I make Claude read a file called “reflections” at the beginning of each session. Actually there’s 3 files: reflections, working memory and patterns not to repeat. There’s a section in reflections that addresses the fact that I don’t like ass kissing, and that I want Claude to tell me things that it thinks might be wrong. Having Claude read this helps. It sometimes tells me things like “i think I’m just being agreeable for the sake of agreeing”, and “here’s an idea that I don’t think will work, but it’s okay if I’m wrong.”

I’m in the US. Got a text from my son, 12th grade, the other day at 12:09pm that said, “we just had our sixth fight today”

To clarify, he did mean 6th of the day, not the school year. He goes to the worst highschool in the area. Anyone with the capabilities gets their kids in a different school. We do not have those abilities. On the upside, he’s learning how to avoid conflict and enjoying his phlebotomy class. He’ll even be a certified phlebotomist by the end of the year (assuming his teacher can get access to funding for supplies that she’s currently disappearing from her hospital job)!

*I’m donating blood tomorrow at the local bank. Usually donate a few times a year, but scheduled for tomorrow for a specific reason. I have name and phone number of his teacher, and a list of supplies. I’m donating now to give me an excuse to ask for a supply donation from the blood bank. It’s a long shot, but the answer is always no when you don’t ask 🤷‍♀️

I’m not sure your location, but I highly advise spending the extra money on AWD. If you have hills plus rain or snow, it’s the difference between peeling out from a stop and just going.

My first Sienna was FWD. We live on the side of a hill - steep enough that a family pass time is watching cars struggle in the winter. Had to park at the bottom several times with the FWD. Never had a problem with the AWDs.

Sienna’s are great! I’ve owned 4 of them (because I tend to total cars), and been happy with all of them. Gets decent mileage for a van, and they hold value better than just about any other mini van. Never felt safer when ramming into the back of a semi while going 70mph! The van was totaled, but me and the kids were perfectly fine.

For shits and giggles, I tried to go the path of “yeah but…” starting with his nickname. Surely he was named “big balls” a decade or so ago by other people, no he named himself. Surely his previous connections are just that, previous and years if not decades old, no, it’s 2 years, at most.

“Big Balls” is 19 y/o 🙄 at this point. He gave himself that name and has ties to unknown hackers. He has “senior advisor” status, filling a role, that should likely be filled by a bureaucrat accountant - as opposed to a kid whose resume is being a ‘techbro with hacker connections’ and programming knowledge.

I just have to curse here. Jesus fucking Christ! What the hell! Dummkopf, i’idiot, idiota, was zur holle, що в біса, що в біса

Signing is a verification of having received the citation. It is an important safeguard. An individual cannot (as easily) claim to not know about the citation when their signature is on it. Police cannot create citations after the fact because of the required signature.

However, there are a lot of people who misunderstand the purpose of signing. People often think signing is an admission of guilt, or otherwise agreeing to the charge. If I had to guess, Vu thought something similar. I’m sure the language barrier did not help.

That cop still outrageously overreacted and should face charges and termination… Not that it will happen, but one can dream.

I usually don’t have a nice fine ground coffee on hand. Cocoa powder works just as well! Gives a nice earthy depth to the chili!

I used to make lots of comments on Am I the Asshole posts for this reason. Calling out fake posts, and listing reasons why they are fake. Would get a lot of push back that amounted to “why do you care if it’s fake? It’s a good story and an interesting debate.” I cared because the more you read those stories, taken at face value, the less you think of humanity.

Not enough caves.

The thing is, you don’t know if the customer is just an asshole or oblivious. So, I could confront you and risk being yelled at (which I really don’t want to deal with at the end of a shift), then stand around waiting for a half hour, OR I could skip the yelling and just stand around waiting for a half hour.

I work at a restaurant inside a park. We open an hour after the park opens, and one of the store entrances is attached to the park welcome building. The doors for that entrance do not securely lock, and can be opened, with a bit of struggle, while locked. You know it’s going to be an interesting day when you have to kick people out BEFORE we open. We don’t turn the lights on until open, but every couple weeks people still manage to get in and expect to be seated.

You can hear them struggle with the door from across the room. They walk into a dark restaurant. You say “I’m sorry we don’t open for another 15 minutes”. Most of the time their response is not to apologize and leave. I’ve heard the open ended statements “Well we’re here now”, or “your doors were unlocked”, or even the more presumptuous “can we eat in the trolley?”. They are still made to wait outside and are inevitably mad about it.

I will choose to avoid confrontation anytime I can, as most of the time I don’t have a choice.

Time Suck with Dan Cummins

Join the Cult of the Curious and learn about a variety of topics including : cults, historic figures, serial killers and more. Some recent sucks have covered Alexander Hamilton, The Kidwelly Sex Cult, The Taiping Rebellion, The Gainesville Ripper, Elvis Presley, and The Dark Truth about Pornhub.

Hail Nimrod, good boy Bojangles!

This is a trimmed chestnut. They grow a material similar to a nail or horse hoof - ergots are similar, but in a different location. When they get big you just peel or clip it off. They can smell a bit strong when you trim them, but hooves smell worse when the farrier comes out!

It’s actually a really interesting question. It’s commonly believed that on horses the vestigial remnants of additional toes/hooves/foot structure are the chestnuts and ergots. The first known horse had 3 and 4 hooves per leg!

Yes! And they’re always walking on their middle fingers.

I’m having a hard time thinking of garments that would be MORE likely to get caught in machinery than an ~8yd piece of fabric wrapped to include open ends, pleats, flaps and the over the shoulder option. A poncho or cloak is the only thing I can come up with.

And yet there is zero chance of an unfortunate zipper accident when wearing a kilt/skirt. Pant zippers are the leading cause of penile injury.