xkcd

by **Gear** » Wed Feb 08, 2012 1:48 pm UTC

ISHTST Your drug educator should know what his figures mean and how they were found.

by **eaglewings51** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 12:55 am UTC

Menacing Spike wrote:
eaglewings51 wrote:
Menacing Spike wrote:
eaglewings51 wrote:No, I do not love my boyfriend with my spleen.

Kamasutra - Forbidden Chapters.

I've never read that.

I was just implying it sounded like some arcane and dangerous sexual technique.

Oh, ok. Not that I'm aware of. :lol:

by **MiB24601** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:37 am UTC

I Shouldn't Have To Say This: Yes, the intern screwed up. They're interns, what do you expect? Does the mistake hurt us? Yes. Can we live with it? Absolutely. We're professionals and that means that we're prepared in case mistakes happen. It's time to move on and to stop focusing on the mistake. And let's call off the hunt for the intern. They're not going to be fired, that's just ridiculous. In conclusion, let's move on and remember to let interns be interns.

by **firechicago** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 4:06 am UTC

Y'know, I realize that as a monolingual American, I shouldn't complain about foreigners' English, but still:

ISHTST: If you're applying for a fellowship at an English-language institution, you really don't want your CV to read:

"Languages:
English: Read Good Write Good Speak Good"

Also:

ISHTST:

GOOD: Doing some reasearch so that you can address the cover letter applying for an internship to someone specific.

BAD: Ignoring the person who the internship announcement said to send the email to, and addressing the email to someone else. Or sending email to john.doe@fancycollege.edu and begining it with "Dear Professor Joe Blow."

by **SurgicalSteel** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 4:18 am UTC

On the same topic:

* No matter how good you are at something, don't claim you're the best in the nation at it.
* Don't claim that you've been an expert at a particular technology for the past 15 years when that technology has only been around for 5 years.
* Don't use the word "kick-ass" in your CV.
* Don't include your homoerotic World of Warcraft fan-art in your art portfolio that you're sending to a non-erotica software team.

by **Gellert1984** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 12:06 pm UTC

SurgicalSteel wrote:* Don't include your homoerotic World of Warcraft fan-art in your art portfolio that you're sending to a non-erotica software team.

A little bit of useless information for you.

Neil Gaiman of Sandman fame was at a convention, a fan asked him to sign a hand drawn picture of Death, y'kno, in the buff. He did so and asked for the name of the artist. A few hours later the artist (who's name I don't recall and don't have time right now to look up) found herself talking to Neil, he brings up the picture and offers her a job...

by **SecondTalon** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 5:14 pm UTC

... there's a gigantic world of difference between something like the last several panels of this (Probably not NSFW, but it is a webcomic and has guys in just loincloths) and .. well, something like Oglaf here. (Yeah, NSFW at all. Features two Gladiators getting to know each other really, really well)

Given SurgicalSteel's rant, I'm on the assumption that what was received was less Cheesecake or even Erotica and instead more on the Pornographic side of the scale. So less like my first link, more like the second.

by **SurgicalSteel** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 2:05 am UTC

What SexyTalon said. Also, it's one thing when you know your audience, or if you're presenting the image to get it signed and the person happens to like it so much they hire you. It's another thing entirely when you're sending it to a review committee (in this case, it wasn't actually a software dev team, it was a grad school program, but it's similar). The reason that story about Neil Gaiman is known at all is because it doesn't happen that often. Applying directly to someone like Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker or Frank Miller would be vastly different than applying to some company that makes Facebook games or a grad program that spits out software engineers and technical artists, where no nudity is even an explicit rule for capstone projects.

by **Plasma Man** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 2:11 pm UTC

ISHTST: It doesn't matter if the toilet bowl isn't clean. You're going to shit in it.

by **Bijan** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 7:16 pm UTC

ISHTST: If you want to show that two collectives of people arrived, on average, at the same time of the day, please don't visualize this by a diagram consisting of

a) on the x-axis, the name of the group (this isn't the bad part)
b) on the y-axis, time from 0:00 - 23:59 (this, however, is)
c) two vertical bars "up" to the respective average time of arrival

I can't even think of a more useless and mis-informative way to present this. I'm not even complaining about using a bar chart to compare two points of data, which is useless in itself.
The idea of averaging over something like absolute time on an arbitrary scale, well, I'm sure that didn't cause any problems. When one person arrived at 1:00 and one at 23:00, that absolutely doesn't give you nonsensical results if you don't keep track of which half of the day it actually was because, you know, time of the day kind of wraps around!
And the plotting these two almost certainly miscalculated values as bars - I honestly looked at the chart for half a minute before I could figure it out, apparently my brain tries to filter this kind of crime against data.
That this "average" was to show that both collectives had more or less the same distribution over the day is simply mindblowing.

The worst thing is, showing this data in a beautiful kind of way would be so easy: Draw two circles, divide them into intervals representing the temporal resolution you want to have, number the whole-hour-segments around the circle, then color the segments in grayscale corresponding to the number of people arriving at the time.
Hey, you could even make two circles for each group, and number them clockwise from 1 to 12! Because, you know, thats totally a clock.

by **SlyReaper** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 7:23 pm UTC

Plasma Man wrote:ISHTST: It doesn't matter if the toilet bowl isn't clean. You're going to shit in it.

ISHTST: Unclean toilet bowls smell.

by **Ashlah** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 7:48 pm UTC

And look utterly disgusting. A toilet can look so gross inside that I would be uncomfortable shitting in it.

by **Plasma Man** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 8:46 pm UTC

The toilet wasn't unclean to the point of being smelly or looking disgusting, this was someone complaining about it not being spotlessly clean.

by **Giant Speck** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 8:52 pm UTC

Those spots are gonna judge your shit.

by **jillton** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 7:44 pm UTC

Me: "Who was that phone-call for?"
Intern: "Andy... Who's that?"
Me: "He's the overall boss... Who was looking for him?"
Intern: "They didn't say."
Me: "You didn't ask?"
Intern: "No..."
Me: "Okay then, did they say what they were calling about?"
Intern: "No..."
Me: "Alright then..."
Intern: hands me a scrap of paper torn from a notebook "Here's their number..."

I would have been just as frustrated if this had not been from an intern...

EDIT: I just rememberd this one!
When applying for an intern/work experience position, do not begin your cover letter/email that has your C.V attached to it with "Hiya :-)

" I wish I was making that one up, I really do!

by **Elvish Pillager** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 2:43 am UTC

jillton wrote:When applying for an intern/work experience position, do not begin your cover letter/email that has your C.V attached to it with "Hiya " I wish I was making that one up, I really do!

You're just an old grump who isn't hip to the lingo. Smilies in cover letters are all the rage!

On a more serious note, if I was hiring, that person would get a couple of points in my book for not bowing to established norms of Serious Business. I'd still judge them on the merits of their CV, obviously, but with a bit of intangible favor in the lens through which I view it. I'd rather work with someone who says "Hiya :-)

" than someone who's overly formal.

by **jillton** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 7:53 pm UTC

I dunno, the person was about 16 so yep that's the lingo they use, but they should have maybe sussed out a bit about the company before sending that in.

It wasn't my call anyway, my supervisor deleted the email immediately, but not before telling everyone in the office and keeping it as evidence for those who didn't believe her.

I agree with you re: not bowing to norms etc, but this was lack of awareness of how to approach a potential employer more than a clever move on their part. A smiley face on your cover letter doesn't give the employer the impression that you're the most serious person, interview could be the time to show a sense of humour rather than turning the employer off.

It also didn't help that the cover note was about 2 lines long and riddled with spelling mistakes...

by **Dream** » Tue Feb 28, 2012 8:03 pm UTC

jillton wrote:my supervisor deleted the email immediately

If your supervisor is deleting work related communications because they don't like smileys, they aren't good enough at their job to be so judgemental

by **Hofstadter'sLaw** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 5:28 am UTC

ISHTST: It’s not cool for you to assume that since I work part time you can volunteer me to do a larger portion of the group project. (I work a few hours short of full time, and why should work schedules dictate how much of the project we do anyway?)

by **Menacing Spike** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 5:37 pm UTC

To many communities: people, experiencing discrimination is no excuse to be complete dickshits.

To 4chan: yes, it's a picture of a black dude and a watermelon/chicken. The pinnacle of humor! But you know, while racist jokes can be funny, not all racist "jokes" are funny. Now could you please produce decent content? Why do I even come here anymore?

by **Adam H** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 7:39 pm UTC

Dream wrote:
jillton wrote:my supervisor deleted the email immediately

If your supervisor is deleting work related communications because they don't like smileys, they aren't good enough at their job to be so judgemental

ISHTST: When the "work related communication" is a request for a steady supply of money, and the choice to accept that request is a judgement call, then the supervisor can be as judgemental as they want.

by **Hyphe** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 12:30 pm UTC

If you're not getting on the bus, don't stand in a confused daze directly in front of the doors. Move out of the way.

If you are getting on the bus, don't push past the heavily pregnant lady who is trying to corral two toddlers. Let them get on first.

by **Kewangji** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 12:34 pm UTC

On the other hand, if you are the bus, you're doing a great job. Keep being all big and red and stuff.

by **Mumpy** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 12:46 pm UTC

Dem Wheels, Dey go round and round.

by **OBrien** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 3:06 pm UTC

Kewangji wrote:On the other hand, if you are the bus, you're doing a great job. Keep being all big and red and stuff.

Brummy buses are mostly white with a bit of red. I sure do miss them solid red London buses...

by **darknut** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 11:06 pm UTC

for skiers/snowboarders
yes, it is wide run
no that doesnt mean you should take up all of it

by **Ptolom** » Fri Mar 09, 2012 11:34 pm UTC

OBrien wrote:
Kewangji wrote:On the other hand, if you are the bus, you're doing a great job. Keep being all big and red and stuff.

Brummy buses are mostly white with a bit of red. I sure do miss them solid red London buses...

Even though we only had red buses here when I was very young, I still don't really trust them in any other colour.

by **Plasma Man** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 6:20 pm UTC

Fun fact: I went to university in Staffordshire, and the bus company was called Potteries Motor Transport. On their buses, they had notices reading "Thank you for travelling with PMT".

by **Gellert1984** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 11:34 am UTC

ISHTST: knocking on the side door doesn't bypass the 'no canvassers' sign, I'm aware it's only on the front door but it applies to the whole house.

by **darknut** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 8:04 pm UTC

your roommate gets mail delivered here too. shocker. so maybe check who its adressed to before you open it

by **MiB24601** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 10:24 pm UTC

If you're trying to motivate me to work harder, don't do it by trying to frighten me by telling me how far behind I'm falling compared to everyone else. I'm talking to all those same people and I know what they are actually doing. To be far, this is motivating but not so much to work harder as it is motivating me to find a way so I never have to talk to you ever again.

by **Nautilus** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 2:20 am UTC

Drinking formaldehyde is bad.

No, seriously.

by **nerd-7hi+42e** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:28 pm UTC

" 'Science' is spelt with two c's and two e's. You just spelt 'since.' "

"The fact that the particle tracks on my poster are blue does not mean that particles are, in fact, blue. No, even if you zoom in on them. Particles don't even have colors to speak of. This was made by a computer. No, that does not make this any less accurate."

"Pyramids are not found exclusively in Egypt."

This isn't something I ever dealt with, but my mom told me about it:
"That thing that comes out of your tower is not a cup-holder. It is a CD drive."

by **emceng** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 12:50 pm UTC

1) Drunkenly telling someone, in front of their date, they're getting laid tonight does not help them.

2) Just because my department is primarily men of active stature does not mean we're the movers for the whole building. We've got jobs to do too.

by **Chen** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 6:57 pm UTC

emceng wrote:1) Drunkenly telling someone, in front of their date, they're getting laid tonight does not help them.

I've seen situations where this can actually help, but yeah for the most part its probably not a good idea.

by **Plasma Man** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 2:22 pm UTC

You didn't want to eat the chocolate brownies, so you asked me to take them away and eat them. That's why I ate them.

by **darknut** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 10:58 pm UTC

generalized due to relavence in many scenarios

when i ask if you could do [menial task] instead of me for once, your rebuttal is; youre the one that always preforms [menial task] therefore youre the one that should continue to preform [menial task]. that is logical fallacy and just ... stupid excuse!

on the same note. if [menial task] is actually not so menial and is made easier by my experiance at [task], thats a good reason for why you should do it.
so one day when im not there to do [task] for you, instead of wondering what to do you can preform [task], with some degree of competency

turned into a bit of a ~~rant~~ pant

by **The Scyphozoa** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 5:38 pm UTC

Do not assume that a voice actor is the same actor as some other role, because you CAN'T SEE THEM. You gotta look that shit up before you state it as fact.

by **gingermrkettle** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 4:47 pm UTC

If you can describe your job including the words "youtube", "app" and "recipe" and you consider it a major impactor on your lifestyle that you can't find a pilates class of the right standard at a convenient time, the chances are that you aren't stressed.

by **Link** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 5:50 pm UTC

gingermrkettle wrote:If you can describe your job including the words "youtube", "app" and "recipe" and you consider it a major impactor on your lifestyle that you can't find a pilates class of the right standard at a convenient time, the chances are that you aren't stressed.

That depends entirely on the person and the circumstances. Other people can experience crippling levels of stress from things you might find quite relaxed.

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