Activity from mephron
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"Deny, deny, deny. That’s how you hit your numbers."
A Doctor at Cigna Said Her Bosses Pressured Her to Review Patients’ Cases Too Quickly. Cigna Threatened to Fire Her. Nurses in the Phillipines are doing the initial reviews, and making major mistakes. Cigna wants their reviewing doctors to take about four minutes to check the reviews and decide if warranted, or if it should be approved, and penalizing doctors who do the work to know what's really going on.
A conversation between film eccentrics.
Nicolas Cage and John Carpenter are cinema’s most studious eccentrics. From Documentjournal.
"Suddenly, I feel very, very good. It'll pass, it'll pass."
David Warner, actor, has passed, age 80. David Hattersley Warner was born July 29, 1941 in Manchester, England, to Ada Doreen (Hattersley) and Herbert Simon Warner. He had been called the finest Hamlet of his generation, but a "disastrous" staging of I, Claudius in 1973 left him with terrible stage fright, but the Royal Shakespeare Company's loss was a boon to a number of productions, as it brought him to film, television and voice acting.
Welcome, Programs.
Forty years ago, one of Disney's weirdest failures started changing movies forever. TRON stumbled, so that Neo could be the One and Ralph could break the Internet.
How do I come out as trans at a new job?
I have just recently come out as transgender to my social circle.
However, I started a new job just this past week, and all my documentation is in my deadname as I haven’t started the paperwork process. We’re also all remote right now. I also don’t have much of a feel yet for how the place and my co-workers will take it. (We create and maintain websites for lawyers, if that helps people with the advice.) It’s a small company (about 25 people) and not much formal HR process - all the paperwork is outsourced. They talk about respect for others, but my experience isn’t there to see it yet. (My three direct co-workers and my supervisor have all be very nice, and very helpful, but that’s workplace.)
I haven’t told anyone at work yet. Eventually, though, there will be a return to the office, and hormone effects, and it won’t be avoidable. I’m hoping to get ahead of it and be myself 24x7 instead of spending 40 hours a week cosplaying.
Any ideas would be helpful. Thank you.
I need a (trenchcoat) belt.
I have a trenchcoat that, due to a long line of increasingly stupid situations, I no longer have the belt for. Searching for replacements has been ridiculous, as I can find many of them for "women's trench coat belt replacement", but nearly nothing for men (much less a big man), My wife tells me going out in it without the belt looks "ridiculous", so I can't wear this coat and it hangs in the closet.
I get things like "use a scarf for a sassy offset" but, uh, that's not me.
What can I do with this?
Millennial Slaying: The Rebuttal
Millennials are killing countless industries — but the Fed says it's mostly just because they're poor. The core argument is that due to the various recessions (including the Great One back in 2008), Millennials have had multiple rollbacks on their earning, and so they have less money; then they don't buy the same things, and keep them longer. When they have the money, though, they do buy similar things as to previous generations.
If there's a greater economic recovery, it might result in the end to the Millennial Economic Murder Spree.
A Potential Death of a Thousand Paper Cuts
Dealing with a 'team-building event' that involves drinking I don't do.
My department at work is setting up a 'team-building event'. The ones in the past have included a cooking class, a game night, a drink-and-paint, and karaoke. The one they're revving up for now is a booze cruise. The problem? 1) I don't drink alcohol and 2) I have an arthritic knee and am considered lightly disabled.
The Christian Legal Army Behind ‘Masterpiece Cakeshop’
The Nation investigates the Alliance Defending Freedom. An in-depth look at one of the most powerful anti-gay-rights legal groups in the country, with ties to the Department of Justice, Congress, multiple state legislators and state departments of justice, thousands of attorneys who will work pro bono, and donors including Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and noted puncher of journalists Representative Greg Gianforte (R-MT).
THIS IS THE VOICE OF COLOSSUS.
Microsoft and Amazon partner to integrate Alexa and Cortana digital assistants. At first, it will require explicit call-outs for one to access the other, with "Cortana, open Alexa" and "Alexa, open Cortana", showing that the initial work is them being skills of each other, but both companies expect the integration to become smoother over time. Jeff Bezos and Satya Nadella also say that Amazon and Microsoft would welcome Google and Apple joining in. “There are going to be multiple successful intelligent agents, each with access to different sets of data and with different specialized skill areas. Together, their strengths will complement each other and provide customers with a richer and even more helpful experience,” says Bezos in an Amazon press release.
Hellooooooo Nurse!
Running from 1993 to 1995 on Fox Kids, and then another year on Kids WB, the adventures of the Warner Brothers (and the Warner Syster), the mad science mice Pinky and the Brain, the Bernadette Peters voiced cat Rita and her dim dog sidekick Runt making their way through musical adventures, the hapless Buttons taking care of reckless toddler Mindy, and a host of others, the Animaniacs (a follow-up to Tiny Toon Adventures) was one of the top cartoons of its day. Winner of 8 Emmies, it recently appeared on Netflix, the entire run watchable in order. With crazy antics, great musical numbers, and a lot of silliness, it is well-loved by most who watched it.
And now... Steven Spielberg is bringing back Animaniacs.
What the Koran really says about women.
The Annotated Emotional Labor Post!
I saw this on The Mary Sue, referring to this document which has the thread, annotated.
The original being here.
It Wasn't My Fault!
Former FEMA Head Michael Brown: Stop Blaming Me For Hurricane Katrina (SPL) In which he explains from his point of view what the real problems with the Katrina response were.
RIP Monty Oum
On January 31st, Burnie Burns of Rooster Teeth posted that animator Monty Oum was in critical condition after a minor medical procedure, and that he might not recover.
Yesterday it was announced that he had died. He was 33 years old.
A Game of Brands
Game of Brands: The Game of Thrones Houses as Modern Corporations (Article contains spoilers if you're not up on the end of the current season of the series.) Ads, logos, the whole thing, for such companies as Air Targaeryen, the Lannister Investment Group...
How do I find a lost person?
My fiancee's mother moved to Puerto Rico a number of years ago, and in a move lost all her mother's contact information. Google hasn't really helped, because her mother has a very common name. I need to find her, and I really don't have a good idea where to start looking.
Adobe Max... and you! And me.
Adobe Max is coming, in LA this year. Are you going? If so, do you want to have a brief meetup or just general hang-out at the Max Bash? I'm not a big Black Keys fan, but meeting with people of similar bent would be good.
Scottish Literary Sculptural Mysteries Return!
This week in Scotland, it is Book Week. Many note authors are supporting it with free events. And so is the mysterious sculptor who seized the imagination of people worldwide with her books made sculpture. She (one of the few things known about the sculptor) has done a series of five mystery hidden sculptures to help celebrate Book Week. Each of them is related to a Scottish story or author.
This language is not what I think it is, but is it art?
What is a good resource for understanding art theory - book recommendations, websites, things of that nature. I keep finding myself realizing that there's uses of language in art that doesn't match up with what I think it should be.
Smaller than an elbow...
How do I find out what earbuds don't hurt my ears?
Sometimes you just gotta say...
Thinking about going back to school, but I have some questions about things, and hoping people can help me and answer them. (Information and questions inside.)
RIP Jack Tramiel
I have an issue with a UTI... on a Mac.
My Macs have decided suddenly to merge the information on two kinds of files into a single file listing. As I use separate programs for these, switching back and forth is really not an option, and manually setting things is going to eventually drive me crazy. Help!
Stapler Rentals - back in the saddle
Is there a place I can rent, borrow or otherwise find a way to use a saddle stapler in the Seattle area? They're expensive to purchase, and it seems as if a lot of the copy centers no longer keep them around. I've checked Kinko's, Office Depot and Staples, and they don't have them for rent or use (and it's either the web site or ship-to-store to buy, even if you wanted one.
I know it's a camera angle, but how do I MEASURE it?
How do I measure the angle I hold my camera at to take a picture, so I can take other photos to composite together and have it not look terrible?
Go ahead, rub it in... to hair.
I have managed to reach the age of forty-mumble with no idea how to deal with hair-care products. I shampoo regularly (Head and Shoulders for the dandruff works fine), keep my hair fairly short (but not buzzcut, because my head looks stupid when the hair is too short), and sometimes blow it dry, but all this other stuff - pomade, hair spray, the stuff the salons call 'product' is beyond me. Where can I go to find out about how to use them?
Router recommendations for more power.
Comcast gave us a router when we subscribed. It has issues. But we can replace it! Help me find the best one. (Warning: lots of data below, because I want to answer as many questions as possible off the bat.)
Kill the oil stink
We've just moved, and I'm working on the backlog of laundry. The problem is that one of the hampers apparently was close to the oil furnace of the old house, and now the entire basket smells like oil. How do I get rid of the smell?
Killer levels of cute
Animals with Stuffed Animals. Today's anti-grar.
Eat the Titanic? Or, Biological Relay Chat.
In 2000, microbial ecologist Roy Cullimore and Charles Pellegrino (author of Ghosts of the Titanic) discovered that the Titanic was being eaten by an extremeophile super-organism, transforming the steel into huge pillars of rust. [Previously, regarding the Titanic.]
That post was made for you and me.
IT Go-To Guy Looking For Somewhere To Go
From protests to hostages.
Right now, James Jay Lee has hostages at the Discovery Channel buildings in the DC area. the DCist information on the situation.
Hey-yo At JoCo
Absolute Last Minute Question About Stuff In NYC: Anyone going to see Jonathan Coulton tonight at the Skyline Ballroom? Just wondering if any other MeFites will be there.
Gone gone o form of man, bring me now some Marzipan!
Looking for recipes for marzipan. Actually making it, not things to do with it.
AT&T redefines summer, releases iPhone feature finally
When it was released, the Apple iPhone 3GS advertised Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), but also noted "MMS support from AT&T coming in late summer." This has resulted in some legal issues such as a number of lawsuits. But now, AT&T has announced that MMS is coming to the iPhone on September 25, just a little past all defined ends of summer.
Help a wine-challenged fellow give a good dinner.
How do you find out what kind of wine goes with what kind of meal?
Maple Leaf Guitar Rag?
Many years ago, late one night in Philadelphia, I heard a cover of the Maple Leaf Rag that stunned me. I never found the artist, nor have I ever heard it again. I'm hoping the hivemind can help. It started out the traditional piano version, and then there was a pause... and it turned into a guitar rock version. I heard it on WMMR at about 1:30 AM in the late 1980s. HAs anyone ever heard of anything like it, and if so, who was the artist?
My beard is flaky... in the not-good way.
I've recently decided that, at the age of 40, I'm old enough to deal with facial hair. I now have a pretty reasonable goatee, but now I've run into a new trouble: dandruff of the chin.
He shall be fire and life forever...
David Cockrum has passed on. The cause of death was apparently complications from diabetes; he died peacefully, in his sleep. Comics fans would know him from a number of projects, amongst them Giant Size X-Men #1 where he helped introduce Colossus, Storm and Nightcrawler to the world, his run on the Legion of Super Heroes, and possibly his self-published work The Futurians. You can find some nice retrospectives on his career and what he did for Marvel and for DC Comics.
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