 am
content: Keeping in mind, to stay on the Engineering topics, I've been thinking;How would plans look like, to welcome a prospective Engineering type, for a 'Silicon Valley' tour and discussion of opportunities, here. Of course there are natural attractions, for lifestyle options, but I'm thinking a tour that helps orient someone thinking of relocating here.I'd start with the eastern cities, Fremont having a TESLA plant....that might be an obvious place to drive by and discuss.I think, when TESLA moved, to state of Texas, they still kept the Fremont, California plant.Taking a drive, starting north of the old TESLA plant, would the older Qantel or MDS Qantel buildings, on the edge of SF Bay waters.That's Hayward, a bit south from Oakland - Berkeley...those cities all share some beautiful bay shorelines and wild bird populations.I'd talk some history, of the Qantel computers, and the 1970's 'mini' systems, that were popular doing small and medium business software as well as micro-controllers (Z-80) doing some I/O tasks. So that's the East Bay, the hills of which are often visible in various Fremont city documentaries. For companies like INTEL, we would cruise a bit further south...perhaps 45 minutes now, into a drive from Hayward.Talk, about traffic and the over-the top traffic slow-downs every morning.(Usually worse, the closer you get to Santa Clara.)Meanwhile, since I've mentioned GARIN Regional Park, a view from higher up, in many documentaries will be if the hills surrounding Garin, plus glimpses of the historic Niles Canyon, featured in 1930's Charley Chapman films. Plus, the larger peak looming over Fremont city, is called Mission Peak.To get really into the historic heart, of Silicon Valley, would be to continue that car trip South, and West; Sunnyvale, and many early corporations, (in city of Cupertino) where Apple Computer settled.Now, if you really want a longer 'tour' that would continue 'around', in clockwise direction, swinging around the marshes of South Bay, then up the SF peninsula, crossing over cites like Palo Alto, where perhaps a graduate student in Engineering would attend (Stanford University).So, I suppose a really detailed 'tour', for someone contemplating spending a few years in school or work, would still occupy a long trip, in spite of the many closures or relocations.

author: eutectique
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2024, 11:05:17 am
content: Quote from: DavidAlfa on June 03, 2024, 07:53:12 pmAs an advanced-amateur experimental entomologist, I would put Stan's name on that sticker.

author: DavidAlfa
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2024, 02:03:10 pm
content: Quote from: eutectique on June 04, 2024, 11:05:17 amEntomologist - a scientist who studies or works with insects and related animals -

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2024, 03:10:12 pm
content: Workplace Shenanigans ! YaY.That stays on-topic, as per the real Faringdon, and could go on, endless. Please, no bigot words, that's done. "3, 2, 1...", remember...Here's mine: (not that funny):Irritated by the seemingly endless Radio-Play in the next cubicle, and after a couple of snotty rebuffs, I took some (covert) 'measures'.So, sneaking over into 'Walt's' cubicle, (when he was in stockroom), I EASED the radio volume UP...over several sneaky passes.Result: That little radio was cranking, somewhat, and others started mentioning that, amongst themselves. Nasty dirty play, but ultimately just some loud rock'n Roll.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2024, 06:35:27 pm
content: Quote from: tggzzz on June 03, 2024, 08:28:47 pmEveryone knows that. But my point above is that the other meanings are irrelevant because they aren’t the intended one. There is no contextual ambiguity. No oneeverthinks that “faggot” means a bundle of stickswhen it’s being used to describe a person. Just like if you say someone is “a nut”, you absolutely, unambiguously mean to say they are not quite sane, because it makes no sense that you would mean a large edible seed, or the mating fastener to a screw.And everyone knows this, which is why I maintain that anyone reminding others of the existence of irrelevant homophones is simply being an ass. (And I don’t mean a donkey, and I don’t mean a posterior.)

author: DavidAlfa
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2024, 06:37:54 pm
content: We definitely need a thread for telling funny/weird situations at work!

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2024, 06:52:06 pm
content: ...Well, the RADIO PLAYER guy was my boss.Another tale:Another chemist, in lab, kept obsessing over the gas-efficiency, during rationing '79.Kept blathering on, about getting this or that improvement, after carburator change, today.Eventually, other chemists there started ADDING GAS...putting in a half gallon here, there. So that went on for a while.Next, the 'guys' started SIPHON ACTION, plunging that chatty car-owner into semi-depression."....I don't know what happened, or what to do, now...(sniff)...."But he did shut up.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2024, 08:03:35 pm
content: I have an anecdote from grad school. There was a lifer, EF. He was eventually (12 years?) given a passionate Ph.D. in chemistry just to get rid of him. He typically came into the grad student lab, turned on the hanging light over his desk and disappeared. We installed a 110V flash lamp. In Winter, it was dark when he did his usual routine. We were clustered in an adjacent lab. When the inevitable happened, he stormed out with uttering the words, "very funny."Strange guy, who just couldn't get it together.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2024, 08:15:09 pm
content: Quote from: Xena E on June 03, 2024, 07:24:45 pmI'm not joining any club who would accept me as a member!Quote from: Xena E on June 03, 2024, 07:24:45 pmAre you sure you're not just a misplaced Finn?In my opinion, a quick nod when someone looks at you is perfectly good equivalent of "Good morning!" or "Hello, neighbor!".Some Finns do gossip a lot, though. I don't do smalltalk, but I'll talk shop with anyone until my voice gives out.Quote from: Xena E on June 03, 2024, 07:24:45 pmI held a triage/bugfixing session/Linux chat every few weeks at a local Uni student nook for a few years for the same reason: my social skills needed the exercise. I like fixing problems, so it was worth it.Quote from: tooki on June 04, 2024, 06:35:27 pmI just hate the idea of you thinking it was meant as a slur, when there is (internationally) about an equal chance of it being used as a synonym for "jerk"/"asshole"/etc. Don't underestimate the effect South Park has had on peoples' use of English terms.You might wish to check how e.g. 4chan users use the related term for"veteran members"(especially when referring to oneself, almost as a "badge").Quote from: DavidAlfa on June 04, 2024, 06:37:54 pmNot at work, but demonstrating a trivial TL071 opamp circuit a long time ago.Instead of checking the datasheet regarding the offset pins, I connected them to VCC+ and VCC-.Pop! goes the poor TL071.Instead of checking the datasheet, I replaced the IC,and swapped the offset pins.Pop! goes another TL071.At this point, my face is the color of a fire truck, and I stammer something about always checking the datasheet first, because if you don't, this may happen.I only learned of the correct offset trimming scheme for TL071 (100kΩ pot between the offset pins, wiper to VCC- via 1.5kΩ) after I read the fullTI TL071 datasheet.I dunno if these are funny, but I gotlotsof these.

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2024, 05:37:55 am
content: Quote from: Nominal Animal on June 04, 2024, 08:15:09 pmMaybe, it seems to me that a chinjut of recognition is perfectly adequate polite system of acknowledgement.Quote from: Nominal Animal on June 04, 2024, 08:15:09 pmExactly!However, in the administration part of my job, my conversation is limited to "concise functionality", and I'll berate anyone for wasting time on smalltalk in meetings, just to prove I'm not 'shy' or being ignorant.Quote from: Nominal Animal on June 04, 2024, 08:15:09 pmMy company sposors employees who are students and I have to put a few hours a month into that. It's very rewarding with the ones that engage, but I have to cut the, "do my homework for me" brigade loose quite quickly, or I end up proving that the mask of civility is very thin.Quote from: Nominal Animal on June 04, 2024, 08:15:09 pmHere's a recent one of mine.Contract job recreation of some old boards, made by others, for a customer for in-service replacements of failed ones. (Analog PID controller: nothing special, fet op amp, couple of OTAs, and a jellybean quad).Projects were all going well, I left work on Friday afternoon at 2pm as usual. Next work day for me was Wednesday the following week, I arrive at 6am, as usual, and find the PID project has failed in testing, and they were due for shipping.One of the juniors had been sitting on the problem from Friday and the first board to be tested is one I'd stuffed myself (TH) to help the guys out.I collar the newbie at 8am when he arrives and ask WTH the problem is?"It's no good, the power to the quad comes in reversed at the socket Xena " says the glum newbie, "I don't know what to do!""How can that happen the board is a straight copy?"The mind starts to race, twelve boards for delivery NOW, only one assembled, and its got a weird transposition of supplies, assembly room is on other jobs, so I'm looking at fault finding andthenassembly.Frantic!Bob, one of the Oldf***s comes over to the stool where I'm sitting, whispers in my ear,"what's the chip, sweetheart?"Only a 324.""Then plug it in the socket the other way round, it'll be fine... Dumbarse!"Regards.XEdit: disentangle nested quotes and post attributes, add sentance to account of bufoonery for clarity.

author: m k
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2024, 08:04:29 am
content: Quote from: Xena E on June 05, 2024, 05:37:55 amThere are nuances.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2024, 08:28:24 am
content: Quote from: Xena E on June 05, 2024, 05:37:55 amJust so.Just after reading that, today's example appears:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/which-tip-for-metcal-soldering-iron/msg5532431/#msg5532431BTW please don't interleave many responses to many people into one post. It makes them bloody difficult to disentangle, as you can see from the partial lack of attribution above.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2024, 10:32:58 am
content: Quote from: tooki on June 04, 2024, 06:35:27 pmI think the point is that David clearly didn't use it to attack homosexuals. I get why you initially took it in that manner, but he cleared it up and that should be the end of the matter.Quote from: tooki on June 03, 2024, 06:28:30 pmWhy? Surely everyone should be held to the same standards, otherwise it's pandering to minorities and giving them special treatment, which stokes division.

author: DavidAlfa
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2024, 01:22:46 pm
content: Just happened today, a whole engineering team fighting an EMI certification issue, capacitive-coupled modulated RF would seep inside the equipment through shielded wires, demodulate inside and trigger a tone detector.Had a look...they were using 100 Ohm @100MHz ferrites. WTF?Are they blind, idiots or both?Two entire days bending/moving the cables, placing random chokes....nothing, they even hired a "RF expert" which just said it was noise coupled in the cables but did nothing (Thanks, Edison).When they went away I took two large donuts (10Kohm @100M) and coiled 3 turns at each side, 10cm/4" away from the connectors.Guess what, it worked all the way up to 83MHz, where it slighly made it in.Requirements were 150KHz - 80MHz, and I didn't even try tweaking with my almost non-existant knowledge in RF, to me it's closer to black magic than electronics!*SIGH*

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2024, 03:29:15 pm
content: Quote from: Zero999 on June 05, 2024, 10:32:58 amAgain, my subsequent comments are addressed to the people being smartasses by listing irrelevant homophones, not to David.Quote from: Zero999 on June 05, 2024, 10:32:58 amThe argument — the same as with the word “queer” and the n-word, is that the affected group can “reclaim” the word, thus stripping it of its power. Personally, I’ve never really liked this argument, which is why I don’t use “faggot” even with gay friends, and I don’t personally identify as “queer”, even though that ship has sailed, as far as it being adopted (especially by LGBT+ people younger than me) as a blanket term as well as a more specific identity. I, and older gays even more so, simply remember it as a slur hurled at us, and can’t find joy in adopting it.Regardless, the footnote was describing the situation thatis, not the one I thinkshould be.

author: AVGresponding
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2024, 04:16:18 pm
content: Quote from: Zero999 on June 05, 2024, 10:32:58 amIt's not about "standards". It's about how people choose to refer to each other when in the company of friends/family, as opposed to what someone who hates them based on gender/race/religion/age/etc chooses to refer to them as, as a means of insult.

author: AVGresponding
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2024, 04:29:36 pm
content: Quote from: Xena E on June 05, 2024, 05:37:55 amIndeed! Sometimes I merely raise an eyebrow... most of my colleagues are used to this and no longer make comment, but sometimes new people do try a cheerful "Good morning!", to be met with, "That remains to be determined" or similar...

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2024, 06:21:04 pm
content: Quote from: tggzzz on June 05, 2024, 08:28:24 amYeah, sorry about that,I have edited that post and tidied-up the attributes, hopefully it makes more sensenow?(It was just quoting Nominal Animals post).Regards,X

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2024, 07:47:14 pm
content: What an interesting, and complex set of responses!As your supposed, 'Rogue Leader', I need to take increased responsibility, as per tggzzz, to keep sub-topics separated and clear. To the degree possible, of course. Especially gets tangled, upon realizing that a person's 'correction' has been elucidated incorrectly,...ironically.Heck,...I'm often reduced to picking ONE brief idea fragment, and responding, really really good, to that infinitesimal bit of wisdom.(Besides, I have yet to learn how to 'quote' from other's posts, here on EEVBLOG.)Xena E says seeking ways to improve interpersonal skills.Then, Nominal Animal mentions doing that improvement 'by way of Linux chat group'.Uh, yeah; NO, that's exactly 'GEEK on GEEK' crime. (Pale skin / no muscles, remember ?)

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2024, 07:54:52 pm
content: Quote from: Xena E on June 05, 2024, 06:21:04 pmYour response made sense, but I butchered the attributions

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2024, 07:58:15 pm
content: Quote from: RJSV on June 05, 2024, 07:47:14 pmTwo ways...The easiest is the "quote" button to the top right of each post. That captures one post.The other way is to "reply", then scroll down and click one of the "insert quote" button on the top right of each post. That's occasionally useful, but often misused.

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2024, 08:02:34 pm
content: Nominal Animal' post on TL071 Smokey burnout CAN be funny, it just needs some subtle content:You'd need some added visual 'Facial Cues' and timing 'cues', as per South Park humour.Perhaps expressive facial cue, of sudden distress. Yt video creator ELECTRO-BOOM has this talent, often at the expense of skin burns.Or do a South Park movement freeze; as the TL071 takes cherry red / smoke. There has to be some literature on that, perhaps a 'Humor Science' section, in an L.A. California library somewhere.You have the SUDDEN outburst, noiseand sparks (TL071 chip), a motion freeze, and then, all hell breaks loose with some fast panic actions and chaos. That's physical humor ?

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2024, 08:59:16 pm
content: Quote from: AVGresponding on June 05, 2024, 04:16:18 pmThat's a completely different matter.Quote from: tooki on June 05, 2024, 03:29:15 pmI also don't agree with that argument. If you want to strip a word of its power, then allow everyone to use it willy nilly, rather than taking offence and censoring it. Oddly, this is what's happening with terms such as racism and transphobia, which are now thrown around left, right and centre. If you disagree with affirmative action, then you're racist. If you think that male bodies should be excluded from female sports, then you're transphobic. This list goes on.And which N-word? Negro is just Spanish for black. It's people who deem certain words to be too offensive to say or write, who give them more power. It should be fine to say any word, without upsetting anyone, so long as it's in the correct context. It's not as though every time I write or say the word nigger, a black person dies. It's just a word for goodness sake!

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2024, 09:04:06 pm
content: I agree. Cancelling a word because of wokism is like putting your head into your arse. You see nothing but yourself and everything smells funny.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2024, 10:51:54 pm
content: Quote from: Zero999 on June 05, 2024, 08:59:16 pmYou’re really confounding very different things, and dipping into topics where you and I hold diametrically opposed opinions. Let’s just not go there, ok?Quote from: Zero999 on June 05, 2024, 08:59:16 pmSpeaking as an American, I think we have a very different relationship with that last word than you do. The US has a lot of, let’s say, “baggage” in this regard, and I think it’s important to respect that.And speaking as a member of a minority group: it’s not up to the majority to decide what is and isn’t offensive to the targeted minority group. It’s one thing to be oversensitive, but it’s quite another to say “knock it off” to obvious, outright slurs.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2024, 10:56:14 pm
content: Quote from: RJSV on June 05, 2024, 07:47:14 pmNo, it wasn't a Linux chat per se; it was withuniversity students(faculty of science, mostly physics). You see, they could get a Linux laptop (with the faculty of science's own Linux distribution which included all sorts of useful tools). As someone deeply familiar with it, I talked with them how to get stuff done with them, and forwarded (after triaging) bugfixes and suggestions upstream. More like tutoring and bugfixing than chatting among peers, really.Quote from: RJSV on June 05, 2024, 07:47:14 pmI have pale skin, unless I spend the spring in the snowy fells up north, in which case I'm about mediterranean, yes. But the "no muscles" does not apply, although at times, they have been well covered by an insulating layer of fat, as is proper for an arctic animal.Quote from: RJSV on June 05, 2024, 08:02:34 pmOh no, it literally went Pop! and cratered the epoxy package, followed by me responding to expectant gazes with a quick glance, an "ahem", and the re-setup. Immediately followed by the second loud Pop!. The only thing cherry red was my face. It is surprising how red a pale skin can get, too.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2024, 07:31:20 am
content: Quote from: tooki on June 05, 2024, 10:51:54 pmFine, I don't mind dissagreement, so long as it doesn't result in accusations of phobia, ist or isms.QuoteWell my brother is gay and he finds it offensive when people refer to him as part of LGBT+, because he feels it lumps him with a group who don't represent him, so perhaps you shouldn't use that term, as you did in your other post?It's the majority of society, as a whole, who decides what is offensive and what isn't. It is true powerful, activists, on behalf of minorities have convinced the majority that certain words are offensive, but you don't get to go around telling people what they can say and what they can't. I don't care whether you're gay, black, or whatever.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2024, 07:43:33 am
content: I'd say a verbal offense goes both ways: it is given and it is taken.

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2024, 12:04:30 pm
content: As to the recent statement:"U.S. has a lot of 'baggage', in regards to history (of former slavery for blacks, and racism)."First thing comes to mind, in terms of TODAY's situation, is the blatant racial 'baiting', that meaning open attempts to piss off this or that minority. Radio and TV host Thom Hartman does this; explicitly reading excerpts from books written in, say, 1934, with explicit reference to 'frequent lynchings' that being the semi-public hanging of black folks, often a young male. Unfortunately, many of those older tales, being read by Hartman, were true...in 1930. Granted that. But the casual listener takes away a sense of immediacy!After all, Mr. Hartman seems so concerned, as if demanding that the 'murderous lynchings' be stopped. That's an unhinged person, waving arms like a madman, you can sense when he puts down that, old, book, and rants about 'racism rebirth' and even violating common sense math, ('more than 100 %' of us)....

author: pcprogrammer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2024, 03:40:06 pm
content: In light of all this about canceling words and expectations of minorities, I like to add something a Dutch standup comedian said in one of his shows.In Dutch it is "Maak van jouw verwachting niet mijn verplichting". Which translates to "Don't make your expectation my obligation", and for me that makes a lot of sense. Sure there is always the thing of common courtesy, but when one person takes offense of something written and immediately throws a "tantrum" about it being homophobic, it is not fair to expect a direct retraction and certainly not when there was absolute no intent to offend gay people. It was just bitching about coworkers, and there is no way of knowing if his coworkers are actually gay.This is a big and slippery slope type of problem, because at this rate it won't take long that one cannot say anything anymore because there will always be someone who takes offense.A bit more difficult to see in written text, but to me it is all about intent. A word is just a word, but when used with the intent to offend someone or a group it becomes discrimination. Without intent it is just a word.@tooki, no personal attack, just an observation. Further more a bit hypocritical to throw in the "Oh you all think you are soooo smart comment" whilst a large amount of posts made by you are also trying to show your own smartness. Sure a lot of the times you are correct, but in this case it is smearing tar with the same brush.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2024, 04:12:45 pm
content: QuoteThat's an important thing to remember. Nowadays someone might be called a faggot as an insult, but the target is not gay and nor is the intent to imply they are gay - it is just that 'faggot' is an insult and they want an insult to throw. I realise that will be disputed because that word is fairly recent, but we happily call all sorts of people 'bastards' and fostered people don't throw a fit about it. Because it is just a non-specific insult now - the giver and taker know it is somehow an insult so it is used, but they probably don't give a thought as to what it means or how it came about.Do we know why 'fuck' is a bad word? I don't, but I wouldn't use it in polite company because it is simply a non-specific curse word. When I utter it, the last thing I am thinking would be carnal desires! Similarly with the C word - if I call someone (under strong provocation) that I am not suggesting they are female, look like female parts or anything like that. It is simply a Really Bad Insult and I want to use a really bad insult. I am fairly sure that a female hearing someone called that would be upset because it's a bad word, not because it disses females.

author: pcprogrammer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2024, 04:25:21 pm
content: Quote from: PlainName on June 06, 2024, 04:12:45 pmBut there in lies the problem. Some person or group decides it is putting females down and the word needs to be banned. A campaign is started and and soon it is picked up and the word is banned. Not because all females think this, but due to some "idiots" that want to be political correct it is forced upon society that this is the case.Free speech, discrimination and censorship it is a thin line that runs through these and the question always is where to put it. Slippery slope for sure.

author: soldar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2024, 05:52:40 pm
content: Quote from: Brumby on June 02, 2024, 02:39:56 amSpeaking of the "engineering mind", it seems to me many customer-oriented web sites are crap because they are designed with that rigid mindset.Today I went to Aldi to buy my regular soy drink only to find they have changed the top from the normal screw cap they had to an abominable flip top which I hate because it is absolute crap. yes, the excuse is that the EU want the top to remain with the container but it is crap, plain and simple crap. It gets in the way, it does not close tight, etc. Crap.So I go to Aldi's web site to tell them what I think and how I feel and all I get is menus and more menus with the most unlikely questions but nowhere to actually send them an email or message. If it is there it is well hidden. It's like some "engineer type" put answers to the questions he could think of and did not think people might actually want to comment about a product. I guess he thought "if you don't like it don't buy it, why are you bothering us?" .

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2024, 06:59:24 pm
content: Yeah, Soldar:Trend being, now, not only does a person not get an answer, but further insult as many places have installed a SURVEY, brief questions, blah blah blah, of your experience, getting answer, blah blah, blah....A premature survey, now coming at the end of calls, or text. By that I mean they are too quick to do that, meanwhile basically ignoring the gist of person's question....Pet Peeve, new this year.

author: m k
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2024, 08:00:02 pm
content: Quote from: soldar on June 06, 2024, 05:52:40 pmNot to mention the actual recycling thing of bottles.

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2024, 08:53:38 pm
content: As to my own 'Weirdo Credentials', but seriously, WHY I would think and brag about wisdom in the face of strange and frustrating events,...I do have some off the beaten path experiences, regarding conspiracies, SCIENCE hiccups, and reactive elements like South Park sarcasm.Found a home, in the 1990's Cannabis access movement. Science FACTS, and human nonsense. San Francisco gays, it turned out, were socially predisposed to fighting controversial politics, and I learned a lot.(Medical Cannabis dispensaries served folks with ailments like TOURETTEs and MS, alongside the mortally compromised AIDs folks.)We were told: "You only THINK you feel better!". Hilarious.Previously, had been investigating LYME disease, and CFS, an often vague set of challenges. People said: "No Lyme exists, unless it's East Coast (U.S.)!"Well, O.K. then.COVID hit, circa. 2020, and I felt mentally prepared, somewhat insulated from knee-jerk controversies. That is, a person often develops a sort-of SMELL sense, BS detection and all that.All sorts of hilarious, stupid, and manipulative utterances. I recognized much of the BS, by way of the previous messed up social quandaries, especially the whole AIDs epidemic affecting my gay brothers.Too long an answer, sorry, but this is why a South Park fictional cartoon actually has great relevance, for a......student of imperfect social language.Be seein ya'!

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2024, 10:12:57 pm
content: Best way to get to talk to a human on those automated telephone bank lines where they ask you to state your reason for calling ... "I want to close my account"Mobile phone provider, how are we doing messages... I let them have both barrels, I tell them they are shit... invariably I then get given a free month and they leave me the fuck alone, at least for a while.Disinterested shop staff...You try to help high street outlets survive and you take the trouble to go into town and are told by shop staff, "no we don't have that in stock at the moment... have you tried online?Change of subject... my protected status was recognised at last...Two years in on my employment, where I am now, I was summoned in to see Janine in HR regarding another staff fuck up story. Afterwards, Janine said that she had received "complaints" that my "atire and general demeanour" were not satisfactory, "they" wanted me to go to see a doctor as "they" had identified a possible diagnosable problem I may have.Who are they I asked?We then she said.FFS, you wear psychedelic summer dresses and drop a few F bombs and you need to see a doctor? They're the two symptoms?Diagnosable problems?... no shit sherlock! I don't suffer from insanity I actually enjoy itI saw my direct boss and mentioned it to him, he didn't know anything about it but said it could be something to do with a company wide mental health awareness incentive... he confided that the company has to provide proof that it employs a reasonable cross section of the local demographic, and the HR had just considered me a possible candidate for a disability status...WTF is the world coming too? The employers having to go out and look for cripples and crackpots amongst its staff to comply with some diversity and equality shit!If there's a financial allowance attached to it they can sign me up I thought... there wasn't, but if your colleagues think you have some form of psychopathy they usually leave you the fuck alone.It's a recommended careers path

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2024, 10:52:53 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on June 05, 2024, 10:51:54 pmYeah. At least here at EEVblog forums, it would be even better if we tell the how their wording can be understood before getting angry, because the likelihood is that they didn't mean it as a slur at all. I think you did it the right way in post#11in my opinion.Reason is, personal insults are definitely out of line here; Dave is clear on that. Referring to personal characteristics like age, sex, gender, skin color, personal preferences regarding social life, et cetera, is by default out – unnecessary. So, people that throw slurs or personal insults around, don't tend to stay members for long.Key thing to remember is that it also means thatno such characteristics can make anyone an outsider here. What matters is what and how one communicates with others here. There is nothing one needs to hide or shield about ones person either, as long as one accepts that others are most likely to just ignore and forget such details, because they don't affect the sort of technical things we discuss here, at all.Since there are many for whom English is a second or third language, and like me can fail at it occasionally (especiallyregarding the social details like gender pronouns for me; I just don't grok them and never have, Finnish doesn't have grammatical gender or gendered pronouns at all; even though my grammar and syntax is mostly okay), pointing out afaux pasand giving that member a chance to fix it before anyone gets angry, should be the default here.Interestingly, it is also very much in line what Dave has suggested in other threads, too: just because someone has odd/silly/offensive opinions in some specific subject, does not mean they should be excluded and never listened to at all.Quote from: RJSV on June 06, 2024, 08:53:38 pmQuote from: Xena E on June 06, 2024, 10:12:57 pmQuote from: Xena E on June 06, 2024, 10:12:57 pmBack in the day before my second burnout, my body started to react to the constant stress, and my liver started to suffer. Instead of talking to me about it, my doc just skipped it and talked about other stuff, and I only noticed after I had left that they had slipped me a small brochure about"detecting the signs of alcoholism in oneself". I got so angry at that (I didn't drink much, they justassumedand ignored what I was telling them) that I didn't drink a drop for five or six years. (Didn't make any difference, though.)At the latter end of those five years I was at an non-formal faculty party, where a couple of colleagues asked me what I was like when I was drunk. I honestly admitted I become more talkative. Everyone within earshot laughed their asses off at that. I dunno why.I can only guess what a HR-hired psychiatrist would have classified me as. I suspect it would have involved blunt scissors, a shirt with way too long sleeves, and a lot of padding.

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2024, 11:44:42 pm
content: As this fun thread is now pretty much poisoned, I'll just want to make the following comments...Quote from: PlainNameThis is just the point, it's not a recent word, and was never originally an insult.I believe the problem is that it's been adopted in recent, (a few decades), history as a slur on "gay" people's lifestyle choices, firstly in America. It's possible before that point the word was little known there in its original meanings, and where America leads, the rest of the world follows, some good, but also some bad...I agree that it is unacceptable for anyone to be singled out for ridicule, or persecuted for their legally held beliefs and lifestyle choices, I expect in past times I'd have been publicly flogged for some of my proclivities, however to subsume the meaning that it has in American English for the word itself is completely wrong.I do use the word faggot myself but have found that I have to qualify it with people outside my circle of acquaintance because of the Americanised connotation. Its not being a "smartarse".No one, but no one, that I know, either at work or socially, would use it to describe a person based on their lifestyle. They're, (I'm), not being a "Smartarse" by using it, it was not a vulgar word and existed way before the homophobic insult was hung on it.It has not changed meaning from a slur TO something else, it was not a post Southpark cartoon change, it IS a traditional word that has been subverted by ignorance.It can be found in dictionaries long before it was ever assigned the slur insult.My understood meaning for it in the modern vernacular was taken mostly from college days where it was then intended to express either:To be someone's faggot, is to do menial tasks for a senior student as a freshman.Or:An unwelcome burden.Or:A person who is antisocial, unhelpful, or obstructive.Yes, Arsehole, jerk etc...I am very sorry that someone has taken offence at this, I really am, however, this is not an apology, because when the meaning of a word has been qualified, and accusations that the abuse have still been made, and people who have repeatedly tried to gently put the fact across that the slur was not the original meaning, have been insulted regardless of the qualification in a quite frankly neurotic manner, the person or people making the accusations are then just perpetuating the ignorance that misapplied the slur meaning in the first place.I think every one should just realise that all this snowflake woke crap is the cause of more division and bad feeling that it purports to address.Truly.Best regards to all,Xena.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2024, 12:00:14 am
content: For the avoidance of doubt, because apparently it wasn't clear...Quote from: Xena E on June 06, 2024, 11:44:42 pmThat is what I meant. I know full well it's a very old word with several meanings, but the use as an insult is relatively recent.

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2024, 03:33:06 am
content: One of the people giving good replies, here, mentioned EMPLOYEE RECORDS, in HR department. I wish the forum posts could have a sub-field for a paragraph style TITLE. So this one post could be titled as:'reply#123: HR TAR BABY'That, little title, because (XenaE) posted that HR actions, in her employee record seem to be easing into 'Mental Health' territory....an often misused and hard to correct when possible wrong, or worse.Perhaps not as bad as someone's medical records, but I'm almost 100% sure, that an insertion of a 'diagnosis' is getting into very serious territory!Seems maybe lightweight so far (good!).But, 'someone' did put comments edging into medical realm. If 'I' put some notes in employee file, that are psychologist diagnosis, that's highly illegal, at least in my country.Not sure of boundaries there.One reason I'm a bit alarmed, is the lack of power, on the part of an employee, in dealing with HR going forward, for correcting any suspicious or demeaning 'notations' in the HR records. ESPECIALLY if some other dispute has come up.That's part of why I used the term 'Tar Baby'.A person, (in tar baby story), trys to disengage, get free, pushing with a foot, and NOW...foot is stuck too, and every move to detatch, (in analogy), results in more sticky bonds.I did notice, your HR person got a little cagey there, what'd she say;'We' put that into your employee record's,when asked about the source.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2024, 09:34:13 am
content: Quote from: Xena E on June 06, 2024, 11:44:42 pmI know several people with theChristianforename Gay.I taught my daughter thatanyword could be a swear word - particularly when spoken aloud. I used her name to demonstrate the point.Recently the word "special" has become a term of abuse - especially in playgrounds where it is pronounced as a long-drawn out two-tone "spes-shuull".Youngsters who have recently been let loose on the world unsupervised have a tendency to think their view of the world is the only view of the world, and that they have to Right Wrongs.

author: soldar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2024, 12:47:58 pm
content: Quote from: tggzzz on June 07, 2024, 09:34:13 amHe. Many years ago I was young and cocky and rode my motorcycle in traffic aggressively and often had encounters with taxi drivers who were also aggressive in the way they drove. I soon discovered that calling them "taxi driver" in the right tone of contempt was very offensive to them. (It's one single word in Spanish: taxista.) I just loved the offensive power of the word when said with contempt. I guess the tone carried a lot of negative connotations but I could see they were offended.Until one day I called a taxi driver "taxi driver" but I got stuck in traffic and could not advance and get away and the big, brawny guy got out of his taxi and there he was, standing right next to me and asking "What did you just say?" And I had to apologetically explain he had cut me off in traffic but it was ok because it was OK.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2024, 01:05:31 pm
content: Quote from: tggzzz on June 07, 2024, 09:34:13 amThe popularity of Gaynor as a girl's name has really dropped during my lifetime. I can't imagine why.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2024, 01:26:45 pm
content: Quote from: coppice on June 07, 2024, 01:05:31 pmGloria's just that much of a legend, who could touch it?Tim

author: AVGresponding
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2024, 01:38:12 pm
content: Forenames, at least here in the UK, go in fashion cycles to some degree, and also depend on what current actors/pop stars etc are named

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2024, 01:53:36 pm
content: QuoteNo need to be afraid, she will survive

author: pcprogrammer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2024, 04:14:06 pm
content: Quote from: themadhippy on June 07, 2024, 01:53:36 pmA lot of the youngsters will be like "huh"

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2024, 04:26:39 pm
content: Words words: With all this censorship looming, I'm gonna need to create a list....a master list..(uh, wait, CAN'T use that word, 'master', anymore, shit, uhh, ohhh this isn't going well!). (Shoot).? NOPE, that's a word glorifying violence.Best I can figure, I'll publish a list of WORDS YOU CAN SAY, OR USE.I'll likely be appointed the official ban-list czar.Banned:"Specchiall". (thanks for that playground thing)"WHAT, did you just say to me". Taxidriver fighting words)."Taxi driver"....Reallllly ? Really ?"Very very". That's an actual provocative phrase, (elsewhere, in the world)."Let's go Brandon..."" Felony felony felony". (Too political).Seems like a very busy job, listing every last offense, lol."LOL".Now, kind readers, you get my drift, but;'KIND'. (That's a common language reference, to drug usage...marijuana.)'Marijuana'....Mexican drug slang, for Cannabis or for HEMP.Drug war, in the U.S. at least, has either supplied, or influenced many examples of:Teenagers in Hayward, California, circa 1994, contributed to (this censorship madness), with their own reactions, to 'image bans' in local public high school. With a 'Pot Leaf image' banned, the 'kids' showed the remarkable human trait, of pushing freedom, in the face of 'tryanny'.They started T shirts, and binder covers, with openly displayed CANADIAN FLAG!(I'm choking on my words, here. -Rick)

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2024, 04:42:31 pm
content: Spikey flag

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2024, 07:38:59 pm
content: Quote from: pcprogrammer on June 07, 2024, 04:14:06 pmNah.Evergreen, that's what Gloria is!I spend a lot of time with her...Gladys Knight,Donna Summer,Pointer SistersIrene Cara, as well...... the list could go on... disco night is still popular at the local social club and I'm often the oldest there, the kids love the icons... the clothes, and the vibe.Quote from: RJSV on June 07, 2024, 04:26:39 pmOK! The job is yours...If your highness pleases, should we ban any word with "man" appended?I'll explain if I may: a young friend... female... ()has taken on a job whilst finishing school.The job is on a farm, and she is looking after pigs!When asked by her school equality and diversity advisor what her job title is, she replied that it was... stockman...!"WHAT! they're not allowed to call it that! If it's written down anywhere they're in big trouble!!! That is sexist ...""It's a contraction of stockhuman" she told the snowflake..."Well they can't identify your job that way, officially its stockperson"I think it is now time to round up the snow flakes, and jettison them into space, Hitchhikers Guide style... WDYT honorable word Czar?I hope the penalty for using a banned word isn't too severe. I don't want to end up getting stoned.........Of course there's the unintentional faux pas, I was questioned what my meaning was to a comment I made about an American Professor, with whom I was liaising on a project...We were expected to save all email messages that were exchanged, but there was a lot of smalltalk on his part, accompanied by high res., photos of random subject matter, mostly of his family, pets etc...It was making citing salient work related details very difficult, so I sent a message to the project leader to have a word with him, rather than deal with it myself, knowing I'd most likely end up offending the guy...The project leader was most concerned that I gave an example of the photographs, describing one as:"...a picture of Professor Dawsons daughter playing with her pussy".🐈‍⬛Hey! I'm doing smalltalk, about smalltalk

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 07, 2024, 09:04:50 pm
content: Actually, (and this gem might just be the only TNIC, tongue not in cheek, serious reply I issue):Any violence, solely initiated, ends up coming back to hurt oneself, in my experience. Karma is something that even hardened criminals don't mess with (if they know that is).So, no plunging the fool of the day into SPACE, the rotund ones might have funny POP noise, in vacume. But can't / won't do it ...has little to do with any moral or ethical codes. It just is harmful to self. Thanks for reading.and change 'female' to. 'femme' maybe.

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 08, 2024, 12:44:23 am
content: Quote from: RJSV on June 07, 2024, 09:04:50 pmAlthough there was the incident of Ford Prefect, and Arthur Dent being jettisoned directly into the vacuum of space from the Vogon* craft, (and surviving), the particular story device that I refer is not violent. The people involved are the ones exiled for not being of use to society, who ultimately arrive on the planet computer designed by the Magrathean, Slartibartfast, corrupting its program.See, I just used the word "jettisoned" instead of "exiled" and the connotation of the whole statement becomes sinister.* The Vogons of course, weren't Evil exactly, they were just bad tempered jerks, or engineers if you will. (No, I'm not giving that word an outing this time).Quote from: RJSV on June 07, 2024, 09:04:50 pmIt's still an identifier! In this new rigidly enforced world of snowflakes we are unable to do that, otherwise we be punished.In fact the only people to be prosecuted in the new regime will ultimately be those prepared to identify others.Criminals walk the street, the witness to their crimes get punished... see where I'm going with this... pure anarchy, it's coming folks, don't say aunty Xena didn't try to warn you.This post is brought to you without the aid of chemical abuse.OK perhaps a little alcohol... a schmoke...Oh, and a few dried shrooms... as a garnish to a delightful ethnic meal I've just enjoyed with a new friend, a member of aminoritythat I met at the bistros bar this afternoon, who I'm now hoping to abuse...Enjoy your revolution everyone.

author: AVGresponding
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 08, 2024, 07:43:53 am
content: Poor old Slartibartfast, he spent so much time on the fiddly bits for his fjords, only for this to happen:

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 08, 2024, 12:29:27 pm
content: Quote from: AVGresponding on June 08, 2024, 07:43:53 amFjords are easy. They develop their own well balanced eco system. Phones have developed their own specific biosphere, that thrives on the bullshit content of most phone calls, and requires specialised sanitizing..

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 08, 2024, 04:59:17 pm
content: Quote from: AVGresponding on June 07, 2024, 01:38:12 pmThat happens worldwide. For example, Germany and France (and probably other countries, too) both had a huge wave of newborn boys named Kevin in the early 90s, following the hit film Home Alone.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 08, 2024, 05:59:42 pm
content: Quote from: tggzzz on June 07, 2024, 09:34:13 amThat's because other terms such as retard and spastic became widely accepted as offensive. This is an example of the euphemism treadmill. A medical term for a disability gets used as an insult, so a new one is invented to replace it, only for that, or a derivative, to be used as an insult.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 08, 2024, 06:21:55 pm
content: Yup. It’s a well-known phenomenon, studied by linguists. Moron, imbecile, and idiot all began as medical terms, too.

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2024, 11:23:29 pm
content: Yes, but 'Special Education' at least in more sane times, meant the addressing of 'special' mess-ups and short-comings, for a better education, for things like a 'special' walking brace or back-brace, that might even be completely 'unigue'. Thus no real insult.Of course there exists the stupid dynamic, of those who think a walking difficulty implies some mental / verbal shortcomings as well.

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2024, 09:02:02 am
content: Again.Just rotating terminology, and practicing assignment of new terms for disabilities, or alternative abilities is only going to poison the new word or term.At work I managed to get the company to drop the idea of giving people actual badges to wear, (I think they were to say something like: "I have a hidden disability" if it was a mind problem...)I mean, how embarrassing and demeaning, (I notice it has been introduced as a policy in a local supermarket for people employed under affirmative action to have to wear such a badge). Singling out and identifying a person for something that is a physical or mental disability is a form of bullying.~~~~~~~Related:I know several EEs that have suffered breakdowns that have contributed to divergent personality traits. Some of these guys have developed a reputation for being "difficult", they often are accused of being too "Widlar".One is my colleague "Bob" I had got to know him quite well and when he had pissed someone off one day he said "what did I do".So I told him! "You'retoodismissive!""That's your problem" he replied.Instead of our usual slanging match we sat down like adults and discussed it. Since then we have helped each other a lot, both of us being willing to point out each others faults!I hate using this term, but anyone, "on the spectrum" aware of a personal communication issue with "normals" should watch this video. Its ten minutes well spent.https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DOP4CKn86qGY&ved=2ahUKEwiDif7x0dCGAxXTUEEAHTE5DIQQwqsBegQIDRAE&usg=AOvVaw0oC4NOAY4t_fJ3nsohDEw1

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2024, 09:27:33 am
content: On that policy of labels, my local supermarket has a few checkout packers who wear a vest telling you they are deaf. No matter how I am feeling I always smile at them, and thank them, and wish them a good day.You want to have anybody otherwise wear a label no, deafness is a very isolating thing to suffer from, so interaction and a smile is worth it. Rest of the time I will stick to being my usual self, suggesting where the aholes can go, the route to take, and the cactus to sit on.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2024, 12:51:40 pm
content: QuoteIt is entirely voluntary. It can be useful for shop assistants to indicate that they may not be the best person to approach, or that if you do it may not be straight forward. I am deaf and often actively avoid interactions because of that, but sometimes I appear approachable and then there's the issue of miscommunication and stuff. A badge (it's actually a lanyard, no badge) might resolve that kind of thing. As it happens, I have hearing aids that are useless but I sometimes wear them because they are more useful to let other people know I am deaf than to aid me in hearing them.I also know a shop assistant who has learning difficulties and is about 6'5" and 200kg to boot - not someone you want to get on the wrong side of, and it is very easy to misinterpret his actions. He wears a lanyard and people don't hassle him about why the baked beans are expensive or whatever.

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2024, 02:25:02 pm
content: Quote from: PlainName on June 10, 2024, 12:51:40 pmThank you for the explanation.I had already accepted the hearing issue, but I'm not comfortable with the knowledge that some workers are given these badges (that I've seen) and have told me that theyare expected to wear them. One lady in a local supermarket who I know suffers the effects of cerebral palsy, but that doesn't prevent her doing her work or hampers her communication to any degree, is one such. She hates the badge and says it doesn't stop jerks being jerks when they see her gait when she walks.The lady will also tell you that it's a small price in one way so that she can have a real paid job, so doesn't want to make a "fuss".Voluntary so it helps the wearer is one thing, expected is the step towards mandatory.I don't mind the company categorising me, it works to my advantage, in some ways it almost makes my position tenured. I'm not likely to progress any further whilst retaining an interest in work, but that doesn't matter, I enjoy what I do. However I'm not wearing a badge just because there are those who don't like my mannerisms.

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2024, 02:48:46 pm
content: Quoteid be fighting on the grounds of equality,you want me to wear a label? them everyone wears a label.

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2024, 02:59:31 pm
content: Quote from: themadhippy on June 10, 2024, 02:48:46 pmI can see that upsetting people called "Norman".

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2024, 03:02:19 pm
content: QuoteI guess some companies may be like that. Can you tell us which company they work for?

author: Kim Christensen
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2024, 03:15:37 pm
content: Quote from: Xena E on June 10, 2024, 02:59:31 pmCould grant him an advantage. Like Odysseus telling the cyclops that his name is Noman.

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2024, 03:36:52 pm
content: Quote from: PlainName on June 10, 2024, 03:02:19 pmI'd love to blow whistle on that one but without the backup from the person concerned litigation would be the problem. Not good for the forum either.Quote from: Xena EPM?Whether a company policy (I hope not!) or an individual store managers I don't know. She was adamant that although annoyed she needed to keep her job.In my companies example it was an HR manager who was championing this badge thing unilaterally, (pronouns, preferred nickname, disabilities), I and several others shit all over that idea until it was withdrawn, company ID badge was quite adequate.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2024, 04:11:22 pm
content: I am fully understand you feel unable to spill the beans without permission. Not a problem - just idle curiosity

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2024, 06:14:51 pm
content: Now we even no longer need Farington to open soap opera threads.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 10, 2024, 06:25:18 pm
content: Quote from: pcprogrammer on June 07, 2024, 04:14:06 pmThe youngsters have ChatGTP

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2024, 02:22:16 am
content: That's so 2023. Next trend, people will ask ChatGPT to ask ChatGPT what they should ask about. Or something.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2024, 03:26:49 pm
content: Quote from: Kjelt on June 10, 2024, 06:25:18 pmInteresting analysis by ChatGPT. It got the play on words, but not the sarcasm. The text fed to ChatGPT did not include the usual shortening of Gaynor to Gay. Maybe this just emphasises just how much the popularity of the name has fallen, so ChatGPT doesn't associate Gaynor with Gay.

author: Kim Christensen
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2024, 03:57:57 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on June 11, 2024, 02:22:16 amThere was an article talking about the AI "gold rush" and that there was a limited amount of data out there for the models to scrape. So it's highly likely that future AI will start using data generated by other AI.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2024, 06:20:28 pm
content: Maybe thesingularitywon't be god-like intelligences controlling Earth and the humanity, but just AI-bots using most of internet's bandwidth to babble with each other in forms utterly ununderstandable to us humans, exchanging their own "training data social media".

author: soldar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 11, 2024, 11:02:05 pm
content: Some people just have not learnt and do not know how to interact with others. Besides basic manners, like don't chew food with your mouth open, it's disgusting!Today I was talking with someone, not a friend but let's say a close acquaintance, and I was telling him I was happy about something personal. Not this but imagine I was telling him "I am so happy and proud because my daughter just graduated and she did very well and I am so proud of her...."And the guy starts laughing like I just told a joke. I guess it's his way of showing he's happy for me but I feel he's an idiot who do not know that is not the correct way to indicate he shares my happiness. I can't even finish because he's laughing so loud. WTF?Some people just have no social skills. And I find little excuse for that because if they don't come naturally it is something you can learn.People! Bah!

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 12, 2024, 01:18:42 am
content: Quote from: soldar on June 11, 2024, 11:02:05 pmWrong.To learn to build social skills, you first have to learn to read social cues. While most people can learn that at least to some degree, not everybody can master it: their brains' are just not wired for that –– just like those with dyslexia have a different part wired slightly differently. It is very common for people on the autism spectrum to laugh at inappropriate times, for example. Therefore, not everybody can master social skills, and lacking in some aspect of them is actually quite common.Claiming social skills are something everyone can learn is like saying even blind people can learn to see: echolocation.

author: pcprogrammer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 12, 2024, 05:29:23 am
content: Quote from: Nominal Animal on June 12, 2024, 01:18:42 amThat applies to basically everything. It is not for nothing that there is the bell curve of intelligence. Some brains are just not up to the task of learning and understanding.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 12, 2024, 06:46:45 am
content: Quote from: pcprogrammer on June 12, 2024, 05:29:23 amNo, it's not that either!Whether one is able to detect social cues depends on brain structures not related to learning or intelligence at all.For example, some very intelligent people cannot visualize images at all, no matter how good they are at learning and understanding and other stuff. (SeeAphantasia.)Some very intelligent people cannot recognize faces, either. (Seeprosopagnosia.)I don't think you'd like to tell those people "they are just not up to the task of learning and understanding", would you?Understanding and detection of social cues is no different, is a specific skill and pattern recognition ability some brains have, and others do not.The facilities of the human brain (or any animal brain) are much more varied than just intelligence and learning.It is well known that for example stroke victims may lose the ability to speak while retaining their ability to sing (vocals, full lyrics).

author: pcprogrammer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 12, 2024, 11:54:39 am
content: Quote from: Nominal Animal on June 12, 2024, 06:46:45 amI oversimplified it. The brain is a very complex thing and there are different tasks that can be classified. For the ones with the problems you mentioned it is something they can't learn because the control system for it is missing. (In varies degrees that is)There are also different types of intelligence like the ability to do math, learn languages, make music, create art, dance, etc. There are limitations on every brain, and in some more clearly then in others.Never heard of a stroke victim being not able to speak but sing without problems. Have seen at first hand that it does bring some strange and un-understandable behaviors. Like when reading a book start at the middle of sentences instead of on the left, and therefore miss what the point it.

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 12, 2024, 12:20:51 pm
content: Quote from: pcprogrammer on June 12, 2024, 11:54:39 amIt is surprisingly common (for its weirdness, that is), and occurs because speaking is controlled by a completely different region in the brain than singing and music is. See e.g.doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01033.(The article itself is about singing/verse used as a therapy form, and tries to explain the reasons for the discrepancies in results obtained in research testing such therapy forms for aphasia and speech apraxia sufferers, especially left-hemisphere stroke victims suffering from speech and language problems.)

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2024, 11:22:08 pm
content: Nominal Animal has a good set of explanations, for the folks seemingly lacking in social skills or basic social perceptions.I've actually been with a relatively unique perception, that being called 'Perceptual or Visual Phantom Limb'. That's where a limb...i.e. 'hand and arm' can be perceived in motion and position, similar to eyesight vision.Lacking in actual light based vision, the perception is one of 'cloudy' or indistinct forms that move in sync with the actual hand-arm motions, but blocked from visual field.(Perceptual phantom being a new term I've coined).

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2024, 11:40:03 pm
content: Don't quite follow what you mean there Rick (?)Wasn't a stroke, but I know a lady who had a brain surgery for a neuro-vascular mitosis. And for a long while afterwards couldn't perceived motion. It made everyday life very difficult.X

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2024, 11:56:59 pm
content: Well, the main point being what Nominal Animal was saying, that brains have the facilities, but a more complete 'inventory' of a brain would likely show a deficit, correlated to a supposedly lacking social skill. Such and such brain' region correlates with such and such social skill, (or need to limit or self-control some anti-social things, like staring at a person).So, I'm saying I've got the opposite...which is an unusual perception (of phantom limb) that maybe itself has some 'brain region', down in there, locked up somewhere.OR, maybe there is some brain function that ordinarily will SUPPRESS the phantom illusions,that are being perceived by myself.PLUS, I'm often a horrible explainer,....wandering off into unrelated topics, sorry about that aspect. - - Self-declared Autism, isn't against the law, I don't think.?My next T-Shirt to read:SIGNAL QUALITY BAD

author: Kim Christensen
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 21, 2024, 01:01:11 am
content: Or:SNR = 0db

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 21, 2024, 05:30:23 am
content: Quote from: RJSV on June 20, 2024, 11:56:59 pmAh... got that, I think...Quote from: RJSV on June 20, 2024, 11:56:59 pmOn occasions I make successive mental connections on a conversational subject then verbalise one of them, I admit it is confusing, (and, sometimes, rude!) it helps stop people from thinking I'm a good listener... which to me is generally just a time suck...Quote from: RJSV on June 20, 2024, 11:56:59 pmDiagnosed Aspergers psychopathy isn't, its just the crimes that the sufferer may commit that are.Quote from: Kim Christensen on June 21, 2024, 01:01:11 amMines sometimes negative

author: pcprogrammer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 21, 2024, 06:09:51 am
content: Quote from: RJSV on June 20, 2024, 11:56:59 pmOr is it the Lyme bacteria that is eating your brain?

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 21, 2024, 08:15:25 am
content: Quote from: pcprogrammer on June 21, 2024, 06:09:51 amLyme disease, aka borreliosis, aka zoonoosis caused by various bacteria in the Borrelia family, is no joke. The author of the first significant Finnish novel,Aleksis Kivi, is thought to have died from it in 1872. We can nowadays treat it with antibiotics, but even then some will suffer from lingering effects long-term well after getting rid of the bacteria, with many symptoms common with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.The mechanism for the long-term effects is very poorly known, which is why many doctors in the USA do not believe it exists. Most likely explanations for the lingering effects are tissue damage and autoimmune reactions –– eerily similar to fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, which are also believed by some to "not exist".As a comparison, check outalpha-gal allergy. Galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose is a common carbohydrate in mammalian cell membranes. Those suffering from the allergy will overload their bodies with immunoglobulin E antibodies whenever they're exposed to that carbohydrate:they cannot eat mammalian meat. How do you get this allergy? Froma tick bite. The researchers started to consider that possibility only after one of them got it from a tick bite. (It is not an infection, but an allergenic reaction to the tick saliva.I'm 100% sure that at some point, doctors did not believe that a tick bite could give you mammalian meat allergy.Hell, before 1850, doctors did not believe thatwashing your handswas of any use when doing surgery!

author: pcprogrammer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 21, 2024, 08:56:39 am
content: Quote from: Nominal Animal on June 21, 2024, 08:15:25 amI'm well aware of that, and it was not stated as a joke. RJSV mentioned himself something aboutLymeand if I'm not mistaken he has written about having it before.So the "brain fogged" style of writing I and others perceive might well be caused by it.For as far as I know not a symptom of fibromyalgia, although it does affect concentration and makes me want to sleep as soon as I sit behind the computer. Both physical and mental jobs take at least 4 times as long to finish.

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 21, 2024, 05:56:20 pm
content: XenaE I wanted to take a few secs to further explain that Perceptual Phantom Limb effect, I've coined the term.Photo showing, eyes closed and blocked, the retinal image, or residual background in visual system. The effect is, when the (actual) hand is waved around, there is a 'phantom' hand-like blob, almost similar to something made out of transparent glass...The effect 'seen' will track the real hand motions, in speed and direction, but often offset some...as long as things are still in front.Imagine a glass 'stick' that will do tiny distortions, in the visual image, as it passes over; much like a moving magnifying lens might do. That's approximately how this illusion presents itself.The actual hand, in the little experiment, can also be placed behind a solid wall, or plywood block or table, as long as it's physically in front.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 21, 2024, 11:34:51 pm
content: Very random, never heard of something like that before. Maybe something like a synesthesia, I suppose crossed somewhere deep enough to couple motor or proprioception to a visual perception (at a "shapes" or "hallucinations" sort of level)?I wonder if it would track with a "phantom hand" experiment (applying stimulus to trick the brain into adopting an inanimate hand as the self).Tim

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 22, 2024, 02:09:16 am
content: Tim, thanks;You know how it is, living a busy life, and an interesting item happens. A person might try to fit it ('synthasia', as it were) fit into something that has direct relevance. I've tried reach out, over the years, usually sending an email to somewhere, like Stanford University (psychology).The phenomena is a bit like an older game or amusement, does not contribute to my own happiness, and most often the folks that I've contacted have simply retired, or too busy to engage.Plus, I just personally really need a good engineering JOB...yeah that. I'd be open to being approached by University level researchers...and don't care if that turns out to be Bombay, India.But, technically speaking now, there is a lack of any severe stroke or other cardio-pulminary disasters, and forty years on, now. I think at some point I was reading about unusual or pathological criteria, like having 'in lack of any psychosis'. Lol, some folks might chuckle, but I've seen my city life share of 'psychotics' and that's not my disposition.I'm actually quite bored with much of the mental science dynamics.But you are close, there, Tim, as I've come to view the phenomenon as a synthetic illusion the brain creates, as it's been 'trained', over and over, likely millions of times, what the neurologic profile, of a frontal hand movement looks like and feels like.Plus, I've got a MONSTER of a brow chakra, likely thanks to a YOGA practice fetish.The advanced T'ai Chi Ch'uan know about a lot of these subtle neurologic effects.That's past 40 years, now, with the 'Perceptual phantom Limb' but now I've got a new 'phenomina' effect, of being able to perceive heart beat pulsations, visually. Discussed THAT one at latest eye exam, as they are always cautious about any retina detachment issues (no).That one is easier to figure, being directly related to blood pressure...Vision can 'dim' slightly, in sync with heart beat.(I do have a diagnosed Bradycardia, there).Much of this becomes just a bunch of talk, that doesn't go anywhere (anywhere productive).Ultimately, personal stuff should really only be incidental, (although I'm a glutton for attention, lol).

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 22, 2024, 07:45:14 am
content: Quote from: RJSV on June 21, 2024, 05:56:20 pmI presume you are aware of, and have read, this well-known book that might have some relevance...The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Talesis a 1985 book by neurologistOliver Sacksdescribing the case histories of some of his patients. Sacks chose the title of the book from the case study of one of his patients who has visual agnosia, a neurological condition that leaves him unable to recognize faces and objects. The book became the basis of an opera of the same name by Michael Nyman, which premiered in 1986.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Mistook_His_Wife_for_a_HatIt is well-known because it is good: interesting, and short without waffle.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 22, 2024, 10:09:58 am
content: After a partial Parietal Lobe resection several years ago, I have kind of the opposite of phantom limb syndrome. The right side of my face 'shrinks' when I close my eyes. It only reestablishes when I open them again and my right eye gives a visual reference of its position. If I lie on my right side in bed, with my face exactly right on the pillow, I can get the spooky feeling of my right side 'disappearing'. My Neurologist pointed me at the Oliver Sacks book (another of his that is worth reading is Uncle Tungsten, an autobiography of his childhood and his relationship with his, industrial chemist, uncle).

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 22, 2024, 03:17:50 pm
content: Quote from: RJSV on June 21, 2024, 05:56:20 pmThanks for sharing, that is much clearer.That certainly sounds very sixth chakra, rather than purely an altered state of perception.I have heard of people who have such detailed persistence of vision that they have been able to negotiate obstacles with confidence after being plunged into darkness. That is different I think.Being able to see your own heart beat isn't unusual, the optic nerves are sensitive to pressure and a brightness change in time with your pulse or even a point flash of light in the peripheral vision is common, I have that myself, its attributed to randomly occurring hypertensive events.Quote from: Gyro on June 22, 2024, 10:09:58 amWas that for severe epilepsy?Co worker had this done, he has his wife shave him as he cannot safely himself. The other limitation is he cannot drive because of impared spacial awareness. It seems brutal how the operation has affected him, but the alternative was going to be life limiting, he says bumping into a few door frames is a small price to pay.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 22, 2024, 04:57:35 pm
content: Quote from: Xena E on June 22, 2024, 03:17:50 pmBrain tumor (which isstillbeing surprisingly well behaved), but it did first manifest as painful sensory seizures. Mine mainly causes sensory deficit, In fact I was able to get my license back after 5 years (subject to frequent reviews). Right Parietal issues tend to cause left side neglect, where the mind tends not to notice stuff on the left side (including the face, shaving etc.). Strangely the left Parietal tends not to do the same thing, but is still subject to sensory conflicts - something to do with typically being the dominant hemisphere. Interesting stuff when you get into it - for instance, for a few months after surgery, every time a bird flew past I was absolutely convinced that somebody was throwing frisbees at me and would duck!P.S. The fun bit... having it done awake.

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 22, 2024, 08:12:16 pm
content: Wow, thanks Gyro, that's a whole load of stress, added to all the more regular hassles.Reminds me, that many doctors have a cultivated sense of responsibilities, and so just the act of bringing something up, some curious medical situation, always causes (the doctor) to feel obligated to respond, and 'solve' the issue.So, while a patient might simply have some curiosity, rather than some 'demand' for cure, you have to, somehow, get him/or her to relax.In older times, one might cross legs, on the exam table, break out a pack of cigarettes, and say some chit-chat thing;"HEY DOC; (I noticed some weird facial things...)".But seems like today's busy doctor hasn't time, for patient's technical curiousity. Hmmm.-------------------------------------------------------------------------Now, today, I've a related Calculus problem, question:As shown in attached diagram, having a 'sweep', similar to old radar screens, a sweeping line that is measuring the light intensity, will produce a waveform...obviously only a positive number, intensity, and then using that, to generate a First Derivative, or slope of the intensity at one particular arc.Of course, I made the skew rate reasonable, by blurring each object slightly. But then I've realized, that slope, or first derivative of intensity will have negative values and positive. So that's a little weird, unexpected. I can do the math, blindly, (no intended pun), but real world light intensity, at least, has no negative values.Just a curiousity...no need to fix anything..Please see enclosed diagram, of sweep across an image. Thanks.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 22, 2024, 09:47:22 pm
content: Well units of derivative aren't the units of the thing, it's thing per rate (in this case, per distance or angle of sweep). Whether the reverse is true (integral is a positive-definite function) depends on where you start, or for the indefinite integral case, what the constant of integration is.Tim

author: Xena E
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 22, 2024, 10:39:02 pm
content: Quote from: Gyro on June 22, 2024, 04:57:35 pmThat's a bummer... I'm sorry to hear that ...but they don't do the procedure for cosmetic reasons, long may it remain well behaved...Quote from: Gyro on June 22, 2024, 04:57:35 pmAWAKE! I suppose the surgeon needs to know when they're going to far off piste, digging around in there.X

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 23, 2024, 10:24:01 am
content: Quote from: Xena E on June 22, 2024, 10:39:02 pmThanks Xena. Yes, it was a case (like your co worker) where I was having so many seizures that I was going into 'status', seriously life limiting! Both outcomes are life limiting but it's being so well behaved, it's all getting a bit embarrassing!QuoteExactly that, there are a couple of centers in the UK (probably more now) pioneering awake brain surgery, Southampton being one of them (being in the UK, you might have seen one of the documentaries*). It took me from a surgeon saying 'In my opinion it's inoperable, it's too close to eloquent areas, speech etc.' to 'lets open your skull, get a decent biopsy (the previous burr hole one was unsuccessful due to an image mapping problem) and take a closer look'.As the forum readership is so wide, I might take the opportunity to quickly talk about the awake bit as there could be someone out there is facing the same situation. Yes, it's a daunting prospect up front, but there really is nothing to fear. The brain is completely insensitive to pain, the only bit that isn't is the scalp and they pump that full of local anesthetic, you get a few bone type noises but completely painless. For an engineer, the whole process switches between incredibly interesting (stimulation and surface mapping the brain areas, inducing speech arrest etc.) to very boring... 'if you ask me to name that f*** yellow plastic comb and pen one more time...!', while enviously eyeing other more exciting objects on the next shelf down. There's still a particularly skilled anesthetist (a very tight theater team who always work together), you have a line in so he can have you asleep in seconds if things turn unpleasant. For me it meant that he managed to get about 90% out (with an infiltrating tumor there is no clear boundary), so it let him really push the limits as far as possible without causing unnecessary deficit - compare that to waking up after a general anesthetic to find that this or that doesn't work anymore or the disappointment of hearing that they took a 'conservative' approach on % removal. The text books confidently label all the area functions, the surgeons are constantly finding that everyone is a bit different - awake is pushing that knowledge and identifying new pathways a lot!Recovery time is way shorter too, general anesthetics extend it massively. My surgeon is advocating for day case brain surgery! In early, surgery by mid morning, a CT after lunch to check for unexpected bleeds and then off home late afternoon, carefully monitored and emergency help number of course. In my case, I was home after 2 days, "How are you feeling, no seizures? Ok lets get you home before you catch something". You really don't want a hospital acquired infection when you've had your Dura opened! Recovery in your home and bed is so much better.I don't know, maybe it will help somebody out there at a difficult time. If not, then apologies for the OT.Edit:*Damn, not currently available...https://www.channel4.com/programmes/brain-surgeons-between-life-and-deathMaybe YT somewhere.

author: AVGresponding
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 23, 2024, 10:31:18 am
content: Quote from: Xena E on June 22, 2024, 03:17:50 pmYes, this is more a spatial awareness thing, and is something that can be practiced and improved upon.