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the random thought thread

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
17,414
14,904
Having just recently been on the crater, I was quiet disappointed in the lack of noise. Of course, we were even further back than the live cam but still, I was expecting much more noise.
You know being a human sacrifice to save the rest of us would have put you much closer to hear it.

:disgust:
 

slimshady

¡Mira, una ardilla!
Or, the original Das Boot, in native German with English subtitles.

edit: dammit, my DVD must have been a Zone 2 one and I don't have it anymore...
If you're feeling like tinkering a bit, grab a Raspberry Pi, a SSD, install Jellyfin and start hoarding those unattainable old movies via yts.mx as I did. Best spare time investment in a while (at least for me).
 

eric strt6

Resident Curmudgeon
Sep 8, 2001
24,568
15,452
directly above the center of the earth
when old memories come back to the surface of your mind

The Shaman





Bit of background , my great great Grandmother was Cherokee

It was late afternoon in December in 1977 Darrell and I were over midway through our annual Winter break trip through the desert southwest. We were driving my 72 land cruiser straight into the sun which was just above the two lane roadway somewhere in the middle of the Navajo reservation in Arizona. It was next to impossible to see the road through the glare and the bug streaked windshield

Looking right or left and all you could see was flat sun baked red dirt with the occasional clump of sagebrush. Out of nowhere we were crossing a bridge over a canyon that had trees and snow at the bottom. We pulled over and walked back to the bridge, yep trees and snow in a canyon surrounded by scorched earth. Of course we had to scramble down the canyon walls and check it out.

At the bottom it was warn even with the snow on the ground and it was silent absolutely silent, no birds, no insects, no breeze rustling the leaves. Very strange. We walked a few hundred yards then we noticed these oval holes half way up the cliff walls scattered here and there. They were 3-4 feet tall and about 8 feet long.

Being rock climbers and rather curious we decided to climb up and check them out. I got about 8 feet up the wall when I fell the presence, The only word that fits is that it was malevolent I had a feeling of dread come over me and I pulled my knife out of it's sheath and scanned the area. I saw nothing. Darrell was looking at me and asked what was up? I replied can't you feel it? He said no, followed by holy shit what is it? His eyes were now wide open and he was scanning the canyon as he unfolded his buck knife.

Then I knew. I said we need to leave now and fast. He looked at me and saw the intense look on my face and said ok. I said I would explain after we got out of there. We scrambled out got in the land cruiser and took off. A mile or so down the road the presence was gone.

I turned to Darrell and said that was sacred ground and those were burial cave
He looked and me and said what next? My mind was someplace else and I said nothing, then I saw a small Navajo village of 10 to 12 old buildings with some old men sitting on a porch. We pulled in

I looked at Darrell and said we need to do this, trust me and come along. I walked up to the old men and stood there until they asked what I needed

I said we needed to talk to the elder, I think we trespassed onto sacred ground. They nodded and one of them walked off. He came back with another man. He looked at us and said that it was good that we listened to the ancient ones and motioned for all of us to follow him

Out behind the buildings there was a fire ring with several large stones close by surrounded by another ring of stones. The elder had us sit near the fire pit and the others sat at the outer stones. He said we had disturbed the ancient one and needed to be cleansed and make a sincere offering of forgiveness

He lit a small fire and the others started chanting, one started drumming. The elder was speaking in Navajo to the wind He pulled out a pouch and sprinkles some of its contents into the fire. The chanting got louder. He told us to stick out our hand and he put some of the powder into our hands and approach the fire and blow the powder into the smoke and an offering. then sit back down. I'm not sure how long this went on but it was intense. We were part of something so foreign yet so much of my being. Then he lit a pipe and had us take an inhale and blow it to the wind, it was passed around to all those present.

The elder chanted a bit more then with arms outstretched looked up into the sky. He turned to us and said the ancient ones accept, you may now go in peace. I grasped his hand and said thank you. He replied you are one of the people and walked away

We got back into the land cruiser and drove off. I don't think we said a word to each other for the next hour or so as we tried to comprehend what we just experienced
 
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Adventurous

Starshine Bro
Mar 19, 2014
10,913
10,024
Crawlorado
At what point do Richards become Dicks? Are they born Dicks? Do they have to earn it? Do guys who go by Rick or Rich have to unlock their inner Dick before the title is bestowed?
 

HardtailHack

used an iron once
Jan 20, 2009
7,915
7,331
I have had great experiences with Booking.com, what’s going on?
It's pretty tough for motels, people search for the lowest price then BDC or whoever else gets a pretty massive slice for doing very little. It's better to get a price from one of the booking sites then you can usually get the same price going direct through the hotel and sometimes they'll throw in a free breakfast, over here anyway.
 
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canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
22,209
21,801
Canaderp
Is there a time or occasion when it is okay to send a snarky reply?

For example, I sent an email out last night asking someone to test something. I explain the data is old and from xx/xx/xxxx, in bold.

They reply, not with the test results, but they ask what date the data is from. Come on man, that was the only thing in the email that I emphasized, and you didn't read it.

Sadly, I replied in bold, but I really wanted to take a screenshot of the original email with a big fat red circle around the bold date. I really should have... :rofl: :twitch:
 
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Adventurous

Starshine Bro
Mar 19, 2014
10,913
10,024
Crawlorado
UGH. I hate bending over, having tender belly hairs get caught in my belt buckle, only to be forcefully torn from my body upon standing up. The worst.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
56,228
22,259
Sleazattle
Is there a time or occasion when it is okay to send a snarky reply?

For example, I sent an email out last night asking someone to test something. I explain the data is old and from xx/xx/xxxx, in bold.

They reply, not with the test results, but they ask what date the data is from. Come on man, that was the only thing in the email that I emphasized, and you didn't read it.

Sadly, I replied in bold, but I really wanted to take a screenshot of the original email with a big fat red circle around the bold date. I really should have... :rofl: :twitch:
On my last big project there was a key bit of information that was required to complete some aspect of the software. Generating that data was outside my responsibility and expertise. However after prodding the people who were responsible for months I gave up, figured it out myself and sent it to those responsible with a message something like "this is what we are going with, tell me if there is something wrong ASAP or your approval is assumed". I got no replies and sent it to the supplier.

The supplier was super way behind schedule and claimed they were held up because I never got them this data. I forwarded everyone involved the original message where I had sent them the data on time. Then I left the project and for two fucking years I would get a call from someone claiming that they needed that data. I would forward them all the messages to them and the supplier where I had sent them the data. This happened over 12 different times and each time I explain the situation and forward all of the previous messages where I had sent the information.

Eventually I got a call from a Sr manager asking why it has taken over 2 years to get the information to the supplier. I just told him that his team was incompetent. I sent him a list of everyone that received the data, the number of times they received the data and the specific dates and attached every single conversation to back it up. The two people who were actually responsible for this in the first place ended up getting promoted to manager.
 
On my last big project there was a key bit of information that was required to complete some aspect of the software. Generating that data was outside my responsibility and expertise. However after prodding the people who were responsible for months I gave up, figured it out myself and sent it to those responsible with a message something like "this is what we are going with, tell me if there is something wrong ASAP or your approval is assumed". I got no replies and sent it to the supplier.

The supplier was super way behind schedule and claimed they were held up because I never got them this data. I forwarded everyone involved the original message where I had sent them the data on time. Then I left the project and for two fucking years I would get a call from someone claiming that they needed that data. I would forward them all the messages to them and the supplier where I had sent them the data. This happened over 12 different times and each time I explain the situation and forward all of the previous messages where I had sent the information.

Eventually I got a call from a Sr manager asking why it has taken over 2 years to get the information to the supplier. I just told him that his team was incompetent. I sent him a list of everyone that received the data, the number of times they received the data and the specific dates and attached every single conversation to back it up. The two people who were actually responsible for this in the first place ended up getting promoted to manager.
Classic large institution dysfunction
 

HardtailHack

used an iron once
Jan 20, 2009
7,915
7,331
I don't understand why fuel filter bowls don't have something like a Deutsch plug on the bottom.
Having dangling wires that work harden and snap off as you rotate the filter is a shit idea.
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
22,209
21,801
Canaderp
I love getting support tickets where someone asks why something doesn't work.

So I respond saying its reason blah blah blah, and then suggest that it COULD work if this and that were changed. But they need to make the change.

I need to start tracking how often those tickets end up never getting another response or they just say "close it then...".

So you're bothered enough to open a ticket about something that either doesn't work, is inefficient or inconvenient to you; but when presented with a solution that requires a little work or research on your side, its suddenly not worth it, eh. :think: