Randomness XVII: The Madness of the Quorum

[sumbloke]

5 hours ago, sumbloke said:

Came across a new YouTube channel today - Duplessy & the Violins of the World. It's an ensemble consisting of guitar, Chinese erhu, Mongolian horsehair and Swedish nyckelharpa. Very nice combination. 

 

We came across it because SWMBO had a random thought - "I wonder if there's a Chinese orchestra version of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly..."

https://youtu.be/AZdsp3t46m4

 

And a collaboration they did with some Australian Aborigines: https://youtu.be/nwN_bxoj1Fw

[ManvsMini]

Timeline Trivia for Feb. 20th:

• 1816 – Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville premiered at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.

• 1877 – Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake received its premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

[haldir]

[Cranky Dog]

13 hours ago, MusicalFeline said:

Anyone from "Getting to Know You" already knows this, but you can now Rickroll people in 4K, 60fps.

 

The fact that technology can do that utterly floors me, just sayin'.

Now it looks "too" good.

 

What amazes me is that the remastered version now looks like an amateur's Tik Tok video.

[Pegazus]

Tax rant incoming!

 

Did taxes yesterday afternoon. And then until 11pm. TurboTax had some weird errors that took me a long time to fix. Deleted everything and restarted twice. Then come to review time and it would just hang. Clearing cache and cookies didn’t work, and obviously restarting didn’t. When it brought in last years stuff, it decided to not delete some 1099-NEC forms that I told it to delete. Finally found out that it was these forms when I managed to get it to work the state taxes. 


Then, late last night, I got to the final form portion. Line 4a was blank but Line 4b was massive (2 inheritances this last year). Then Line 5a was massive and Line 5b was small. So it has to be an error give all the hell I’d been put through in the afternoon. Software is putting numbers in wrong places. Lines 1-3 worked that way. Foreshadowing! Got a specialist on a call, and she couldn’t see the form and suggested I delete the 1099-R forms that I felt were leading to the problem and try again. Politely said thanks and I won’t repeat what I was saying inside. Debated whether to start over or just hit File.

 

Instead, I decided to read the instructions. No, not TurboTax’s. The IRS instructions for Line 4a. Three minutes. That’s all it took to have an answer. Perfectly normal to have that line blank. Grr. 
 

But taxes are done and efile has accepted the Federal ones. That final tax number was horrifically high this year, due to getting the family money. Probably could have rolled it all over into IRAs and starved the government coffers a bit. But that money is out working in corporate America now and making sure lil’ children graduate with no college loans, so it works for me. But I had to do the math. It’s a complete distortion as I didn’t work for most of this year’s “income”, but I wound up paying $45 per hour in taxes. That’s 3 times what I paid the year before. That’s a lot.

[haldir]

6 minutes ago, Pegazus said:

Tax rant incoming!

 

 

  Hide contents

 

 

Did taxes yesterday afternoon. And then until 11pm. TurboTax had some weird errors that took me a long time to fix. Deleted everything and restarted twice. Then come to review time and it would just hang. Clearing cache and cookies didn’t work, and obviously restarting didn’t. When it brought in last years stuff, it decided to not delete some 1099-NEC forms that I told it to delete. Finally found out that it was these forms when I managed to get it to work the state taxes. 


Then, late last night, I got to the final form portion. Line 4a was blank but Line 4b was massive (2 inheritances this last year). Then Line 5a was massive and Line 5b was small. So it has to be an error give all the hell I’d been put through in the afternoon. Software is putting numbers in wrong places. Lines 1-3 worked that way. Foreshadowing! Got a specialist on a call, and she couldn’t see the form and suggested I delete the 1099-R forms that I felt were leading to the problem and try again. Politely said thanks and I won’t repeat what I was saying inside. Debated whether to start over or just hit File.

 

Instead, I decided to read the instructions. No, not TurboTax’s. The IRS instructions for Line 4a. Three minutes. That’s all it took to have an answer. Perfectly normal to have that line blank. Grr. 
 

But taxes are done and efile has accepted the Federal ones. That final tax number was horrifically high this year, due to getting the family money. Probably could have rolled it all over into IRAs and starved the government coffers a bit. But that money is out working in corporate America now and making sure lil’ children graduate with no college loans, so it works for me. But I had to do the math. It’s a complete distortion as I didn’t work for most of this year’s “income”, but I wound up paying $45 per hour in taxes. That’s 3 times what I paid the year before. That’s a lot.
 

 

 

 

Yah we went up to pay for the tax prep yesterday. Finding out we are only getting back like 300 bucks & having to pay OR state tax, made the trip sooooo worthwile....

 

So no new 3d printer or extra funds toward ReaperCon trip with this year's "rebate".

 

Thou, I did ask my wife about last year returns as we haven't cashed the checks yet & found out we need to definitely cash the Federal one as it's expires the 28th of this month...YIKES!!

 

Off to get ready for the game today. I need to clean up the game table, as I've got 2 weeks worth of model stuff on it + gather up stuff not miniatures for the game as well.

[redambrosia]

38 minutes ago, Cranky Dog said:

Now it looks "too" good.

 

What amazes me is that the remastered version now looks like an amateur's Tik Tok video.

He looks especially young in that video, like a 15 year old lip syncing to Rick Ashley

[Corsair]

6 hours ago, Lord of the Dish Pit said:

Agents of M.E.O.W.

While I appreciate the sentiment behind the gesture, leaving me dead mice on the porch is not necessary,  I have plenty of food. 

Ingrate!

[Pezler the Polychromatic]

2 hours ago, Corsair said:

Ingrate!

Leave a mouse on a person's porch, they eat for a day. Teach a person to hunt, they leave mice on other porches for life. Or something like that.

[MusicalFeline]

5 hours ago, Cranky Dog said:

Now it looks "too" good.

 

What amazes me is that the remastered version now looks like an amateur's Tik Tok video.

My word.

 

That thought hadn't occurred to me, but now that you mention it... I can't get that out of my head. It's just too... I dunno, true.

 

[MusicalFeline]

Also, fun fact I discovered at work this morning. Y'know those packets of sealed air that come in your packages? Turns out if you rub them in your hair you can make them stick to walls.

 

Now naturally, that totally doesn't mean I stuck them to the walls all over the storage room, giggling like a maniac. That's utterly absurd. 

[Froggy the Great]

41 minutes ago, MusicalFeline said:

Also, fun fact I discovered at work this morning. Y'know those packets of sealed air that come in your packages? Turns out if you rub them in your hair you can make them stick to walls.

 

Now naturally, that totally doesn't mean I stuck them to the walls all over the storage room, giggling like a maniac. That's utterly absurd. 

If anyone really wanted to spread contagion, they would just have to cough a lot when those were being made.

[Chaoswolf]

Picked up a few hours of overtime at work this morning, and I went to check out a comic/game store on the way home. Now, to relax and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

[NebulousMissy]

6 hours ago, haldir said:

 

Yah we went up to pay for the tax prep yesterday. Finding out we are only getting back like 300 bucks & having to pay OR state tax, made the trip sooooo worthwile....

 

So no new 3d printer or extra funds toward ReaperCon trip with this year's "rebate".

 

Thou, I did ask my wife about last year returns as we haven't cashed the checks yet & found out we need to definitely cash the Federal one as it's expires the 28th of this month...YIKES!!

 

Off to get ready for the game today. I need to clean up the game table, as I've got 2 weeks worth of model stuff on it + gather up stuff not miniatures for the game as well.

 

If you don't cash it I personally will have to send you a letter to ask if you still want it.

 

I mean that, it's a case type I actually work.

[Cranky Dog]

First week at the new job is done!

 

I started as a maintenance engineer in an asset management consulting service company. Basically, we help customers manage and maintain their equipment or buildings. Help them build their maintenance plans, parts list, and their CMMS software (computerized maintenance management system).

 

As expected, nervous and wondering if I made the right choice. And I believe I did. Just talking to a few of my new coworkers and seeing there own projects made me realize I'm on familiar ground. I may not be up to speed, but I will be. My company hires graduate students, so they're used to people with little starting experience.

 

I was surprised to see the office almost empty. Everyone is telecommuting from home with MS-Teams save for a few exceptions. And inside the oofice, it's masks + 2m distance + disinfect everything + sign in with list of symptoms.

 

Currently seeking a new apartment. One is 500 meters from the workplace. Another one I'll be visiting next Monday would be a ~10 minute drive, but is closer to other services, and slightly cheaper. Regardless of what I choose, one bedroom will have to be converted into a proper office space. Working int he kitchen or living room with all of the other distractions is counterproductive. And from what I understand, once we get through the pandemic, the company will likely still continue telecommuting in a 40%-60% fashion (it was getting crowded in the building).

 

Anyway, right now I'm in a 3 bedroom AirBnB until Thursday morning. It's an old building, lots of defects (coffee machine doesn't work, good thing the electric kettle does), but it's good enough for me to crash for the night.

 

As it is, I'll be working from home starting next Friday, I'll start moving stuff during weekends in March (light fragile stuff I don't trust movers with), and do the full move in April. My current lease ends in late May, so no real rush other than wanting to live in a large city again.