ICYMI [DOT 17/1/21]

17/1/21 MegMegMcGee 41

Look, it’s Sunday.

I’m tired.

I’m gonna drink a lot tonight (Saturday, when I put this together).

So, check out some v. good posts from earlier in the week:

Happy Hour [15/1/21]
Saturday Morning Brain Drain [16/01/21]

And here’s some news via Tweet:

If there wasn’t a freaking pandemic I would be getting the hell out of town next week!

I wonder if he’s single.

Wrong answers only. “Here’s what Trump has been doing in his finals days in office”

Have a great Sunday!! You’re on your own:

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41 Comments

  1. I skimmed the story yesterday about the knuckledragger who tried to use the fake inauguration pass. Turns out he was also driving his truck which was plastered with all sorts of right wing and pro gun stickers. Gee, I wonder how the cops got suspicious. 
    These people are too stupid to live. 

  2. This has nothing to do with anything but if this is an open thread:
     
    I’m having a PayPal issue and was wondering if any of you could advise. I’ve a very simple one: Someone recently sent me money via PayPal, they got a confirmation via PayPal that it had been sent, it was indeed sent to the right address, the confirmation has a transaction number on it, and I didn’t get it. 
     
    Easy enough to resolve, right? Oh no. First I did quite a bit of sleuthing to find a customer service number. “Due to high call volumes a customer service representative may not be able to take your call.” Not a warning that I might be on hold for the length of time it takes to read “Infinite Jest,” including the footnotes, they just won’t. Then you get pushed onto this elaborate phone tree which covers many different scenarios and then options within the scenario, but not, to me, the most obvious one: You have some money due to me, where is it?
     
    So off to the website I went, and it was even worse. Many many more scenarios, none of them fitting the bill (again, what could be a more obvious a common potential problem than mine?) and I didn’t see a feature where you could type in details free-form. This might be for security reasons, so you don’t divulge two email addresses and a financial interaction.
     
    Anyway, I’m going to try again today, but this seems like an almost NY State-level of fail. By the way, if any of you live in the Empire State, have you been a hearing about how the vaccine distribution is (not) going? I’m sure our friends abroad are very interested in this topic and are devising back-burner plans to instigate a crisis and see how far to our knees our own ineptitude can bring us.
     
    HAPPY SUNDAY, especially to those who live in state capitals! Cousin Mattie got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning, it seems.

    • PayPal fucking sucks. I stopped using it years ago because they are, hands down, the most user hostile payment platform in human history. I hate it so much that I haven’t shopped on eBay for years because most of the transactions take place via PayPal. I suggest having your friend get into it with them to see if they can get the payment reversed and then just mail you a check. It’ll be faster than the time it will take to wrestle PayPal to the ground. 

    • I’ve never had an issue with PayPal for making payments, but receiving money is a different story. And that’s the only time I ever needed to try to reach customer service. It’s essentially non-existent. I had the same issue with their number. I found a chat box, but it connects you to people in India, so all responses are on a 12 hour delay. I resolved my own problem without them because they couldn’t understand what I was explaining.

    • I’ve already told my bank and credit card company to block any PayPal transactions. Most banks are on Zelle now and there’s always Venmo, check,  cash, weed equivalent (varies by state), or sexual favors (spouse only).

    • I’ve used PayPal Credit, but they just effectively cut my credit limit in half at the end of the year with no explanation (that was overt anyway). That brought my credit score down about 35 points, so I’m rather upset about that.

  3. Some news from Trump’s legal Dream Team. I only pass this along because in the leader image doesn’t it look like Giuliani’s hands have weirdly shrunk? Is this a side-effect of spending time with Tiny Hands? He certainly didn’t look like this when he was Mayor of 9/11, but then again that was almost 20 years ago.
     
    https://nypost.com/2021/01/17/rudy-g/

    • I think it’s at least in part due to the poorly fitting, oversized suits he and trump both favor. The sleeves are so wide it makes their hands look tiny. 

      • I don’t understand being as ‘rich’ and obsessed with status as these guys supposedly are and the shitty clothes they wear. Their tailors must hate them…

        • Did you know that Donald Trump had his own clothing line? Yes, Macy’s carried it up until fairly recently, probably discontinued around 2016 I’d guess. LOTS of polyester blends. Monochrome ties in jewel tones. Simple white dress shirts that just seemed so wrong, even in their shrink-wrapped packaging. Doubtless just a licensing deal and the stuff was made by slave labor in that country whose exports he pretends to hate so much, the PRC. 

          • They were SHIT suits, Shirts, and ties!!!😉
             
            Comparable-ish with the Alfani line, or the cheap Calvin Klein o-t-r- suits that Macy’s carries.
             
            The menswear version of Jessica Simpson or low-end Micheal Kors CRAP!
             
            Don’t forget, there were *also* all those stupid “white collar & cuffs w/colored (usually pastel) body” shirts, too🤨🤨🤨
             
            VERY *nouveau 80’s* with ALL the same lack of class.
             
            (The place i worked at with Edie Beale from GT bought the overstock/returned goods from places like Macy’s. I spent a few YEARS of my life, looking for damage & repairing damage on shittily-made, expensive clothing!)

        • They do!
           
          Trump gets off-the-rack, NOT custom-made… a couple years ago now (I think!) there was an article *somewhere* that mentioned there being a Brioni store in the Post-Office’s Trump hotel… part of the rental agreement is most likely that DontheCon gets a free o-t-r suit every ____ months…
           
          Then they probably hem the pants for him.
          There are yeeeears of stories on the awful fit of his suits. 
           
          Iirc, there was talk in ’15 & 16, of how he’d basically been 100% cut OFF by any & all decent NYC tailors, for staffing too many of them on his bills after ordering a suit.
           
          Honestly? Judging by the way they all fit, I wouldn’t be surprised at all, if he had the laundry/alterations folks in his hotels do the hemming on his suits.
           
          He IS that sort of cheapskate–so using “free” labor to get them fitted would appeal to him.
          https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/fashion/mens-style/donald-trump-brioni-martin-greenfield-suits.html
           
          https://theslot.jezebel.com/what-is-up-with-trumps-ill-fitting-suits-a-world-famou-1787666547
          (Most likely, the $$$$ thing is ALSO why he’s spent SO much time 

          • Sorry, hit the button too soon!
             
            Meant to say, “why he’s spent SO much time at his resorts during his time in the WH, too.”
             
            Not just because he can rake in the per diems and hotel rental/golf course/golf cart fees…
             
            But *also* because that way, he can write OFF all his meals & incidental daily expenses…
             
            Remember how Hillary talked about being BROKE, when she & Bill left the WH, and how the Obamas talked about the costs (actual $$$$ costs!!) that came during their time in the WH?
             
            https://www.rd.com/list/things-u-s-presidents-have-to-pay-for-on-their-own/
             
            https://www.cnn.com/2014/06/10/politics/presidential-debt/index.html
             
            There are a LOT of regular little things, that had to get paid for (tbh, the food & other incidentals are *also* among the reasons Mel & Barron tried to stay in NYC–their expenses in a Trump property were write-offs, not things that COULDN’T be avoided🤨).
             
             
            Same reason Trump brought foreign dignitaries to his properties, and tried to host the G-20 at his resort.😒😒😒
            And ALSO the reason, most likely, for the “celebrations” for athletes,which were just 500 bucks’ worth of burgers–no food bill afterward, AND less staffing costs, because there weren’t additional chefs, servers, cleanup crew, setup/takedown folks to pay, AND no extra linens to clean/dishes to wash & store/rental fees or transportation-cost fees, to get equipment from other government (or rental!) sites.
             
            By staying at his *own* places and throwing his fetes THERE, Trump could charge the government, rather than paying it.
             

      • This!!!!!
         
        If you look closely, at his NECK, in that pic of ‘ol Rudy-Colludy, you can see the why of his sleeves😉
         
        For Rudy to get his ready-to-wear (rtw) shirt to actually fit around his neck** his shirts cuffs (and usually sleeves & body, fwiw!) had to get MUCH bigger than they used to be…
         
        Rtw only runs in a few different collar/sleeve-length combos. Sooooo,when you max out on your collar size, those wrist openings on the cuffs get bigger, too, because in the pattern making, it’s assumed that these are for a man who is *taller and bigger* not just bigger.
         
        Same reason why, in women’s wear, it’s SO hard for those of us who are short AND chubby to find things that *fit* and don’t make us look like TOTAL slobs/schlubs😉
         
        Garment Design essay ahead, fell FREE to TL/DR if you want to!😉🤣💖
         
        When you use CAD design for patterning garments, the programs “nest” a set of patterns based off whatever gets set up as that company’s “Medium” is… as garments go UP in size, the patterned pieces get wider *and* longer… for the smaller sizes, it’s narrower AND shorter.🙃
         
        http://www.beoltd.com/uploads/2/1/6/4/21643340/pattern-design_9_orig.jpg
         
        If that link works, it ought to be showing a “nested” pattern–the smallest size is the one showing in full color, then all the other sizes are represented in the series of lines around that first one.***
        To do a “plus” sized pattern which *isn’t* longer & bigger, a company needs to have a highly skilled & usually well-trained  patternmaker…. and even then, getting that garment to fit well may take that pattern maker HOURS of hand-rendering on paper, hand cutting, then plotting points manually into the computer, to get the markers to a point where the cad system will be able to cut a usable & sewable garment!😉
         
        I know all this from my time at the skatewear/dancewear/cheerwear company.  We had a couple synchronized skate “masters” teams–where the team was all adults. Some of the ladies on the teams were “bigger” (think size 18-26), and since our standard “base” was a size 4-6, the handful of women who went past a 3XL in our system needed their dresses hand-plotted.  
         
        We could usually start from the designs we’d done for them in a previous year. But when fashion ideas changed greatly from year to year, or the team wanted a “whole new look!” our pattern maker would have to start entirely over, from a paper draft, because of how badly the computer would mess up corners, when you just tried to make it “nest up” any bigger😉
         
         
        **Look closely–you’ll SEE that he’s *barely* fitting in that collar–it’s literally dug into his neck–his skin is poofing out OVER the top of the collar (like my stomach does, when I wear blue jeans that are tight enough to STAY at my waist😉😆🤣)…
         
        annnnnd judging by the width of that space between the south where the *points* on the fold of his collar attach to the band? 
        He’s most likely got a button-extender on, UNDER his ties knot🤔🤨🤫
         
        ***I’ll try to attach a fuggled nest in a reply to this comment, so that I don’t lose *this* comment (gotta go do some deeper searching!)

    • I mean, did he ever actually do his job as President?  Seems to me he showed up for the ceremonial shit and for signing things that he liked (which is just more ceremony), but for the actual, you know, work he just left that to other people to do (fuck up) while he golfed and tweeted and screamed at the TV.

      • From what I have read he watched Fox News almost all day and didn’t really do much else other than like you said, toilet tweet and golf.  So, not sure how anything changed.

      • Bingo. Trump never actually did any work, so this is really no different. What they’re saying is that all the aides and support staff are streaming for the exits so nobody’s actually trying to explain reality to Trump (waste of time) or putting things in front of him for “action” (usually involving a Sharpie). And his Twitter access is shut off, which has always been the majority of his day. So no, he’s not “working.”
         
        I posted a link earlier this week about Trump and Twitter — he sent, on average, 58 tweets every single day of his presidency. Think about it — even just typing those out is going to keep him busy for most of an average workday. He clearly felt that his “job” as president was spreading lies and bullshit. 
         
        He single-handedly generated and repeated so much fucking horseshit that it significantly altered public discussion for the last four years. This article about misinformation dropping 73% since Trump’s Twitter ban is amazing:
        https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/16/misinformation-trump-twitter/

    • The last time I left a job I stayed past 6 on the last day to make sure the good people I’m leaving aren’t left hanging.
       
      The owner came to try to do some kind 9f exit interview, and acted like he had no idea people would take offense when the bosses take raises after firing older employees to save on insurance.

  7. huh..?
    well that was novel
    some twiggy fucking space cadet just accused me of being an eastbloc jerb stealer…
    all because i dropped something and swore in foreignese….(KURWA!!!)
    help! im a repressed minority naoh! angry chinless short fuckheads are having goes at me
    anyways i stared at him and pretended not to know any dutch till he went away….lol

    • Where I work there are around people from 20 some different nationalities working there. The company puts out “English” is the language of business which is understandable to a point. When working for sure as we need to communicate.  If it is just shit talk or personal stuff I don’t care (unless it is loud.)
      Some of my few more stuffy white coworkers get all twitchy about that shit.  And they  think the foreign talk (sorry narcissist) is about themselves which it usually isn’t 99% of the time.  Sometimes it does backfire though when my aunt was showing us around Chicago and she pointed out something in Korean to my mom (a sign) but my mom was being clueless so she mentioned the sign was next to the black guy (in polite Korean.)  Both my mom and aunt were stunned when the black guy replied back in Korean and laughed (he apparently spent a few years in Korea as part of the 2nd Infantry Division.)
      In the same vein, I have surprised coworkers when I do figure things out.  I might not know the language but I understand tone/inflection/body language thanks to being yelled at in Korean by my parents.  I remember one time when several of my coworkers were speaking in Hindi and I replied back to them in English with the answer they were looking for.
       
       

      • I am by no means fluent in speaking it myself, but I can generally understand Spanish when it’s written or spoken. It always surprises people when the red-haired white lady snickers at the dirty joke they just told in Spanish… 
        I am fascinated by languages and their relationships to each other and, as a result, I have picked up bits and pieces of about a dozen languages from Spanish to Mandarin to Greek. Mostly the kind of thing that will get you slapped by respectable folks, but, hey… it’s interesting!

        • I can generally get the gist of Spanish if I pay attention, which I rarely do, because I know enough to know they aren’t talking to or about me. Back when I lived in South Florida it was somewhat contentious. Old people would confront children or women (never men, of course) yelling “you’re in America, speak English.” I intervened a couple of times to say “Leave them alone, they’re not talking about you. ” Which, of course, is the actual “problem.” Self-centered assholes who think the world revolves around them.
           
          I got some shock from the kids occasionally. I told a couple to not assume people couldn’t understand you. White people who speak Spanish are pretty common here. Now, 20 years later, I think most people know not to assume no one can speak their language. 

  8. sucks that…
    i regularly have three way conversations in 2 languages….it breaks peoples little brains
    (im only fluent in 2 languages….can swear in about 14)

      • A friend posted on Facebook a few years back declaring that “A Christmas Gift to You from Phil Spector” was the greatest Christmas album ever and Phil Spector was a genius. I said, “You mean Phil Spector the convicted murderer?” Another friend said “I DONT WANT ANY CHRISTMAS GIFTS FROM PHIL SPECTOR”
        He had no idea. I’m like, dude, you got the Google. Use it. 

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