big ol' pot of chili coming up!

@ElendilTheTall finally got round to a bit of testing. Not too successful, though... Must be the iPad.

Does the "Contact" work already?

@Stephie contact should work, but I haven't tested it recently

Hi Guys!

hi trouble

I am seriously multitasking for a while (so not continuously at the computer), but I'll settle in in a while.

Show recommendation if you have Netflix (or can get the free trial): Stranger Things

brilliant

@ElendilTheTall Then we'll know soon.

got it :)

Good.

noted re. recaptcha

needs a bit of form-model binding

@Stephie did you have trouble 'ordering'?

Empty basket all the time

Sent you a picture.

Am in my new mobile...

android or ios?

iOS

hmm

that's odd, it worked on Friday for two iOS users

@Stephie try it again now, think it should work, and it's fixed in IE as well, mirable dictu!

Later. Limited bandwidth.

Oh, Holiday plans getting better and better: We'll Start in the south, then go East, then up north.

Limited bandwidth? aren't you at home?

@Stephie where in the South?

large parts of the south are boring ;)

Pediatrician

New Forest, Avebury. Perhaps Bucklers Hard, but that would be my 3rd visit.

Perhaps Cornwall.

I personally wouldn't make the effort to go all the way down to Cornwall

Hubby's wish.

It's tourist central and it's an epic journey, especially if you're travelling later on in the holiday

You can get a very similar experience in Dorset without the 4 hour drive

and without the miserable locals

especially in August

ugh

the very thought

But yes, I'm aware of that...

as your British Adviser I advise strongly against it

and how about the east? Norfolk?

OK, you've got my undivided attention (almost) for a while, but I have to do two bouts of physical therapy (about a half an hour each) before I go to bed.

@Stephie have you seen the challah question?

I just destroyed a user for the first time.

@ElendilTheTall is there anything in particular you'd like me to do on your website in Chrome?

@Jolenealaska Not at present thanks hon

Chrome is fine and dandy

Think iOS/Safari is now fine

I have something I have got to do probably tomorrow.

I'm a bit stressed out about it.

Do tell

I don't want to be cruel to CN, but I need to return some stuff of his that I borrowed way back when.

I really want to just delete him from my life.

Oddly, it feels a bit like a breakup.

I've been dodging his calls to the point that at some level he's got to know that I just don't want to talk to him.

I need to go to the VA to get a prescription filled, which is about the only thing that brings me to that part of town.

He is enough of a jerk that I assume he has long since decided to vote for Trump.

I need to make it clear (as if it isn't really already) that continued contact is not welcome.

How about just dropping the stuff off outside his door with a note?

"Here's your stuff. Please don't contact me again."

If he had a door I could access, I would. Unfortunately, he lives in a secure building and I don't even remember exactly which apartment he is in.

So I have to call him at least.

If I were to do the stuff on his doorknob thing with a note, it would be somewhat less terse than your wording.

3 to1 he demands his coat back.

I have no intention of giving it back.

It would be different if he could or would wear it, but he can't, and he wouldn't if he could.

This is why I don't talk to people. Nothing but trouble ;)

:)

How this plays out will play a part in my book, because a lot of my book pushes removing toxic people from one's life.

He definitely qualifies as toxic.

At least to me.

Do I like who I am if I'm with you? If not, I will avoid you if I can.

sounds like good sense to me

Unfortunately, I am such a "people pleaser" it has taken me a long time (almost 50 years) to actually see relationships that way.

People like myself who are disabled in any way tend to "take what they can get", and often find themselves accepting relationships that are even abusive in nature.

I really stress in the book that it is better to be alone than in a toxic relationship.

Unfortunately, I have some very on point experience.

Indeed

I have never been a people pleaser

More of a look-after-number-one type

Obviously with the exception of close family

I would like to find a balance between "people pleaser" and "look-after-number-one". There is certainly room for "Get off My Lawn!".

Good morning.

Morning Cindy!

@Cindy hey there

you're early :)

Yeah, a little.

You guys chat for a while, I need to focus on my physical therapy for a bit.

Back soon

@Cindy work started yet?

@Jolenealaska take it easy

I think the laws here are way past stupid. A guy in GA was caught taking upskirt photos. When he went to court it was thrown out because - get this - it's legal because he was doing it in public!

@ElendilTheTall No, but finally got a date, Aug. 3rd.

that's ridiculous.

usually the public photography laws are worded such that you can't be photographed anywhere you have a reasonable right to privacy

seeing as out in public you don't, that's fine

but surely you have a reasonable right to privacy within the confines of your own clothing...

One would think.....

No wonder this country is in the shape it's in.

@Jolenealaska yes I have. No time to venture a guess yet.

@Cindy so I can expect my bumper pack of free watches around what, the 5th? ;)

@ElendilTheTall Lol! Or shortly after. My manager is working with me on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th.

@ElendilTheTall Were you able to fix the issues with IE? How about the delivery issue?

@ElendilTheTall I'll come back for more advice soon, right now I have a few fires to put out. Just got a phone call that my gran is in hospital and my mom really stressed. So family first, holidays later.

Take care, all of you!

@Stephie You too. Hope your gran is okay.

@Cindy IE issue I believe is fixed. Haven't looked at delivery yet :)

I'm having to actual work stuff, ugh

That does happen on occasion. ;)

@Cindy so do I. It's not a good idea to drink too little if you are well in your eighties and it's hot outside. Does weird things with your brain...

At least that's the preliminary disgnosis, they are checking for stroke symptoms right now. But we also suspect she's lost a few (minor) marbles anyway, which makes it harder to diagnose.

@Stephie Yeah, the heat is harder on your body as you get older. Hope that's all it is though.

And she's a bit off her rocker lately anyway, like suspecting my mom to have secret phone calls with her cousin - whose funeral they both attended two weeks ago. But other days she's resonably fine.

My mom had days like that when she was in her upper 80's.

@Stephie Oh! All the best to your gran.

@rumtscho thanks. I'll get the details hopefully later this afternoon or tonight. She was admitted like two hours ago.

Our heat wave is back. Hit 100° yesterday with really high humidity. Today is supposed to be worse. Another day where it will be late morning before we can see anything through the windows.

Huh? Why can't you see through your windows?

Moisture. The humidity is so high.

Oh.

you should be squeegeeing that up and using it on the plants

;)

Too hot to deal with it.

Hi @rumtscho! How's your new job going?

@ElendilTheTall My windows would be extra clean! ;)

@Cindy it's OK. Still growing into it, reaching around to understand what my tasks are supposed to be.

Right now I am being groomed to replace the product owner when he goes into parental leave a month from now, but he will be back at the end of the year and I don't know how much of this stuff I will continue to do when he returns

@rumtscho Aah, so your responsibilities may change.

The requirements for the whole thing are in a sad state because the responsible team (not at our institution, it's an international project) and I am itching to jump in and start creating them properly

on the one hand I am holding myself back because that's not my job, on the other hand I am finding it extremely hard to do my job without understanding what we are trying to build and why

and then I am supposed to also write papers

Have you thrown out any ideas?

the problem is that this department always functioned as a kind of a software startup, with publications with an afterthought, describing what they built

it never had a real research program

and these publications were pretty technical and went into medicine informatics conferences or even computer science ones

this worked back when the department was at the university of Mainz

now the professor changed to our institute and is subjected to the same rules as all the other (biology) professors

which means that the board is giving him budget if he manages to publish somewhere with a high impact factor. Only the number counts for them.

The problem is, the budget pie is divided among professors on that impact factor basis

but pure biology journals have much higher impact factors than medicine informatics ones

so in principle, if the prof next door wants to publish in Nature (impact factor around 15), the only thing which can prevent it from happening is the quality and novelty of his work

and even not-so-interesting stuff can be published in journals with impact between 5 and 8

I'm not certain that even the best ranked journals in medicine informatics have a 8

so if we were to shoot for the moon, we could never compete with the other professors because none of the highest impact journals are interested in our area or the papers we can output

A very complex situation with many factors that influence direction. But it does sound like a clear disadvantage.

also, the thought of me building up a research program for the whole department from nothing sounds scary

I have not even finished my own PhD yet

and I am entering a completely new field. No connections, no idea what the culture is, what catches the community's interest, etc.

even in my old field, I could do the actual research work, but I didn't have the feeling about what results would be interesting to the community and which ones would be meh.

With time it will all come together.

So I am quite apprehensive how it will go here, especially when doing it in parallel to the product owner tasks.

I thought that I might try to start by putting a spin on our work which is interesting for the old outlets I knew, and trying to get a publication there, that would combine the security of the known with the new type of work we are doing.

@rumtscho Just take it a day at a time. As you move through the learning curve it will become more clear. :)

But then the professor mentioned in a half sentence that he doesn't care to have a publication at all if it does not bring some impact factor, and I'm afraid my old hunting grounds were quite uninterested about that.

Yes, I know. I'm overwhelmed by trying to understand everything at once.

I have tons of ideas where to start, and no time to implement them.

But don't take this list of challenges to mean I don't like it

So far I am happy being there

I like the new colleagues from my team

the atmosphere is friendly, no unreasonable job or social pressures

people are nice, listening to each other

@rumtscho Not at all. It can be quite overwhelming when you start in a new position, new culture, etc. And it sounds like you're off to a good start.

there is one guy who is a bit of a bad dogmatic when it comes to software flame wars, but I think I can keep it civil with him

And in a good environment.

@rumtscho Seems like there's always one. ;)

for the broader project environment, it is certainly better than the old one, at least in the areas which kept frustrating me

there are what looks like enough resources to make the project happen

and this time, the users have reason and incentive to use the software we are building

(for the last one, they would have had incentive to consume the data - only it was built around the idea that they will enter their own data there for others to read it, and nobody wanted to do that)

I also had great respect for one of the project leaders from the first time I had contact with him

he is an old medicine professor, representing one group of our users

not an IT person at all

and yet he is going about it in a very sensible way, homing in on potential problems and bringing in more wisdom than some veteran IT people I've seen

Guys, quick question between PT repetitions. Does it make sense that it would take less data to download a video (SD episode of Game of Thrones in this case) to my Kindle than it takes to watch it from Amazon Cloud?

@rumtscho Experience means a lot. His years of learning are invaluable.

@Jolenealaska Sorry, I don't know.

I don't know either, never looked into how streaming works on the technical level

@Cindy at the end, it is never the tasks which ruin a workplace, it is people problems

My old job had its share of them. Luckily my direct manager was one of the best leaders I've ever had the honour to meet (although she probably doesn't know it) and she buffered a ton of it, so my own experience was mostly positive. Here, I don't see any people problems close to me.

@rumtscho So true.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that you get into a workplace with nice people too

@rumtscho Thanks!

My work has always been field-based, so except for the years in management positions, people haven't been an issue. I've been very fortunate to have had good management most of the time.

And yet you had to leave your last job because your peer was so toxic.

Wow, another nightclub shooting in FL. 2 dead and at least 14 others shot.

Not another one...

@rumtscho True, but after thinking about it, I realized that it was a mess from the start.

@Cindy oh shit

Sadly, at the nightclub where the shooting happened, it was teen night for kids 12 to 17.

:(

@Cindy I am working on my thesis at the moment, and I need some English advice.

> While anticipated satisfaction has not been studied in depth before, measuring actual satisfaction is a well-developed area, and we base our research on

> its findings. It is necessary to understand the principles behind satisfaction measurement in general before diving into a method for measuring anticipated satisfaction. This chapter provides the necessary background knowledge, briefly summarizing the basics of satisfaction measurement and explaining conventions, assumptions and terms we use in the rest of the thesis.

This is the opening paragraph of my background chapter.

I want a term to replace the colloquial "diving in"

I don't want to commit to a word which takes either my side or the reader's side

so I don't want to write "before constructing a method" or "before understanding a method"

Any ideas what I can use?

The best I got out of a thesaurus was "considering" and "regarding", but they don't seem to fit well enough.

@rumtscho Off the top, I would suggest changing it to 'delving into'.

Is "delving into" formal enough for academic writing? I would have guessed no, but my word sense is not as good as a native speaker's.

@rumtscho I think so, but I haven't done a lot of academic writing. @Stephie, @ElendilTheTall, or @ElmerCat could probably shed more light on it or give you other suggestions.

I typed it into a thesaurus and got "exploring" as one of the suggestions.

I like "exploring" better and I think I'll use it

thank you for your help @Cindy, without you I wouldn't have found the trail which led me to a good word!

I see that the pinged people are coming in, so feel free to chime into the discussion

@rumtscho Yes, I like that, too.

this thing is a first draft, still very far from finished

@rumtscho As soon as I can think straight again... Haven't read the draft above yet. Need coffee.

But at least my go-to recipe for guest kids worked again. Now minor 2 and friend are playing soccer at the grandparents'. (Larger lawn!)

That said - does anyone know how long coffee stays good in the fridge?

Depends upon your definition of good.

I make cold brewed concentrate, sweeten it with artificial sweetener, then make iced coffee with it for a month or better.

(Mix it with milk)

@Stephie Made at home I would guess a couple of weeks, but I never have any left that long. ;)

Hi @Jolenealaska! Safe and palpatable. And not concentrated (which has a better shelf life), just hot-brewed and put in a jar.

It's also flavored with inexpensive vanilla or hazelnut flavored extract.

Hm. Mine had a bit of a "film" on top, so down the drain it went. Moka is on the stove right now,

For flavor I wouldn't go past a week.

But that's just me. :)

We're going through a lot of coffee lately.

Not today, but someday, I plan to work out the economics of making coffee my way and by normal methods.

I love iced coffee just like iced tea and drink both year-round. But we drink a lot more of both in warm/hot weather.

@Jolenealaska Should be pretty close, shouldn't it?

I have to thank our neighbour for my current favourite: She asked for a cold cappuchino.

@Cindy I think perhaps it should, but I eek little bit extra out of it.

I do it in the crockpot so it's not actually cold-brewed.

So I used my immersion blender and whizzed the milk to a soft foam, almost like semi-firm cream. Yum!

@Jolenealaska I've been thinking about trying cold brewing.

Start with very cold tap water. Put 10 ounces (by weight) of whatever coffee you like in the crockpot, add water to fill...

@Stephie Sounds tasty!

@Jolenealaska How big is the crockpot?

I experimented with it, and found diminishing economic returns, without corresponding "wow this is good" returns.

@Cindy small but not mini. I'm too tired to measure it just now, but I'll tell you tomorrow (or when I next see you).

@Jolenealaska I keep hearing how much better it's supposed to be, but.....

I turn the crockpot on high and let it go (stirring occasionally) until it's damn near boiling.

Then I turn it off and let it cool on the counter.

@Jolenealaska so this might be for you:

Then into the fridge at least overnight, perhaps two nights, before I strain out the grounds.

@Stephie that would be fun to experiment with

Dragon really screwed up a bit ago. i.e. versus eek

@Jolenealaska Sounds like you may be onto something with the close to boiling. If I remember correctly I read some time back that the optimum temp for brewing is 195° F.

So I bring it just that point, and then let everything cool and chill together before I strain it.

It's convenient since the insert of the crockpot fits easily in the refrigerator.

So, if you're making a concentrate, what's the water to coffee ratio?

Conveniently, following those instructions creates exactly creates precisely the maximum capacity of a certain pitcher I like.

@Cindy I don't use water. I use one third concentrate, two thirds 2% milk.

(Roughly)

Okay.

I sweeten the pitcher of concentrate with a scant 1/8 teaspoon of the ace-k/sucralose combo I make and generous vanilla or other flavoring.

That's what I keep that lasts a week or six weeks depending upon how much coffee I feel like drinking.

I like it at least as much of anything I have ever paid for at Starbucks or such, but I haven't tested it with a lot of other people.

I don't sweeten coffee or tea. Nothing in my tea, and only sometimes a little half & half in my coffee.

I don't like sweetened iced tea, but I like anything warm sweetened.

@Arrowfar Hey there!

@Arrowfar hi!

Hi @Arrowfar

@Jolenealaska It's funny, but I'm not a real fan of hot tea. Not sure why. But I imagine I would want a little bit of sweet in it.

He was here earlier. I think work got him.

@Arrowfar , unfortunately I'm about to go to bed.

And I need to get some chores done.

@Jolenealaska night!

@Cindy erm....

^_^

Good night all!

I'm doing chores one-handed ;-)

Catch you guys in a bit! :)

@Jolenealaska Sleep tight!

@Arrowfar Replied to the wrong comment! :)

@Arrowfar, so what's new in the East?

Gran in hospital. But I don't know any details yet.

@Arrowfar you are trying to charm us?

Grandmother. Mine.

o/

@Arrowfar nope, got called away.

Mom had come back for a bit from hospital and gave me a short update. So I just ran away from chat.

@Stephie how is your grandma?

hello @Arrowfar, how are you?

@rumtscho No firm diagnosis yet. But she can't express herself clearly and if she does, it's nonsense: she claimed to be born in 1978...

MRT tonight, either a stroke or severe dehydration - or both.

Oh, you mean she has aphasia? Or is she delusional?

Aphasia. And a bit confused - like constantly removing the oxymeter from her finger and not understanding that she can't get up. Mom explained like ten times which button calls the nurse. Futile.

But not completely delusional.

It must be scary to know she has such troubling symptoms. I hope they will resolve soon.

And apparently she notices it. Which is the worst, imho.

So, she is frustrated and scared on top of being sick? That's an ugly situation.

Yup. And they had the full show this morning: ambulance, flashlights IV in the car, curious neighbours....

But I also agree with what Arrowfar said about your people skills. If your mom is anything like you, your gran is in very good hands.

My mom is better, trust me.

A lot more patience.

I'm far more pragmatic. She has seemingly endless patience.

So she will probably be able to make your gran feel the best she can, under the circumstances - which is a major factor in the healing process.

For her it's hard: they talked on the phone yesterday and gran was just fine. And today, this.

Yes, disaster can strike very suddenly.

Gotta go, feeding the minors & guest.

Thanks for your support!

Guten appetit!

@Arrowfar sorry, I was a bit engulfed in Stephie's situation. I'm also good. Working on the dissertation. The usual dance: what looked like a step forward yesterday turned out to be three steps sideways.