Well… I’m REALLY fucking excited for it. Absolutely loved Deadpool 1 & 2. I’m probably going to see this three times when it comes out.
But turn around the slump? Doubt it. Not on its own. It can’t hope to fix the deeper problems Marvel created for itself, like overextending on the TV shows.
Marvel basically needs to die and be reborn. And despite what the trailer says, I don’t think Deadpool’s their Jesus.
F/A-18, not F14 :-)
F14’s are the one you see in Top Gun, and Finland has never used them. They’re all in museums already, except for Iran’s clunkers. At least on paper.
The roommate and friend sound awesome. I’ve been the ‘emotional support normie’ for a few people on the spectrum over the years. Some do appreciate a bit of handholding in certain situations and I’m happy to oblige. And all love having someone to talk to about specific interests, who won’t slow them down or cut them off.
I also LOVE what I like to call ‘random autistic encounters’.
I like movies for example. I see about three per week at my local theatre, always the early, nearly empty showtimes. Movies are a solo activity for me; something I get to enjoy without it sapping my energy.
Turns out, the almost empty showings also tend to attract autistic people as they’re not as taxing. So the past year, I’ve sat next to a few regulars who’ve struck up post-movie conversations with me after they’d seen me a few times. I’m apparently a very welcoming person to talk to.
They know we share at least movies as an interest, so they’ll walk up and start a conversation about that. But after about 10 minutes, we’re talking about stuff ranging from video games to anime, ancient Roman history, board games, obscure 1990’s German railway trivia or whatever else they or I might be into. And after half an hour of chatting with this complete stranger, they’ll casually mention ‘I’m autistic…’
Usually my reply is ‘well duh, that’s obvious’. I’ll explain that I work with autistic people and that I can pretty much spot one on sight by now :D
It’s always fascinating how people think autistic people are quiet or don’t like talking. They’ll happily talk your ear off for an hour straight if you actually engage with them. I’ve met some wildly interesting folks that way.
As to work: we have a very structured workplace with a very set routine, fixed deadlines, that sort of thing. The people we’ve had really thrive in our line of work. As long as the work gets done on time, they get a LOT of freedom in how they do it. We’re very much hands-off management.
We actually actively hire people on the spectrum for our department through a job placement program. We’re such a good fit for them, they really flourish at our company and leave with more confidence. We’re willing to work with their specific challenges, as they’re overall awesome employees.
That’s gotta suck. At least in my job, our company owner has a daughter with severe autism so he’s very understanding of the specific needs of people who work there and are on the spectrum. We do probably accommodate a bit too much in some things, but if it keeps people happy and productive, I don’t see that as a bad thing.
That’s definitely something that I’ve noticed in other colleagues outside of our department - they tend to see us as ‘different’, based on some of the talk I’ve picked up over the years.
We’re generally a more introverted, quiet writing department. Which is a stark contrast to the extroverted, loud sales department. To us, they are quite different as well…
We’re generally on friendly terms between departments, but outside of purely necessary work interactions, neither group would choose to voluntarily hang out with the other outside of work. I usually try to bridge that gap a bit, but that too takes a bit of effort on my part.
Still, it doesn’t really matter if I’m on the spectrum or not. It’s not going to really change my outlook on work or life in general.
Some people definitely can benefit from a diagnosis, even later in life. Especially if it’s the missing ‘piece of the puzzle’ like you mentioned.
For me, the things that might feed into a specific diagnosis also are just… the way I am. It’s not like I’m suddenly going to work on them because now there’s a label attached. They’re the quirks that make me, me.
I grew up in an era where autism basically didn’t exist. You just were a bit - or a lot - weird. And you had to conform or deal with it on your own. Nobody was ‘on the spectrum’ when I attended school. So I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a lot of adults out there who have missing puzzle pieces.
I can relate.
At work, I’ve worked with a LOT of autistic people. We had about twenty on staff over the years, all over the spectrum.
People always say how working with autistic people can be difficult and that there might be challenges. There’s even training on ‘how to work with autistic people’. But I found quite the opposite - autistic people are a joy to work with for me. We can talk for ages about interesting things, but we can also enjoy a bit of quiet time.
Maybe it’s because I’m an introvert, but I find dealing with the ‘normal’ people at work much more exhausting. Working with the autistic people is a breeze. Most of the things you read about as ‘challenges’ make perfect sense to me. As a result, we run a VERY productive department.
So either I’m autistic, or autistic-adjacent enough to where I don’t see challenges, but just people.
I’m in my early 40’s so a diagnosis wouldn’t really change things for me anyway. But my sister who works as a psychologist basically told me that I’ve got enough traits of it that she wouldn’t be surprised if I was autistic myself.
Personally, I vote in every election. I’m a very well educated, very well informed voter. I know the issues, I know the candidates, I know their track record. Basically, you couldn’t find a more ideal voter. But, I only have one vote.
And so does every illiterate, uninformed, uninterested person who might stumble into a voting booth by accident.
The only thing I CAN do is show up, and hope an idiot with a different view stays home. And even if they vote as well, I’ll at least have the satisfaction of knowing I negated their vote.
I might not always get what I want, but I’ll damn sure show up just in case more of my guys do. Voting is a team effort and I’m doing my part.
Decisions are made by those who show up; it really just comes down to that.
And if the other side is better at getting people to show the fuck up…. You need to make an effort to do the same. Even if it is a far from ideal choice.
I honestly don’t mind there not being an audience. At least this way you can focus on the question and answers, without people booing, clapping, shouting, etc. An audience is great for a political rally, but for debates like this… I’d rather focus on the actual content.
I’m a biiiiig fan or ranked-choice voting as a concept. It seems like such a nice way to get a more diverse political landscape which isn’t set in stone like the US has right now. It’d certainly give other candidates an actual shot at the position. You simply don’t even SEE third party candidates these days. They’re not in any debate, they never get talked about… After all, why bother when they’re never, ever going to win with the current setup?
You would think that US voters would’ve had enough of this system by now. The only reason third - or fourth, fifth, etc. - parties don’t really work is because people keep voting for the same two… and expecting different results. The classic definition of insanity.
Now, it’s not going to be easy to sway enough people, but doing nothing surely isn’t going to fix things either. It clearly hasn’t to date.
As a European… we’re not really fond of this situation either. Both candidates would get laughed off stage here. I don’t mind a seasoned, older politician, but these two should stick to golf and not running a country. Get yourself some better candidates or better, vote for a third party.
I am, in fact, quite aware of how air conditioners work :D A lot of devices work like this; it’s why a refrigerator and freezer generate heat. And why things like a slushy machine are real power hogs. Basically, anything that gets things cool will generate heat elsewhere.
Thing is, a refrigerator and freezer are very much needed in daily life. An air conditioner thankfully isn’t - yet. But on days where we have 25+ celsius, the aircon is the difference between being sweaty, irritable, unproductive and with poor sleep or… perfectly comfortable. So, we choose to not be miserable. It keeps me sane during heatwaves.
But yes, absolutely nobody should own one. And I highly encourage everybody else not to get one. I’m keeping mine though.
When I heard about the plans to clean up the Seine enough to have actual swimming events, I had to check it wasn’t an Onion article. While on paper it sounds nice - an urban river so clean you could swim in it - in practice it’s pretty much impossible to do. Not even factoring in the cost of it.
If I was an athlete, I’d skip the event if they tried to make me swim in that. There’s no vaccines and drysuits good enough to make me take that plunge. Especially not after half of Paris decides to take an actual shit in it.
Here in the Netherlands, the panels are wired into the grid so you’re always delivering back and not using that power directly. What happens is, they basically deduct the power generated from the power you’ve used. This crediting system will eventually disappear, as too many people are feeding back solar power.
For all intents and purposes, as long as we generate more than we use, we’re paying nothing except grid charges and taxes. So if you’ve got a low energy use day and plenty of solar, there’s really no reason not to run an AC (or a washer/dryer, etc)
We’ve got nine panels on the south facing roof. Right now, reasonably sunny day, they produce about 3.6 -3.7 Kw. That amply covers the power consumption of one of the two LG aircons we have. Those take about 2.5 kW. We usually just run one, depending on outside temp.
I’m not really familiar with solar generators in general, but that feels like you’d need a pretty beefy one to keep an AC powered.
I’ve got solar panels and AC. I’m keeping the house at meat locker freezing while staying within the solar panel production. Might as well use the power when it’s there.
Some people will complain about using AC in general. They can sweat all they want - I’m keeping cool.
Yeah, that’s certainly one odd aspect. Also, there’s a ton of other methods to handle labour shortages. Like activating underused groups, such as women. Or offering retraining so people can switch to different jobs. And higher pay for sectors with shortages doesn’t hurt either, considering the already very low pay in Greece.
Running your existing workforce ragged is NOT the way to deal with this.
But hey, maybe we’re missing some cultural or political piece of the puzzle as to why they went this route.
That’s a perfectly valid question. The answer is very interesting:
https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/gallipoli/drip_rifle
Drip (or “pop off”) rifles were self-firing rifles used at Gallipoli to deceive the Turks during the evacuation of December 1915.
Fire was maintained from the trenches after the withdrawal of the last men, by rifles arranged to fire automatically. This was done by a weight being released which pulled the trigger. Two kerosene tins were placed one above the other, the top one full of water and the bottom one with the trigger string attached to it, empty. At the last minute, small holes would be punched in the upper tin; water would trickle into the lower one, and the rifle would fire as soon as the lower tin had become sufficiently heavy.
Another device ran a string, holding back the trigger, through a candle, which slowly burnt down, severed the string, and released the trigger.