You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
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Watcha Doin' - 2017.1 edition
I couldn't walk and read at the same time even if I was on a perfectly smooth, level surface with nothing in my path. I have been known to trip on perfectly smooth, level surfaces with nothing in my path when I am paying attention to where I'm going!
I couldn't walk and read at the same time, either. I'm too clumsy and would probably stumble into the road or walk into a lamppost or something!
I've read and walked before, many times. However I've had a run falls recently (not while reading!) that has knocked my confidence and physical ability so I doubt I'll be doing it again.
I occasionally read whilst walking when I'm on my train and nearing my stop, I want to get up and move closer to the door so I can get off first but I don't want to stop reading yet. If I have a connecting train, I might continue to read as I'm moving around the station to my other platform. But that's about it. It's all slow moving reading. I couldn't do it walking down the street I don't think. I've seen so many people walking along on their phones (not reading) who have just walked out in to the road without looking. We nearly ran a kid over doing just that a few days back.
It is the ones who are on their phone with head phones on that you really have to watch out for when they are walking along. Their eyes are focused on the screen and their ears are turned on to the audio and their bodies are on auto pilot. A kid stepped off of the curb in front of me last week and I almost hit him as I was turning. If someone had been behind me when I stopped, I would have been pushed into him. It never even phased the kid. I wanted to get out of my car and smash his phone, I was so upset.
I've seen that happen before, Cherie. It is terrifying for the driver.Do any of you remember the video that went around a year or two ago of the woman on her phone in the mall that walked into the fountain?
I hate it when people don't watch where they go, especially when they have all their important senses focused on something else. I don't drive but have experienced on my bike that people step off the sidewalk onto the bicycle path to pass another pedestrian, right in front of me. They don't look behind, just step on the path, and they don't even hear you when they wear headphones. Obviously getting hit by a car is worse than a bike, but I don't want to hit someone and crash just becausr others can't use their brain properly.
Peggy wrote: "I hate it when people don't watch where they go, especially when they have all their important senses focused on something else."Same here, Peggy!
KimeyDiann wrote: "I've seen that happen before, Cherie. It is terrifying for the driver.Do any of you remember the video that went around a year or two ago of the woman on her phone in the mall that walked into th..."
I haven't seen the video, Kimey, but it sounds hilarious! I wonder if she learnt her lesson after her dunking?
Here is a little compilation I found that has that clip in it along with several others. https://youtu.be/sDATgh1IiycThe video that follows this one I couldn't watch. The very first clip it showed is a person walking out into the street and getting hit by a speeding car. I can handle that sort of stuff on movies, but not real life clips of real people. It was categorized as funny, but I don't find someone being injured that badly and possibly even killed humorous.
The ones where they walked into pools of water were funny. Can you imagine?
Janice wrote: "The ones where they walked into pools of water were funny. Can you imagine?"I agree, Janice. The water ones made me chuckle. Must have been pretty embarassing and they had to walk around in wet clothes afterwards!
Janice wrote: "The ones where they walked into pools of water were funny. Can you imagine?"I know. And I love how in almost every single one where they walk into something, they just get up and nonchalantly walk off like nothing even happened. LOL
KimeyDiann wrote: "Here is a little compilation I found that has that clip in it along with several others. https://youtu.be/sDATgh1IiycThe video that follows this one I couldn't watch. The very first clip it showe..."
I'm with you, Kimey. I wouldn't want to watch videos of people getting hit and injured by vehicles either.
Actor Bill Paxton died at 61. He had some good movies
Oh, that's too bad, Travis. I hadn't seen that. That's so young.
Travis sivarT wrote: "Actor Bill Paxton died at 61. He had some good movies"0_0
I read that earlier today. I always enjoyed his performances.
Travis sivarT wrote: "Actor Bill Paxton died at 61. He had some good movies"I heard about that last night, too. Very sad.
Did anyone watch the Oscars and see the Best Picture mess up? What a calamity but handled very well by the nominees.
Lynn wrote: "Did anyone watch the Oscars and see the Best Picture mess up? What a calamity but handled very well by the nominees."
The nominees, particularly the director, were amazing. The rest of them were basketcases. What a cock up!!
Travis sivarT wrote: "Actor Bill Paxton died at 61. He had some good movies"I read today that he was the only actor to be killed by a Alien, a Predator, and a Terminator. That's like the sci-fi trifecta!
Don't recall the Terminator death. I really think he did a lot for weather research as twister really brought the storm chasing to the nation at a time I think most of us never knew it was real. Probably inspired countless insane tornado chasers
Lol indeed. Apparently he was "Punk Leader" in The Terminator according to imdb.
Lynn wrote: "Did anyone watch the Oscars and see the Best Picture mess up? What a calamity but handled very well by the nominees."
I didn't watch them but have heard all about the blunder!
I saw that too - Alien, Predator and Terminator death. Pretty cool.
Lynn wrote: "You can see the Oscar blunder here http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/27/147..."Thanks, Lynn. How embarrassing for everyone involved!
That's a pretty great trifecta for Bill Paxton! The storm chasers were really appreciative of him and had a creative tribute to him after his passing. You can see it in the link I posted above. Lynn, I didn't watch the Oscars. I'm not really interested in awards shows. I did watch the link though and it's just horrible how the awards staff handled it. What a big mess.
I watched the Oscars last night and really enjoyed it for the first time in ages. Jimmy Kimmel was hilarious. He diverted a tour busload of tourists who thought they were going to see a display of Oscar gowns. They were so shocked when the doors opened and they were led along the front row, shaking hands with Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban, Merle Streep. Denzil Washington acted as officiant at a mock wedding for the engaged couple. Jennifer Anniston gave the bride her sunglasses.
Then Jimmy was trolling Donald Trump by tweeting him - #MerleSaysHi, and "Donald, are u up?"
Finally, the very awkward mixup with the Best Picture. Price Waterhouse has taken the blame and said they handed Warren Beatty the card for Best Actress.
Oh, another highlight for me was seeing the real Katherine Johnson (Hidden Figures). They brought her onstage in a wheelchair. She's in her 90's and quite frail. It's amazing that after all these years, she's getting recognition for the work she did at NASA as a human computer.
I didn't watch the Oscars, but read about the mess-up and watched the video of it. I suppose mistakes can happen anywhere, but at such crucial moments you expect people to at least triple-check!Other question: Is there a word in English to describe a person who tries to make the world a better place? We have a very literal word for it in Dutch, but if I look for translations I find 'do-gooder' which is a bit too sweet. I need a more serious sounding word.
Good Samaritan, humanitarian, philanthropist maybe work for you.
Hahahaha Sandra! :D :D Very true! Thanks Travis, those sound useful!
Don't forget the wine makers too!
Especially the wine makers. :)
What about altruists?Which surely must include, but not be limited to, chocolate makers and beer/wine makers : )
I'm going to write two job application letters this week, the first time I've got to do this in 6 years. They'll probably get tons of letters, so I'm in doubt whether to stick to the standard (boring) way of 'with great interest I read your vacancy...' or to skip those standard lines and jump right in with something different. I want to stand out but I don't want to ruin my chances either. Anyone here who's been on the other side of the hiring process, like selecting letters or interviewing candidates? It probably very much depends on the company or even person reading it anyway..
I vote for doing something to make you stand out, especially if you know it is a position for which the company will be getting tons of applications. But you'll have to do it in a way that fits with the position being applied for.
Peggy wrote: "I'm going to write two job application letters this week, the first time I've got to do this in 6 years. They'll probably get tons of letters, so I'm in doubt whether to stick to the standard (bori..."I would say jump right in with something different, but not too out there.
I was president of the board of directors for a local group and as such, the acting chairman of the management board. We were hiring a CEO for the organization. One of applicants tore the advertisement from the newspaper, clipped it to his resume with a handwritten notation, "Let's talk!" I returned the entire package with a notation, "Let's not talk!"
We received something like 40 resumes. Several years later, I was hiring an assistant, and we had over 50 applicants. That's a lot to wade through. I wanted to know immediately if they met the job requirements, so I looked for their education, & what experience they had. Then I read the rest of the resume if they got through that initial assessment. I looked for things like how frequently they changed positions and the length of time between employment. If there were gaps between employment, I wanted to know how they were filling that time. Going to school? Volunteering? Parenting, perhaps.
That was many years ago and I'm no longer in the position where I would be reviewing resumes, and things change. Administrators may be looking for different things now.
Thanks both! I'll avoid the standard lines but still write a proper letter ;-)Second issue, I know that it's preferable to address the letter to an actual person, and not use a general 'dear sir/madam'. I also know it can help to call the company and ask some questions about the job. However, the vacancy does not give any information about a contact person, whom to address, or a phone number or email address for additional information. I found the company's phone number and called but the lady on the phone told me that because it all happens through the website, they don't know of a name to address the letter to. The specific department is mentioned in the vacancy and I found the head of the department, but I don't know if she handles the selection procedure. Should I go for the 'dear sir/madam' or use her name anyway?
This is hard! So many things to do and who knows what's right? Or best?
Here, most job applications are via the internet with many organizations having their own online application form to complete so very rarely have i had to write an accompanying letter. Does the ad say how to apply for the post? Where to send it? That you need a letter?
Hm, apparently they really don't work with contact persons.Thanks for that information Sarah! You have to apply through their website. I assumed I would have to upload a motivation letter and CV, but I just registered to have a look and it seems they only want you to fill out some information about yourself and upload a CV.
Wow, so they make the first selection without even considering motivation? I had no idea it works like that. And I thought of such a nice first paragraph!
Things are very different these days. Of course, we didn't have internet back in the 80's. I remember starting out with electronic typewriters that you could type a sentence and then it would print, like an early word processor. Then, we advanced to word processors, and finally computers. I remember the first DOS-based computer games where you typed things like /up, /down to move your character which was just an "x". Now, we have World of Warcraft, et al, in all it's graphic beauty. Ok, now I feel ancient. But, I am fortunate to have seen such an advance of technology in my lifetime.
Janice - My husband and I were just discussing that. I remember when my family got an Atari game system. We were so cool. Lol I also remember feeling so technologically advances with my first word processor. It could type a line at a time! My dad got one of the first "mobile" phones. It was really big and you had to carry it around in a shoulder bag. I believe we plugged it into the van. I'm not sure if it was to charge it or use it, but we thought it was so convenient to be able to bring a phone camping. It's so funny to look back at that stuff now. You're certainly not alone.
Yes, technology moves so fast! The advances in the past 20 years or so have been incredible.
I feel the technology advancement, Janice and have the same memories. I am not so sure that I really like all of the on-line job application stuff though. It feels like it is short changing some of the kids that really want a job. They assume that they all own computers and know how to wade through all of the web-sites.
Is it intentional to weed out some of them?
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You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
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While they keep the sidewalks around here relatively cleared at this time of year, there's always ice patches, loose gravel, ridges, and other things to stumble on. It's a hazardous undertaking.