Pat @Pat@qoto.org

Dear Pat,

Thank you for applying for the Sr. Engineer position. I must say your resume really had all of us rolling on the floor. I mean, we were in tears. How on Earth do you think you’d even come close to qualifying for this position? I mean, you couldn’t be a pimple on an engineer’s ass.

Needless to say, we used your resume to blot up coffee spills in the lunch room.

Good luck – you’ll need it.

Regards,

Lillian Gish
Systems Director
Amalgamated Mediocre Engineering

#MyFavoriteMartian #spy #smile #MrsBrown

#nato #Turkey #democracy #autocracy #geopolitics #international #Ukraine #Russia #UN

Should Turkey be kicked out of NATO?

Sonnet 154

The little Love-god lying once asleep
Laid by his side his heart-inflaming brand,
Whilst many nymphs that vow’d chaste life to keep
Came tripping by; but in her maiden hand
The fairest votary took up that #fire
Which many legions of true hearts had warm’d;
And so the general of hot desire
Was sleeping by a virgin hand disarm’d.
This brand she quenched in a cool well by,
Which from Love’s fire
took heat perpetual,
Growing a bath and healthful remedy
For men diseas’d; but I, my mistress’ thrall,
Came there for cure, and this by that I prove,
Love’s fire heats water, water cools not love.

- William Shakespeare

#MastoPrompt
#SmallPoems
#Poetry

@tanweerdar@mstdn.social

I just blocked a guy on qoto for trolling.

#stupidity #ignorance #disrespect #grammar #words #language

In most cases, those who use the phrase “be like” are either ignorant or mentally challenged, or they are being mockingly derisive toward those who are.

#qoto

I've run across a weird anomaly on qoto. In the thread (https://qoto.org/@Pat/108268273392855454), user @sturgman posted a couple toots but those toots don’t show up in that user’s profile page when I click “toots and replies”.

No one can figure this out? Too easy? Too hard?

Aren’t there any cryptanalysts out there?

Come on, it’s simple…

#lunar #eclipse #2022 #shadowgraphy #handshadows #New Zealand

I just asked an acquaintance of mine who lives in New Zealand to go up a nearby hill during the sunrise and hold his hands up and make shadow puppets to see if I could see them on the moon from the US as the eclipse waned.

Didn’t work.

#electric #car #EV #gas #petrol #russia #war #ukraine #money #inflation #nordstream2 #oil #nato

I just filled up my electric car... It cost me $1.67, that's $1.67 total cost of electicity to completely fill it up.

#language #words #race #racism #merriam #webster #dictionary #justice
- - - -
woke adj - 1. aware of racism; antiracist; 2. also, aware of injustice
- - - -
Origin: mid-20th century slang among the black community;
past participle of WAKE

Someone who is woke is antiracist.

Someone who is antiwoke is racist.

#science #fiction #ScienceFiction #SciFi #warp #time #space #ftl #firstcontact #travel #future #film #movie #Arbcibo #observatory #radio #astronomy

Retro SciFi of the Week…

Contact (1997)

Why can’t more science fiction be like this? There are no goofy monsters or extra-terrestrials that evolved to look like English-speaking humans. No space battles modeled after 20th century warfare. No space aliens that want to colonized Earth.

Contact is a realistic portrayal of what a first contact might look like. It’s very well written and produced, and the acting is world class. The film took a hit from some reviewers when it debuted because of who the filmmakers were (the writer, Carl Sagan was an atheist (or agnostic) and the lead actor, Jodie Foster is lesbian), so keep that in mind if you look up ratings/reviews of the film.

One of the questions asked by this film is whether an extra-terrestrial species could provide us with information that would cause us to destroy ourselves. You don’t want miss this one.

(image commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arecibo_Observatory_Aerial_View.jpg, CC-BY-4.0)

#roe #abortion #conception #wine

Let me get this straight…

Texas says life begins at conception, so, now the legal drinking age in Texas is 20 years, 3 months?

Oh, BTW, good morning fedi...

#society #culture #war #pandemic #evil #politicians

If you’re not a cynical misanthrope by now, you’re not paying attention.

- - - - - - - - Spoiler - - - - - -

The correct answer to the poll…

The most effective way to prevent the infection and spread of COVID-19 is by properly wearing a NIOSH-approved respirator when you are near other people or breathe air that may possibly be contaminated.

- N95 respirator > 95% efficient at stopping virus particles
- P100 respirator > 99.97% efficient at stopping virus particles
- FDA-approved vaccines ~ 50% two weeks after injection; 40% or less after 4 months, at preventing infection
- best cloth masks or surgical masks ~50-60% efficient at stopping virus particles
- typical cloth mask < 30% efficient
- hand-washing - not effective

N95 and P100 are NIOSH ratings for respirators
NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health)

#covid19 #covid #covid.gov #respirator #mask #masks #vax #vaccine #socal #distancing #death #CDC #CDCP #NIOSH #N95 #P100

Which is the most effective way to prevent the infection and spread of COVID-19?
(besides complete isolation, of course)

#science #fiction #ScienceFiction #SciFi #space #race #women #film #movie #AI

Lexa Doig played the titular role in the TV series Andromeda (2000-2005).

#law #scotus #USA #constitution #supremecourt #stare #decisis #roe #casey #quill #wayfair

(given current evernts, I'll run this poll again)

Is it more important to follow the law, or to follow what the Supreme Court says?

#law #scotus #USA #constitution #supremecourt #stare #decisis #roe #casey #quill #wayfair

I think it's time to overturn Marbury v. Madison.