Random thoughts 1: Just Sayin'

[Borachio]

I know someone who claims to be "just nothing". Doesn't ever give it a moment's thought.

A bit like me and cricket, football and golf.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Working as a grocery stocker seems to have given me some insights on gender inequalities in the labor market. The store I work at employs nearly 250 people. There are as many females as males. However, the distribution is skewed. Females mostly work front of house, at cash lanes and service kiosks. Males overwhelmingly predominate in the areas not seen by customers. Upper management consists of the store manager and three assistant managers. All are male. This also seems to the case for the various departments. The potential explanation for this is a difference in accumulated experience. Moving product from the back to the front familiarizes you with the layout, logistics, merchandise, employees, and equipment of the store. You also need to interact with customers who approach you. For the front of house, they generally tend to stay at their service locations, only occasionally going around to return products to shelves. This decreased diversity of experience and contacts would lead to reduced chances for promotion.

 

[Farm Boy]

Shouldn't things like black curtains and aluminum foil make the room hotter, since they absorb light rather than reflect it?

Foil has a shiny side that will reflect and a duller side that absorbs, shiny side out! It works very well if you don't mind looking like you are addicted to heroin. Which is pretty much what I would assume if your windows are covered in foil.

One can adjust to the sun making your sleepy instead of awake, it's just annoying and you probably have to work nights. Had a couple years where getting into a hot car in the sun would get my head dipping nearly immediately unless I rolled down the windows and bounced around a lot to keep myself awake.

 

[shadowplay]

Hmm. Mylar is great for reflecting light. It's what highway signs are typically made of.

 

[Synobun]

Do we have a thread for TV shows we're watching?

 

[shadowplay]

I seem to recall one. Not sure if here or A&E.

Here we are https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/what-television-shows-are-you-watching.551843/

 

[The_J]

IIRC someone here had bought a memory foam cover for his/her bed, do I remember that right?
How much was that?
Considering to buy one too.
Well...actually not really. I just bought 2 new mattresses, but bought them too hard. The shop will not exchange them (despite being unpacked). So my options are either selling them (uh...that'll be a loss), or using them, like with a cover (that'll also cost money).
So right now trying to figure out which way might be the one with less loss.

 

[Borachio]

Ah. I recently looked into buying one. They vary greatly in price though. £50 to £250, iirc.

You get what you pay for, I guess. Certainly a lot less than a bed.

And then I went and didn't get one.

 

[shadowplay]

How are you supposed to pronounce "Geoff"? Don't the English typically pronounce it "Jeff"? I've recently heard someone pronouncing it "Gee-off" and it's making me question everything I've ever learned about anything ever.

 

[Synobun]

How are you supposed to pronounce "Geoff"? Don't the English typically pronounce it "Jeff"? I've recently heard someone pronouncing it "Gee-off" and it's making me question everything I've ever learned about anything ever.

I've heard it pronounced both Jeff and Joff.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I've heard it pronounced both Jeff and Joff.

Jeff. The only time I ever heard "Joff" was in the SCA when one individual's persona was known as "St. Geoffery of the Hot Tub" (pronounced "Joffery"). The story behind this was that a guy whose SCA name was Geoffery (of somewhere/the something/last name - I never did hear the rest of his name) brought a hot tub to a fighting event so the fighters could relax after a hard day's fighting. The attending royalty was so impressed that the formerly ordinary Geoffrey was granted his new title during court.

 

[Farm Boy]

I've recently heard someone pronouncing it "Gee-off"

All I can think of from this is 0:48 on the below clip. Not safe for work! Srsly.

Spoiler nsfw :

 

[warpus]

IIRC someone here had bought a memory foam cover for his/her bed, do I remember that right?
How much was that?
Considering to buy one too.
Well...actually not really. I just bought 2 new mattresses, but bought them too hard. The shop will not exchange them (despite being unpacked). So my options are either selling them (uh...that'll be a loss), or using them, like with a cover (that'll also cost money).
So right now trying to figure out which way might be the one with less loss.

I got one from costco for something like $100 - $200 CDN. I can't remember the exact price now, it was a couple years ago.

I remember it being (relatively) cheap though, so I think it was just over $100 or so.

 

[Arakhor]

Just like the spelling Jeffrey would imply, Geoffrey has a single vowel sound at the start. I believe the eo comes from its original French to avoid a hard goff sound instead.

In case you're interested, Geoffrey is a cognate of Gottfried and presumably entered English with the Norman Conquest.

 

[Takhisis]

Working as a grocery stocker seems to have given me some insights on gender inequalities in the labor market. The store I work at employs nearly 250 people. There are as many females as males. However, the distribution is skewed. Females mostly work front of house, at cash lanes and service kiosks. Males overwhelmingly predominate in the areas not seen by customers. Upper management consists of the store manager and three assistant managers. All are male. This also seems to the case for the various departments. The potential explanation for this is a difference in accumulated experience. Moving product from the back to the front familiarizes you with the layout, logistics, merchandise, employees, and equipment of the store. You also need to interact with customers who approach you. For the front of house, they generally tend to stay at their service locations, only occasionally going around to return products to shelves. This decreased diversity of experience and contacts would lead to reduced chances for promotion.

Perhaps it has to do with males being usually larger and stronger, better for doing heavy lifting, while storer owners prefers a few pretty helpful girls to engage with the customers?

 

[Farm Boy]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/21/health/vaccines-illness-european-court-bn/index.html

This seem weird as hell, or overblown article writing to people who know more? Seems sort of in keeping with how I'm used to Europe treating Ag, but I always just figured that was standard trade policy scuffles. Does that angle work here too? Assuming the article isn't full of crap, of course.

 

[Borachio]

Reminds me of the tobacco companies who maintained forever more that there was no scientific proof that smoking was responsible for any individual's case of lung cancer.

I'm not sure that they don't still.

 

[shadowplay]

What happens if you microwave something with the door open? Can it cause harm?

 

[Samson]

What happens if you microwave something with the door open? Can it cause harm?

Most (all working?) microwaves will not work unless the door is closed. If your microwave is broken such that it can turn on it can be dangerous, though not as likely fatal as I had thought, see wiki and snopes.

 

[Borachio]

1. You shouldn't be able to turn it on with the door open.
2. If you did manage to, the microwaves would heat anything nearby up. It has to be fairly close, though, as the energy supplied diminishes by the inverse square law.
3. You might manage to burn your hand, but you'd pretty quickly move it away.

That's my guess, anyway.