Random Chat, Thoughts, Posts, and/or Rants Thread

[MoneyDoc]

Curious question for some of you car guys...

I'm getting a little tired of driving the old suburban around and I'm ready to go buy something nicer in place of the totaled S.

I am leaning towards the Escalades and Navigators this time around because they are truck based and likely to eat up the inevitable 200k miles I will throw at it easier than a Benz.

Thoughts on the modern Ford vs GM drivelines? I would have said GM without question 10 years ago... But I know things have potentially changed.

Urus .

 

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[Kak]

Urus .

Gauche. Hahaha!

If I wanted to blow some real money it would be Culinan all the way.

I'd pick the very sedate exterior and a black or brown on walnut interior. No funky colors, wheels or grilles...

This to me is just right:



Let's use that Navigator or Escalade hard for a few years and see if a Culinan is in the cards. It would simply have to be new to avoid the rapster flashy choices in styling.

 

[MoneyDoc]

Gauche. Hahaha!

If I wanted to blow some real money it would be Culinan all the way.

I'd pick the very sedate exterior. No funky colors, wheels or grilles...

This to me is just right:
View attachment 35619

Man saw a blacked out one the other day with a red interior...

 

[Kak]

Man saw a blacked out one the other day with a red interior...

Yeah I can't drive something like that.

Although I would do stuff like this:

 

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[LordGanon]

11.52 PM. I wake up after falling asleep at 6:30 PM.

I stare at the clock. Around five hours. That's ok. I should probably sleep a little more. The dog snores, shortly waking up, licking my hand. The dog. Who has been throwing up for weeks and finally doesn't anymore. Oh, that's going to be a lot of money going to the veterinarian. And it's going to be more. And some more for the special food and medication he's going to need. And even then he probably won't live. Yes, yes. Always playing the hard man. "Death comes for everyone," easier said than being accepted when it is a living being you love, even if it is a dog.

I stare at the clock. I'm losing sleep. "You gotta take it easy", they say. "Be glad you found a steady and safe job in this economy" because when the bills racked up, you said yes when they offered you more hours when it became apparent the new lockdown would go into effect, your freelancing business had dried up and your business applications still hadn't been processed by the government. "You'll be relevant to the system ("systemrelevant" is the term used in Germany for the parts of the economy which can't be shut down during the pandemic)", your mother said.

And that is what you are now. "Relevant to the system". You wake up, go to work, come back home, and are mostly too tired to do much else. Even though you've been a hardcore addict for 15 years of your life, you have no idea how the drugs once appealed to you, because losing even more energy and waking up with a hangover would seem like semi-dying and a horrible waste of your most precious asset these days: Time. "Time," you say with Gollum's voice in your head, "my precious!"

You calculate the time between now and going to work. You calculate how much money you're going to make tomorrow. Tomorrow probably pays for 1 1/2 weeks of special dog food and medication. Oh, too bad you haven't calculated taxes into that. There's no point in getting agitated about the government again. Because, as we know: Taxes are as inevitable as death. But that's also easier said than being accepted.

You rise. The woman says: "What are you doing? It's not even Thursday." You kiss her and tell her to sleep.

You remember that you once used to say that quality of life is achieved mainly through three things: Good food, good sex, good sleep. Now the dog food probably costs more than yours, you come home too tired to have sex with your woman, and you're losing sleep.

You listen to a message a friend has sent you with whom you've been discussing entrepreneurship for such a long time and who has decided to quit his job next year. He tells you about the same problem he has told you about often. He's on the drive home from work. It's dark, he's tired. At home, his woman, his son, and his newborn are waiting. And after the kids are in bed, he's probably going to have half an hour to read. "Time," you say with Gollum's voice in your head, "his precious!"

He ends his elaborations with "...I really don't want to imagine myself doing this until retirement."

"You won't have to", you think to yourself, "you'll live it unless something changes."

Here you sit. Sipping on your coffee in the darkness. You hear the clock. Tick. Tick. Tick. "You'll live it unless something changes."

If this is what life is supposed to be like, you no longer wonder why people use every opportunity to numb themselves. You remember the ending scene of American Psycho. Bateman picks up his glass of whiskey and begins his monologue: "My pain is constant and sharp..."

You pick up your cup of coffee and consider your pain.

F*ck the government.

F*ck going to work for 11,83€ an hour. That used to be 100€ + VAT.

Don't get me wrong, I do see value in what I do, but:

F*ck being a teaching assistant and caretaker for disabled kids and being subordinated to elementary school teachers after teaching at two elite universities.

F*ck losing sleep over money for dog food and vet bills.

F*ck being too tired from work to have sex.

F*ck trying to please your mother.

F*ck being relevant to a system you despise.

F*ck and to hell with everyone's complacency in "just having a job".

F*ck living in constant fear of unemployment and being told to be "glad you have a job in this economy" because the government is soooo merciful in declaring me "relevant to the system" instead of processing my business applications.

F*ck having no energy left for things I consider real enjoyment.

F*ck doing this for 30 more years to enjoy retirement at the government-mandated existential minimum.

F*ck not being able to move because you have no idea how to pay higher rent in this housing market.

F*ck finding yourself in the position that you're actually glad you don't have children because you'd have no idea how to make the time for them or make enough money to feed them. And you probably wouldn't have the energy.

F*ck being told with laughter by an acquaintance that she doesn't worry about her career and future, quite the opposite. Yeah. That's because she's working for the government and manages a jail. That's for the people who don't play by the rules of the free-roaming cage they're offered. That's the cynicism with which the henchmen look down on you.

F*ck not being able to tell your friend there's another way out of this because you currently can't lead by example.


F*ck THIS. I did not get sober for this. F*ck THIS. F*ck THIS. F*ck THIS. F*ck THIS.


And now, please excuse me. I'll shed some cathartic tears and process my FTE. Because I guess...this was it.

And then I'll figure out how to proceed from here. I'll have to find another business idea for the time being. And replacing my current income...shouldn't be that hard. And then I'll go to work in my system-relevant job and soak in all the pain so I'll never forget.

At least, as of yesterday, I am debt-free. Guess it's moving some more pianos on the weekends to make business investments.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

11.52 PM. I wake up after falling asleep at 6:30 PM.

I stare at the clock. Around five hours. That's ok. I should probably sleep a little more. The dog snores, shortly waking up, licking my hand. The dog. Who has been throwing up for weeks and finally doesn't anymore. Oh, that's going to be a lot of money going to the veterinarian. And it's going to be more. And some more for the special food and medication he's going to need. And even then he probably won't live. Yes, yes. Always playing the hard man. "Death comes for everyone," easier said than being accepted when it is a living being you love, even if it is a dog.

I stare at the clock. I'm losing sleep. "You gotta take it easy", they say. "Be glad you found a steady and safe job in this economy" because when the bills racked up, you said yes when they offered you more hours when it became apparent the new lockdown would go into effect, your freelancing business had dried up and your business applications still hadn't been processed by the government. "You'll be relevant to the system ("systemrelevant" is the term used in Germany for the parts of the economy which can't be shut down during the pandemic)", your mother said.

And that is what you are now. "Relevant to the system". You wake up, go to work, come back home, and are mostly too tired to do much else. Even though you've been a hardcore addict for 15 years of your life, you have no idea how the drugs once appealed to you, because losing even more energy and waking up with a hangover would seem like semi-dying and a horrible waste of your most precious asset these days: Time. "Time," you say with Gollum's voice in your head, "my precious!"

You calculate the time between now and going to work. You calculate how much money you're going to make tomorrow. Tomorrow probably pays for 1 1/2 weeks of special dog food and medication. Oh, too bad you haven't calculated taxes into that. There's no point in getting agitated about the government again. Because, as we know: Taxes are as inevitable as death. But that's also easier said than being accepted.

You rise. The woman says: "What are you doing? It's not even Thursday." You kiss her and tell her to sleep.

You remember that you once used to say that quality of life is achieved mainly through three things: Good food, good sex, good sleep. Now the dog food probably costs more than yours, you come home too tired to have sex with your woman, and you're losing sleep.

You listen to a message a friend has sent you with whom you've been discussing entrepreneurship for such a long time and who has decided to quit his job next year. He tells you about the same problem he has told you about often. He's on the drive home from work. It's dark, he's tired. At home, his woman, his son, and his newborn are waiting. And after the kids are in bed, he's probably going to have half an hour to read. "Time," you say with Gollum's voice in your head, "his precious!"

He ends his elaborations with "...I really don't want to imagine myself doing this until retirement."

"You won't have to", you think to yourself, "you'll live it unless something changes."

Here you sit. Sipping on your coffee in the darkness. You hear the clock. Tick. Tick. Tick. "You'll live it unless something changes."

If this is what life is supposed to be like, you no longer wonder why people use every opportunity to numb themselves. You remember the ending scene of American Psycho. Bateman picks up his glass of whiskey and begins his monologue: "My pain is constant and sharp..."

You pick up your cup of coffee and consider your pain.

f*ck the government.

f*ck going to work for 11,83€ an hour. That used to be 100€ + VAT.

Don't get me wrong, I do see value in what I do, but:

f*ck being a teaching assistant and caretaker for disabled kids and being subordinated to elementary school teachers after teaching at two elite universities.

f*ck losing sleep over money for dog food and vet bills.

f*ck being too tired from work to have sex.

f*ck trying to please your mother.

f*ck being relevant to a system you despise.

f*ck and to hell with everyone's complacency in "just having a job".

f*ck living in constant fear of unemployment and being told to be "glad you have a job in this economy" because the government is soooo merciful in declaring me "relevant to the system" instead of processing my business applications.

f*ck having no energy left for things I consider real enjoyment.

f*ck doing this for 30 more years to enjoy retirement at the government-mandated existential minimum.

f*ck not being able to move because you have no idea how to pay higher rent in this housing market.

f*ck finding yourself in the position that you're actually glad you don't have children because you'd have no idea how to make the time for them or make enough money to feed them. And you probably wouldn't have the energy.

f*ck being told with laughter by an acquaintance that she doesn't worry about her career and future, quite the opposite. Yeah. That's because she's working for the government and manages a jail. That's for the people who don't play by the rules of the free-roaming cage they're offered. That's the cynicism with which the henchmen look down on you.

f*ck not being able to tell your friend there's another way out of this because you currently can't lead by example.


f*ck THIS. I did not get sober for this. f*ck THIS. f*ck THIS. f*ck THIS. f*ck THIS.


And now, please excuse me. I'll shed some cathartic tears and process my FTE. Because I guess...this was it.

And then I'll figure out how to proceed from here. I'll have to find another business idea for the time being. And replacing my current income...shouldn't be that hard. And then I'll go to work in my system-relevant job and soak in all the pain so I'll never forget.

At least, as of yesterday, I am debt-free. Guess it's moving some more pianos on the weekends to make business investments.

Chin up. I know what you mean and your complaints are completely valid. Government, taxes, (business applications yikes) they will always be trying to squeeze you. You have someone who loves you in your life and you just became debt free! You are making tremendous progress. You can do this. Don’t go to jail, but don’t listen to the rules - f*ck the rules or what people think you’re “supposed to do.”
If everyone did what they’re “supposed to do,” everyone would stay in the same place in society. Keep hustling, moving those pianos is a great idea. Keep saving money. Eventually you will be able to move if you want to.

The hustle and the pain are part of the grind to get you to the fastlane IMO. Nobody starts from scratch and becomes Zuckerberg without $1B of VC money. Just keep making progress!

“I may move slow but I never move backwards” - stick to that motto. You got this!!!

 

[Timmy C]

I'm sick of everyone around me in life, settling for EVERYTHING.

I am about to hit 30, and people all around me are hunkering up and living life ''safe'' doing what they are ''supposed to do.''


I hope it is what they want, and they are happy, but I don't understand how people can be content living life like that.


Settle for this relationship
Settle for this job
Settle for this income
Settle for this house
Settle for the Tv


Settle

Settle

Settle.

End of Rant.

 

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[sparechange]

Happy to be alive on Friday the 13th, I just bought a new bike and was doing a product delivery two cities over and while ripping down the road some guy darts across two lanes to cut me off and then make an illegal right turn (from the LEFT lane).... geez

In Vancouver there's been alot of deadly crashes on the street, and in the back of my head thought of this superstition, interesting note...with muslims it's considered a lucky day. (Guess I'm converted)

We had rain in the forecast today and it was beautiful out. Kinda funny, when I dropped off my first product to a customer, as I left it rained HARD for a good 10 seconds and then just stopped, later when I came back home the customer left a comment to my email mentioning they felt threatened by someone coming to their door (during a pandemic) Quite a busy week ahead of me...

Oh yeh, also on the way back home the same street I was on when mr douchebag decided to skip two lanes of traffic, there was a 2 car collision

Live to die another day

 

[WillHurtDontCare]

"It turns out that in the current version of the macOS, the OS sends to Apple a hash (unique identifier) of each and every program you run, when you run it."

Jeffrey Paul: Your Computer Isn't Yours

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

Talk about irony (for those who have not seen this before):

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1327597849849131008

View: https://twitter.com/Imamofpeace/status/1327597849849131008?s=20

 

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[Thoelt53]

"It turns out that in the current version of the macOS, the OS sends to Apple a hash (unique identifier) of each and every program you run, when you run it."

Jeffrey Paul: Your Computer Isn't Yours

Hah, my old man, who is an avid Apple and Microsoft hater, sent me that yesterday.

Turns out the identifiers are so unique, Apple knows when you’re at work, at home or elsewhere. And that information doesn’t just stay with Apple. It’s shared.

We’re doomed.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Hah, my old man, who is an avid Apple and Microsoft hater, sent me that yesterday.

Turns out the identifiers are so unique, Apple knows when you’re at work, at home or elsewhere. And that information doesn’t just stay with Apple. It’s shared.

We’re doomed.

Yikes, I read it with some skepticism thinking it was a trip wire for Little Snitch but he said even that don't work anymore. To obtain a secure system, couldn't you just disable internet access?

Unbelievable what is happening in the world ... meanwhile, as long as the Netflix content keeps flowing, the world doesn't give a shit. As the author stated, the frog is boiling.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

Yikes, I read it with some skepticism thinking it was a trip wire for Little Snitch but he said even that don't work anymore. To obtain a secure system, couldn't you just disable internet access?

Unbelievable what is happening in the world ... meanwhile, as long as the Netflix content keeps flowing, the world doesn't give a shit. As the author stated, the frog is boiling.

This is tangential, but I like that term, “trip wire.” Much cooler than “funnel”

But yes it’s quite terrifying how Apple and Microsoft are working with our government to spy on us. The government should not be able to do this without a warrant... per the constitution.

 

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[Kid]

Talk about irony (for those who have not seen this before):

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1327597849849131008

View: https://twitter.com/Imamofpeace/status/1327597849849131008?s=20

Oh gosh! News outlets fighting to be "the only" source of truth.

 

[Thoelt53]

Yikes, I read it with some skepticism thinking it was a trip wire for Little Snitch but he said even that don't work anymore. To obtain a secure system, couldn't you just disable internet access?

Unbelievable what is happening in the world ... meanwhile, as long as the Netflix content keeps flowing, the world doesn't give a shit. As the author stated, the frog is boiling.

Yeah, no internet, no spying. I have an iPhone, I’m not sure if the same spying that takes place in macOS is in iOS. For my PC I have dual booted Windows and Linux. I almost never use Windows unless absolutely necessary, but that is a rare occurrence. I do need to get a VPN though... Linux + good VPN is the way to go.

Smart TVs also present a problem, luckily my TV is about 6 years old and dumb. I’ve seen people running Raspberry Pi’s that essentially block outgoing packets to blacklisted domains. Pretty cool solution.

 

[WillHurtDontCare]

But yes it’s quite terrifying how Apple and Microsoft are working with our government to spy on us. The government should not be able to do this without a warrant... per the constitution.

The most interesting take on the TikTok hub bub was that the US government didn't like that it couldn't subpoena TikTok and get user data like they would with say Facebook.

It was a data turf war power play.

 

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[Guest-5ty5s4]

The most interesting take on the TikTok hub bub was that the US government didn't like that it couldn't subpoena TikTok and get user data like they would with say Facebook.

It was a data turf war power play.

Yes but I think that’s only the top of the ice berg.

I would imagine if tik tok is based in China the way Apple is based in the USA, then China & Tik Tok can do the same thing with your data that the USA and Apple do with it.

Obviously that could be a lot worse. Both are bad though. No dictators, rather than the dictators we like

 

[WillHurtDontCare]

Yes but I think that’s only the top of the ice berg.

I would imagine if tik tok is based in China the way Apple is based in the USA, then China & Tik Tok can do the same thing with your data that the USA and Apple do with it.

Obviously that could be a lot worse. Both are bad though. No dictators, rather than the dictators we like

I'm merely making the point that the US government is very interested in collecting data on its population and these efforts will only increase.

I imagine that a business that can help people generate fake data to stay under the radar will be quite valuable in the future.

 

[Kak]

Yeah, no internet, no spying. I have an iPhone, I’m not sure if the same spying that takes place in macOS is in iOS. For my PC I have dual booted Windows and Linux. I almost never use Windows unless absolutely necessary, but that is a rare occurrence. I do need to get a VPN though... Linux + good VPN is the way to go.

Smart TVs also present a problem, luckily my TV is about 6 years old and dumb. I’ve seen people running Raspberry Pi’s that essentially block outgoing packets to blacklisted domains. Pretty cool solution.

Man I hate linux. It is more like a project than an operating system.

At some point along the way, I just gave up. I use big brother because it works nicely. I have come to terms with having to operate as if the world is watching. Sucks, but I'm not going back to a dumb phone.

The only thing I really do anymore is use a VPN, but I'm logged into google at all times so it probably does nothing.

Why should I hide my information from my ISP if Google sees it all and associates it with me anyway?

 

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[LordGanon]

Man I hate linux. It is more like a project than an operating system.

Why should I hide my information from my ISP if Google sees it all and associates it with me anyway?

I don't know when the last time was that you used Linux. It has come quite far. I remember the days when it needed days of tweaking before even running properly. These days, it works OOTB and leaves few questions unanswered. And has great UI, too.

Certain distributions have reached a level of sophistication and user-friendliness that I'd recommend it to n00bs over Windows anytime. And when it comes to Apple, I can only say what I always used to say: Their stuff just runs, but you pay far more than the price tag.

Try Linux Mint, give it a shot.

 

[Xeon]

https://www.facebook.com/CoolStuff.FI/posts/2656123917736092

Potentially big winning product! All it needs is a one-product website and some user-generated content on IG and TikTok to show people having fun with it; it could blow up! So much (non-sexual) content can be created around this.

 

[ZF Lee]

Today, I truly underestimated how f*cked up college kids in business school are.

How so?

Enter my Integrative Business Practices unit in my current semester.

It’s a fantastic unit, where you can research markets and channels to create products and strategy with the canvas model and stuff.

The lecturer also gives lots of feedback and pokes lots of holes in your strategy straight-faced.

But what sucks?

The students I am paired up with for group assignments.

They aren’t the worst sort who ghost themselves or never contribute- but they just mostly pulled general crap from the textbook and they didn’t look at forums, markets, competitors and stuff to make the pitch presentation decent.

I was assigned to do an empathy map section for our latest presentation-and I nailed it by review-and-Reddit mining the hell out of the sleep/wake-up market, since our product was a sleep/wake up lamp.

Found out what books the target market would read (e.g habit books like Miracle Morning)

Their fears (e.g fear of landing a shitty job because of waking up late)

Their gains (e.g so happy to go to sleep or wake-up without phone-binging)

Since I was gonna have a trip for the weekend(it was last week), I sent in my work early to the group.

And that was the ONLY work that was done by us overall...across the 3-4 days before the presentation (today)

needless to say, they did last minute work all of yesterday...and let’s say my lecturer had plenty of feedback for us after our presentation.

Me thinks that could have been mitigated if we met even one time for lecturer consultations, but I was SICK and TIRED of ‘playing hero’ and shepherding around. I let someone else be the group leader, and she doesn’t have the iron-grip of Lee Kuan Yew, for some reasons.

I listened to the other presentations of the other groups, and I got the same

I realised that:

-most business school students had NO business starting a business, if they never did their research

-Group assignments DO NOT simulate the workplace, no matter how much the profs tell you they do.

I can’t fire, negotiate, filter as fast and furious as I do with freelancing.

we have anti-loafing measures like meeting minutes and peer reviews, but how much can they work? And the issue is not lazy kids, but simply because the folks taking the unit are WEAK.

By weak, I mean folks who only ‘do work’ and not bring new, powerful things to the table.


I’m not going to take over as group leader...I’ll let the current one continue as long the others don’t complain. I’ll just suggest ideas off and on, but I’ll just fill in whatever I’m asked to do.

Maybe it might make things worse, but in my last few semesters,over-delivering on my college work doesn’t even earn me extra money or a client testimonial.

This greatly enrages me because I’ve done similar business projects last semester (on my own) and in a social enterprise unit in college...with more solid-headed folks-to good results.

It also makes me real angry, seeing how business school kids fail-epic by starting off any work without even looking what their market thinks.

Not even a 3-5 min Reddit search!

That’s f*cking wrong, and your product is dead before it’s even born.

Looking at folks discuss fluff in their presentations is like seeing Noah’s flood in action-destruction and dismay.


Try that stupid shit as a copywriter in a John Carlton-era agency, and you’ll end up jobless and half-naked under a bridge in a few days.

If this is what I can expect from my current generation of business school students, I can’t blame employers for treating interns like cheap-chess pieces.


TLDR: Just f*ck group assignments and ignorant, ‘I’ll do the bare minimum’ business school kids who have poor time management skills and poor initiative to research (despite X hours of Business Analytics unit time)

This is one reason why I don’t want to enter the workforce and get a job. I don’t want to work with idiots like them.

All the more reason to freelance or do my own business or catch my own meat.

Alright, some updates on that college group assignment.

Here's the 'extras' I have done:

-Offered to send my team's questions to clarify at a Zoom consultation call with my lecturer
(70% of the team couldn't come together, for whatever reason)

-Ended up going alone to that call, as my group leader 'was busy all day', despite having to postpone a few meetings and copywriting stuff myself.

But now we have clarified some vital details for the project.

- Jotted down the meeting minutes (mandatory) for TWO group discussions
(again, I volunteered to help...my lecturer was complaining about the sheer lack of detail in our group's mandatory meeting minutes for the last hand-in...which was done by my leader)

I felt disgusted the entire time, but after all's said and done, I felt somewhat lighter and even a little pleased that at least some parts of the work were under my control.

We'll see how all these culminate for the upcoming group presentation...

UPDATES:
Now, we've finished all our pitch presentations.
What's left is to fill in the blanks on the feedback our lecturer gave us for each of the pitches, and assemble it all into a formal business plan report.

It's actually EASY since our lecturer's feedback basically handed us 60% of the right direction to move towards. I also got hold of a few business reports from seniors to learn how they planned their stuff, even though they wrote plans on different products and markets.

Today, my group leader WhatsApp-ed us:
"Can we start writing tomorrow Friday? "

I replied:
"Sure, great! We can start with the pitch on our Mission and Value Proposition, but we'll have to leave sustainability topics for next tutorial to hear from our tutor on. He's having extra classes on that."

Some team member:
"Guys I might fall behind schedule a bit (with college studies and other stuffs) if we were to start writing tomorrow...a lot's happening at my side..."

That filled me with FURY.

I don't give a rat's a$$ that you have something on...what in the f*ck are you gonna do about contributing?
Throughout the entire pitch progress, you f*cking slid through by taking the measely parts and doing them shittily- so that you wouldn't get rated as non-participating on the peer reviews!

And I can't remember a SINGLE TIME you gave us an idea that saved our work or added value!

Even in the last pitch presentation, you nearly missed the FAQ session for our Zoom call.
And you turned up looking like a drunkard with messy hair, and gave shitty answers that were EASILY ANSWERED just from participating actively in the work or even the research!

Plus, you are doing only a SINGLE MARKETING MAJOR. I'm doing a DOUBLE MAJOR in Finance and Analytics!
Who's supposed to be afraid of 'getting left behind'? Me? You?

(Hint: He didn't even take on any of our business presentation parts on marketing plans)

You say you have to work a job...
Do you know I have to entertain you folks while doing my copywriting jobs with tougher, meaner clients who could cut my pay anytime they see fit? Do you know how I had to fight brain-drain writing copy and tabulating data for our shameful pitches at the same time?

Work your job by all means, but if you let it compromise OUR group work, you might as well either quit the job or quit the unit.

And even if you can't come for the meeting, at least provide SOMETHING OF VALUE.
Something like a list of suggestions on how to fill in the feedback. You have ALL the lecturer comments downloaded into your Moodle, so you can go read and research on newer, refined ideas!

Don't just sit there and complain you gonna get left behind....PICK UP YOUR BRAIN AND USE IT.

Excuses...piss-sod time management...spoilt rat's a$$.

Just f*ck fresh graduates like him.
I kind of regret I didn't score him way lower for peer reviews.


TLDR: The reason why fresh graduates are paid peanuts is that employers know they CAN'T EVEN perform in doing industry-vital work- which also affects the pay raises on the promotional ladder.
And it's not college's fault...it's the graduates' decision to take on that attitude.

UPDATES ON THE CAPSTONE COLLEGE ASSIGNMENT
It's done and over with.
Happy to have submitted it in on time today.

Here's how my group assignment got wrapped up:
1. I start asking for meeting dates so everyone can change our slides materials to reflect our tutor's feedback, so that our final business report writing will be A LOT QUICKER and CORRECT

2. They hum and haw with garbage excuses like jobs, medical appointments, other unit presentations...as if the whole world has to wait for them.

"When to meet? We still have work to do here." I said.

We had a total of 8 meetings across 2 weeks before we had one more week to write the report.

Sometimes I sat in meetings that only had TWO people...either the group leader herself or someone else.
And then I had to type a wall of text on the WhatsApp and toss up comments all over our Google Slides to inform the MIA people of the changes to be done.

Sometimes the folks ended up POSTPONING the meeting they agreed they could all attend.
Here's how it happens:
Me: (Fights busy schedule, finishes own section for the week based on last meeting discussion, rushes to prep Zoom link for 5.30PM meeting)

Zoom meeting room: "crickets chirp"

Me on the group WhatsApp: "Are you there folks?"

Members: "crickets"

Leader: "Err....my family is being an a$$ to me and needs my help with errands, so can we postpone it to tomorrow."

Me: "Err....sure. As long you folks filled in your parts according to our lecturers' slides and feedback"

Next meeting comes...

Me: "WTF is this shit am I seeing on the slides! You...we talked about the Value Proposition last meeting. Why isn't it filled to reflect X and Y themes as agreed! You...sustainability concerns...WHY DID YOU ONLY WRITE NOTES ON THE COMMENTS. I TOLD YOU TO UPDATE YOUR SLIDES IN FULL. Am I supposed to molly-coddle you all like a hawk?!"

(while my group leader is like a dead duck somewhere...)

And for some reasons, there were many times when my group leader was absent...and I had to take the reins for group meetings.

I can understand being absent for sickness or unexpected events once in a while, but when you have one too many disruptions of any kinds in your schedule, you've got to step back and consider if your life's choices are simply f*cked up.

But that was one thing...

In one of the meetings, there was one member who showed up for our Zoom meeting, but contributed ZERO opinions or ideas as he was...get this...busy with another meeting (a job or another degree unit) at the same time.

When we spotted some updates he needed to make to his sections, we texted him on the chat.
He said, "OK, will do it."
And by next meeting, that end-work was trash...which needed me to rush in to repair.

Folks, please, here's Meeting Ethics 101:
1. Attend any meeting with 100% of your undivided attention, and divert all other programs FAR AWAY.
You go to meetings to get things done. Not just warm the F*cking screen!

2.When you give your word, fulfil it. That miserable member said he would 'become more participative' after the mid-terms, but he didn't. As a result, I no longer trust him anymore to ask him to edit his parts.

I've made sure his peer review won't be great.


One way or another, we managed to wrap up all 5 week's worth of content updates to transfer from the PowerPoint presentations to the business plan report...

I opened up a Microsoft 365 Word doc, invited them in, put up the frameworks for Table of Contents, headlines and my own delegated chapters (which I ALREADY finished ages ago).

I checked the marking rubric and realised we didn't present certain aspects of our business plan like Risk Mitigation, so we had no prior content for that.

So I filled the ENTIRE chapter in. Extra work, but no problemo!
Then sat down to wait for the others to write in their sections.

Everything then quickly became an orgy of F*ckery:
1. College students are somehow infected with 'big-write', where they will use 20 lines to discuss ONE MISERABLE IDEA.

Which means they don't understand or even care about the idea..and they want to mask it!

Examples from what I saw from my members' discussions in our business plan report:
Sustainability features? "Oh...its a new thing to companies...and we have to take advantage of it...we can use this to gain people's trust..."

Customer relationships? "Oh...we need human-centric customer service...we need to take their calls...we need to listen to them...we need to gain their trust"

This is a MOTHERFUCKING BUSINESS PLAN you dipshits!
Didn't you even attend the lectures? Read the extra articles the tutors put out?!
You think Elon Musk wants to hear that textbook shit at the pitch?

Don't talk theory...WRITE IN YOUR ACTION PLAN...STEP A, B, C, ESTIMATED RESULTS...DONE.

And we even discussed what our plan would be like...every A to Z in those past meetings!
So if you aren't writing them in, you either have a brain-stroke or demons have taken control of you.

And the grammatical errors? Cliche phrases? Poor table design?
I am happy to correct 1-2 of them, but when I have to check ENTIRE CHAPTERS for them?



2. As such, I had to race all across the entire report in the few days before the deadline, editing and even re-doing ENTIRE chapters from scratch. Like Emperor Aurelian fighting off the Parthians, the Gallics and the barbarians from one end of the Roman Empire to another.

Lost much sleep and sanity, but submitting such garbage was unthinkable.

I didn't even demand the others to help me edit...they'd just continue their shitty writing habits.


3. Two of the members wrote in FLAWED arguments that our tutor told us we had to remove from our report's content...this is what happens when you DON'T polish the PowerPoint presentation slides IN FULL.

Instead, you just half-heartedly toss in a few ideas from my lips into the Comments section, and when you sit down to do it, you have next to no idea what to correctly write into the report.


4. Around the last 10-15 hours, I discovered we didn't include sections like Advertising Cost breakdown and Sustainability measures for Value Proposition.

And no F*cking one noticed it? No one cared to check?!

Rushed in to fill them in time.

Thank goodness @Mutant advised me with a Lex nugget to keep my guard up and work hard even at the small details. If I had chosen to just 'do whatever they tell me to do', we would lose lots of marks for missing discussions no one thought to find out.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I could rant more in detail over how MOST of the members (I appreciated one of them who helped with the accounting...he did a great job) gave a shit display of their lack of writing and elaborative skills.

But I won't.

Yet, the thing that nearly made me a murderer was when I was still wrapping up with fixing the last of the garbage, I got a text from one of them:

"Can we submit the report already?"

That girl sounded just like an uncle who asks you for money, right after you sold your company for millions.

I didn't say anything. I simply finished what I was writing, wrote an update log for the WhatsApp to tell them what I edited or corrected, and then cut off more points from her peer review.

It sickens me there are people out there who are already lazy, calculative and un-motivated from young.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking back at it all, there are many things I could have done to mitigate the teamwork crap, and to even psychologically persuade the folks to put out more effort.

But even if I did those, I would be still working with barren soil.

This final-year group project has left my faith in the young generation shaken, let alone the college graduate folks.

One half of my brain screams, 'I want my time back! I wasted it on this crap college project!'

The other half says, 'You'll run into crap people and projects in real-life anyway. Just work hard to build up the means to one day never need to bend over again.'

Now, with only a few online exams left for my degree....I'll go back to my copywriting practices and email project.

TLDR: F*ck group assignments that are infested with lazy, un-innovative, undisciplined, half-hearted kids.
God deliver the professors who have to grade the shitty business plan reports such kids churn out, as well as the sane-minded kids (like me) who have to do midnight work to bail them out.

 

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[YanC]

I don't know when the last time was that you used Linux. It has come quite far. I remember the days when it needed days of tweaking before even running properly. These days, it works OOTB and leaves few questions unanswered. And has great UI, too.

Certain distributions have reached a level of sophistication and user-friendliness that I'd recommend it to n00bs over Windows anytime. And when it comes to Apple, I can only say what I always used to say: Their stuff just runs, but you pay far more than the price tag.

Try Linux Mint, give it a shot.

Thanks for the tips, I'm gonna try it out as I'm feeling more and more concerned privacy wise. Already moved away from Gmail, Google calendar, WhatsApp (partly), Chrome and others... Mint looks really cool and most of what I need seems to run on it (except for Adobe products, but there are very good opensource alternatives).

The hardest part is obviously the phone, but nothing is perfect hey. Better to do something than nothing for not having a 100% bulletproof solution (yet).

 

[Andy Black]

I like that term, “trip wire.” Much cooler than “funnel”

I thought trip wires were part of booby traps.

 

[socaldude]

Turns out the identifiers are so unique, Apple knows when you’re at work, at home or elsewhere. And that information doesn’t just stay with Apple. It’s shared.

I wouldn’t worry too much about Apple. They are more privacy oriented than other big companies. I would worry more about the big utility companies like ATT and the government. Back in 2003 when they passed the patriot act they made them install splitter cabinets that pretty much gives the government access to all your data.

Off the top of my head here is an interesting declaration I found that kind of details this.

https://www.clearinghouse.net/chDocs/public/NS-CA-0004-0013.pdf

Although haven’t looked into it much, I think ATT was sued recently for selling your location data when your cell phone connects to a cell phone tower. But yeah it’s been happening for a long time. The only way to truly be location private is to not use a cell phone at all lol.

But yeah you have zero rights and privacy. That’s been long gone. Its a matter of principle, it’s not that anybody is doing anything wrong.

 

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[SkyLake]

"It turns out that in the current version of the macOS, the OS sends to Apple a hash (unique identifier) of each and every program you run, when you run it."

Jeffrey Paul: Your Computer Isn't Yours

But Apple doesn't log your IP, so they have no idea who used a particular program. Such a sensationalized blog post. There are big problems in privacy but this isn't one of them.

For instance, worry more about iOS devices, because now there everything you do is logged by the app developer - where you opened the app, how long did you use it for, what did you click... literally everything.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

If anyone is around legalized gambling and wants the easiest money ever made, take the Seattle Seahawks to cover the spread on Thursday night against the Arizona Cardinals. If I was in Vegas, I'd be making a big bet.

per the constitution.

LOL, what's that?

 

[lowtek]

Yeah, no internet, no spying. I have an iPhone, I’m not sure if the same spying that takes place in macOS is in iOS. For my PC I have dual booted Windows and Linux. I almost never use Windows unless absolutely necessary, but that is a rare occurrence. I do need to get a VPN though... Linux + good VPN is the way to go.

Smart TVs also present a problem, luckily my TV is about 6 years old and dumb. I’ve seen people running Raspberry Pi’s that essentially block outgoing packets to blacklisted domains. Pretty cool solution.

If you run Linux, then you should definitely get a VPS and set up your own VPN. There's zero reason to trust any of the paid services.

 

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[Primeperiwinkle]

I need an app or video subscription that gives me a new jiu jitsu move each time. Just one move slow, explained, practiced. Anybody got any ideas on that? I’m sick of not being in the gym and I can only practice shrimping and doing choke holds on my man for so long. Hehehe. Seriously tho. Help me. Please.

 

[LordGanon]

My archery trainer said something to me that stuck with me and seems to apply to a lot of things.

"The first time you hit the target, it's luck. The second time you hit the target, it's chance. The third time you hit the target: It's skill."