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[zhijinghaofromchina]

Less citizens have come to my uni today . But there are still very many kids.
My school might be a kindergarten, a public restaurant and a park. I will understand .

[Frumple]

I mean, hell, you got a pile of kids on campus, rope the little buggers into the classes. Might as well start the 101 courses young if they're going to be around anyway.

[King Zultan]

Been getting those 504 errors on the forum today, not sure what that's about.

[hector13]

Google: no adult content on YouTube

Also Google: here, buy these sex toys with bleeped but obvious references to sex acts before you can skip the ad.

[da_nang]

For some reason, my curiosity was piqued by the lunar phases of March on my paper calendar. It's showing that it would take twice as long in March to reach full moon from half moon than it would take to reach half moon from new moon.

I briefly wondered what eldritch orbital shenanigans could cause that before I verified online that the calendar is, in fact, wrong.

Either I deftly aborted the nerd snipe, or times are about to get quite interesting.

[McTraveller]

Nabisco is changing the recipe of their cookies, claiming it is "improved."

Not that I really buy that many of these, but shouldn't the consumer be the one to decide which is better?  I remember when they changed the Oreo recipe, and I never buy them any more.

It's like software companies giving forced updates - no I don't want UI changes on top of those security patches. I liked the old UI better, thanks!

I'm getting old and tired of this crap. 

[Robot Parade Leader]

Today I learned that some older people in the US are now selecting a Private Medicare Plan because of a "grocery allowance," because they can't afford food.

Original Medicare does not cover this, because it's not healthcare. "Part C" Plans, which I was told by someone I trust are private HMOs can, and it looks like it is actually worse than what you think.
Apparently, private insurance companies are gobbling up Medicare by convincing old people to switch to their private Part C thing so they can corner the market, by bribing them with food to eat....

What does all this mean (or what I was told this means):
First off, this is "bread and circuses."  (never good).
Second, for this to work, there has to be a large bunch of people who can't afford food....
Third, we have such a bad safety net in the U.S.A. that the old people don't have enough food.
Fourth, several of these individuals oppose "welfare," but this is basically privatized (partly subsidized by the government) welfare
Fifth, those private insurance plans prefer insuring healthy people and leaving the really sick ones on the old government Medicare (more profit, and the sickest don't get the food).
Sixth, this trick is working in somehow not getting all the old people mad at someone messing with their Medicare, basically because they have to eat.

Bottom line: What dystopian timeline are we in where there are enough people who just don't have enough food  in the US to make this happen while also screwing Medicare?
Sidenote compared to all the people who can't afford to eat, but I've been paying into Medicare my whole life like anybody else. I sober up and find this is how it is going?

[EuchreJack]

Private Medicare Plans have been caught outright lying to senior citizens to choose their plans, so the elderly that pick those plans won't even get the food.

The Cake Is A Lie

[Robot Parade Leader]

O I agree they've totally lied, and that's bad. Somehow these things are becoming more and more popular/widespread.

But, there's that and then there's "bribe the starving old people with food to get away with doing evil things," as just another level of wrong.

[Frumple]

Food scarcity (either due to outright lack or malnutrition) is an issue in swaths of the US, yeah. It's worse for people on fixed income (this is mostly elderly and/or retired, some disabled). It's extra worse for people on fixed income that have trouble navigating various means of assistance that exists for the issue for one reason or another (elderly, disabled). Those demographics are also the ones most preyed upon and most likely to fall for various sorts of scams, include healthcare related.

Bribe the (starving or otherwise) old people with X is a thriving market in the US, frankly. It is another level of wrong. The efforts, actual fraud and otherwise, targeting the elderly in this country is as goddamn disgusting as they are prevalent.

I'm still getting fucking junk mail targeting my grandparents with that shit, two years after they both died.

I'm generally, like, really understanding about the circumstances that can lead someone to doing that kind of thing in order to make a living, but... there's also a great deal of me that really wishes I could get my hands around the necks of every single one of those fuckers and squeeze until they stop being anyone's problem. Not something I'd recommend on a policy level but on the personal one there is well over a decade of cultivated hate in my heart for the folks that target elderly specifically due to them being generally easier to deceive.

[Robot Parade Leader]

Yeah, it's basically incredibly predatory and for some reason it works and is tolerated (e.g. if they wanted to crack down on shady scam businesses they could). I'm more sympathetic to the poor bastards who are just employees of such messes, because if their bosses ran a legit business they would have a halfway decent job instead. However, this is the "opportunity" for the employee to keep food on their table... by exploiting those without food on theirs. Sure it's not ok, but the boss is worse than the employee here. One would hope there was better out there....

Instead, there's food insecurity and those preying on it in a country where there is abundance, but most just don't have it/can't "earn it"/can't get it even though a generation ago they could. Somehow this is how it is and it shouldn't be. There's no solution and the proposed solutions appear to be well dressed long cons/scams. WTF indeed.

[Frumple]

I mean... as far as I'm aware there was still a pretty big problem on that front a generation ago. Not too far back was the friggin' great depression, and while things got better on that front in the interim there was still pretty big gaps in coverage that never really went away. Things have gotten a bit worse in the last couple of decades for reasons varied (from wage stagnation and whatnot, to the unending assault on social safety nets, to the significant improvements in communication infrastructure making it easier to target the vulnerable en masse), but it's not a new problem. It's just become easier to do, easier to notice, and less of a taboo to talk about, blech.

[Robot Parade Leader]

I dunno man. It feels like it is worse. Also, screwing over Medicare via food insecurity? <----- That's sure new. There were no "grocery allowances" 10 years ago, or even 5..

Job Interview:

I got a job interview couple days ago. This was remote through laptop. Panel consisted of Senior Executive (top person, 40, M), Senior Supervisor (2nd tier 46, F), and person on the level I was applying for (34, F).

I had 20 minutes to answer 10 questions.... Somehow I got them all with 15 seconds to spare. After that there was a 5 minute wrap up for any questions I might have.

I aced the first 6 questions out of the park and provided tons of relevant examples with positive outcomes backed up by showing them actual awards I had won at work for performance (holding up the award to the camera) including the most recent this year.  The final four questions I did pretty ok with and followed in the same vein as the first 6, but they were out of left field so I wasn't as composed/got slightly animated (but not bad in my opinion). Kind of a .... wow I don't know facial expression for a completely screwball question out of nowhere followed by a pretty good answer.


The Senior Executive (top person) was friendly, asked me questions about my current job's performance metrics (while I was answering timed questions that I aced) and laughed, including into his hand while bending over/trying to hide the fact that he was laughing. This did not alter my behavior. I responded that nothing he expected of me would be a problem because honestly I have higher numbers here.

I leaned towards the screen to answer one question and the Senior Executive did the same and said, "We'll be sure to contact you soon," with a laughing smile.


The Senior Supervisor (2nd tier) repeatedly looked impressed with that sort of stretched face of surprise look with a bit of a nod some have.

Person on the level I was applying for. She didn't ask questions off script.

I got all the technical questions right and even the workplace relationship questions. The only thing I'm worried about are my mannerisms being somewhat too relaxed rather than the stoic sort of stiff thing you usually see in job interviews.

I guess it comes down to was the senior executive being sincere or a total jerk with their laugh/comment about contacting me. I am super qualified for this job with like 10 years of experience. So I'm just turning that over in my head. I do this job already but this place is actually sane/getting here is the next step on getting to a better place in life (if I get it). I still say 20 minutes to answer 10 questions with highly technical answers and no warning of what the questions might be would lead anyone to be a little off their game. Pop quiz you had no chance to study for, let's see if you can have this job............. I already do this job basically, just for someone else.

[nenjin]

As someone who has been going through the hiring process with my CEO and Director of Operations present for all interviews....(I'm the manager for the position they're hiring for.)

I'd say it's a good sign the CEO is warm and human? My boss laughed constantly during interviews as I (and we) acknowledged some of our own shortcomings to potential hires. We do everything by the seat of our pants here, we're a small company and we are pretty transparent about who we are: we figure it out as we go. He actually kind of resents the fact I don't have a good poker face. I'm a "lay all my cards on the table" kind of person.

You can never really know a company's culture until you get there. That your actual direct supervisor stuck to the script could mean a lot of things; I know I feel a little undercut by my own CEO when he takes over half the conversation during the interview. Maybe she was feeling some of that.

But I can tell you from my perspective....someone who is genuinely earnest AND has specific answers to technical questions gets my approval. I saw everything from randos who had almost no tech experience trying to get their foot in the door, to people with 10+ years experience, to one guy who showed up to his interview hung over.

The ones we went with were the ones that had actual technical experience and could speak to specifics, and who were relaxed and nerdy enough we felt they would fit with our company culture.

So it reads like you're doing ok. Don't overthink it. And don't put all your eggs in one basket. Hiring is like dating; both sides can be flakey and it's important not to stake too much emotional wellbeing on outcomes because things are unpredictable.

I think you'll know if you're a strong candidate in their eyes if they call you back for an in-person interview. That's how we're doing it. But we're also not coming up with a battery of technical questions people have to get through in a set amount of time. I hate that shit in tech. It has its place if you're hiring for a programmer, for sure. But I don't like and wouldn't appreciate the whole hotseat thing: interviews can be stressful enough.

Good luck!

[Great Order]

Almost three decades on this Earth, and I'm only just realising I might have ADHD.