Pre-Invasion, I worked closely with a number of Russians.
One of them came over here (US) for a few weeks to get a better handle on the software we were developing, and he was a stand-up guy. IF I had run into him in a bar without context, I'd have made a friend. The invasion shot that all to shit, of course. Helluva guy, and a helluva developer. Ticking those two boxes was all I expected.
Born 1981. Daniels and Todds abound.
Lots of Kylies, and the like, along with plenty of the traditional Sarahs and the like.
My "adopted" family (in-laws) and I have been heading in that direction and sending trial balloons for years.
This year, snacks, a pair of socks, and a couple bucks.
We got them gift cards for a restaurant we all adore.
We all are doing just fine, in our respective worlds. We've managed to stay geographically close, ish, and do holidays etc together at somebody's house. That's the important part.
Took me more years than it should have to realize that, but let's say my wife's family has taught me quite a bit over the years and largely changed my perspective on many things - this included.
Don't fucking fly.
Not bc climate change, but bc no human has ever gotten off a commercial flight. and been in the best possible condition to face whatever they were flying to.
People are miserable, and concentrated in a small space they're doubly so. Add to that convincing security theatre puppets that my CPAP is actually medical equipment, and that no, the meds that make sleep possible are not prohibited (liquid max be damned).... Hell with that.
I can get from my driveway to Chicago Union Station in two hours or less from my driveway. The LSL can have me in Albany ~12h later. Given that I was forced to make that trip quarterly in a past life, trying to fly WN would have forced me to go via BWI or ATL and taken the same damn amount of time all considered, with lots more stress.
Train gave me a decent sleeper car for less than plane fare for the two of us, even on WN. I arrived ready to get to work, versus a lil jet lagged and angry at people in general. Yeah, train was a no brainer.
Obviously not an option on all routes, but worked well for me.
A Long December (Counting Crows)
Soul Asylum's cover of Rhinestone Cowboy.
The former is ever relevant, the latter is somehow both a total reimagining of the song and true to the original.
Yeah, I date myself with both of those. Yeah, I was probs in HS for both of them.
That, and Good Riddance / Time of your Life (Greenday). I understand it was supposed to be a sarcastic dig at a woman. But that's not how audiences largely heard it, and it became the legit, totally unironic anthem of a certain generation that I am abs not a part of.
Also... There's a completely random punk band no one but me has ever heard of (Ruth Ruth), and their album Laughing Gallery has been by my side at some of my lowest points over the years. Wish I could let 'em know the impact they had in making sure I pushed through some of the worst periods.
Oh, so instead of snoozing, the only option becomes "turn off"? That won't end well.
Don't mean to jump on you, and I'm sure that would work for some. But for those who are past that point... Less so.
All the fucking time!
I had a run of several good years where I was able to get out of bed after a few alarms.
Prior to that, and recently, it's been "automatic behavior" that is damnably difficult to control.
Context, significant sleep disorder here - but setting that aside, you're not alone.
Stuff I tried and discarded, but that might work for you
$friend please call me until I am awake enough to have a conversation
Boss, please ping me a ton of times in the AM (requires understanding and/or them to know what's going on)
Alarms all over the damn house .
Alarms locked inside of analog safes and other related silliness.
What worked ultimately, was a comb of meds and an amazing partner who helped support me through the various diagnoses, and etc. that came with it.
Sometimes, I still bump it be an hour, but I know that I did it. From where I sit, the idea of having no recollection of the 7:00 that you reset, but waking up for the 7:10, well that sounds likely to degrade going forward - and probably at the worst moment possible.
Last week was positively brutal to me, for a bunch of reasons. As the week wore on, my loving and persistent partner is the only reason I made it to the office. Two things net saved my tail - meds made a real difference once we sorted doses and such, but I would absolutely NOT be a productive professional today if not for my wife.
Some days, she just nudges when she hears the alarm go off. Some days, she has to hit me with a brick to get my attention. Neither is ideal, of course, but a supportive and loving person who is right there and knows how hard to shove you; and what to do when shoving that hard isn't enough. is life changing.
I know what works for me, open to a chat, might give you some ideas.
Yep. I have no context for the site it's found on, so no idea what it's the time of.
TL;dr - Did you actually just allege 'crisis actors' played victim's families? That's not just wholly unsupported, it's also wholly offensive to most people, and certainly to those who have connections to any of the victims.
First, let me state for the record that the entire situation is positively out of control - especially in light of the recent comments from one of Israel's minor ministers. I don't disagree that it appears to be headed towards full-blown genocide. I don't disagree that the folks being killed in Gaza are NOT the ones responsible for the attack, nor connected to the same. We are entirely on the same page there.
What I take exception to, however, is your absolutely unsupported statement regarding 'planted fake victim families.' First, because if one is going to make an allegation that inflammatory, one should ensure clarity. Who are you alleging is fake? The victims? Their families? Both?
I make light of the word choice and clarity, not just because it matters, but because I find it exceptionally unlikely that you could support any of the statements your words 'could' convey. When some asshole killed numerous children in a school, a certain subset of the population whined about 'crisis actors' for some years afterwards. I've heard similar allegations in reference to victims of Hurricane Katrina, and even in reference to Uvalde.
All of them are pure garbage, which places your allegation on exceptionally unsteady footing - In the improbable event that you are able to support that allegation, I'll happily hear out whatever evidence you're able to present.
Until then, there is no need to peddle conspiracy theories, too-vague allegations, etc.
I call BS - with notable exceptions for a particular omnipresent retail chain whose ToS was recently updated so they could do substantial tracking of your traffic.
A company I work with is wholesale migrating both internal and external accounts to a third-party auth provider in whom I have very little faith. That is a concerning security risk.
Using open wifi hotspots is hardly a best practice in any world, of course, but I'm hard-pressed to believe that it takes precedence over, say, ticking the boxes on NIST CSF or PCI compliance. Or just plain old "shoulder surfing" which has always been a risk in public, but becomes much more concerning given we all have a computer screen in our hand constantly and it's often full of data useful to someone with ill intent.
They might not get your pw or 2FA codes, but knowing your username is plenty for them to convincingly call you later, pretending to be from the bank. "Now that you've changed your pw, the system will send one extra 2FA code to your device as a test. Please read me the code when the text message comes in."
You're 100% correct on principle. The problem is that given our electoral system, third parties end up taking votes from viable candidates, and we end up with terrifying people running things.
We can't change the electoral system, because we've never actually had an Article V convention (Constitutional Convention) so we don't know what would happen there. We'd get an entirely new constitution, and it would not be a better one. You've probably seen how dysfunctional our republicans are, I'm not about to let them tear up e.g., my right to free speech or a fair trial.
Given the current makeup of the Supreme Court, what would come out of that convention would be provide zero protections for anything.
But yes, we need third parties. I just don't see a plausible way to get them without taking on an amount of risk that most people aren't willing to take.
Ente Photos is now open source end to end, both server and app.