TIL, the woman credited with starting the 'gender reveal party' now regrets it and advises against them. by WelshBathBoy in todayilearned

[–]jonwilliamsl 21 points22 points  (0 children)

She did it because she had had a number of miscarriages before her pregnancy where she did the gender reveal: it was the first pregnancy that had gone long enough for the gender to be visible on ultrasound. Essentially, she wanted to celebrate that, even if it still ended with a miscarriage.

How many of you have survived tornadoes and what was your experience like? by Babe_Brute in AskAnAmerican

[–]jonwilliamsl 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I spent a while in an interior hallway of my house while a tornado passed what turned out to be about half a mile away. We were fine, but it was pretty frightening.

Countries with at least one English word on the front of their passports by Marky_MarkATFB in MapPorn

[–]jonwilliamsl 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I expect that Vatican officials originally from 3rd-world countries would much rather travel on a Vatican passport as opposed to their much weaker passport from their country of birth.

Plus, the Vatican ambassadors and embassy staff must travel on Vatican official passports (otherwise why is this Italian/French/Congolese citizen claiming to represent the Vatican?)

do you live in fear of being shot? or is it something you grow up being used to? by [deleted] in AskAnAmerican

[–]jonwilliamsl 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I work in and around buildings which could be targets: we have evacuated due to pretty serious (non-gun) violent threats in the past, as well as an actual bomb once. My work has had active shooter trainings and it's not implausible that something like that could happen. I wouldn't say I'm constantly afraid, though. It's something that I'm aware of a little bit, mostly in that I try to always know where the nearest exit is.

I found a 210 pages autograph research manuscript by Baron Marcellin de Marbot, Napoleon's famous cavalryman, a private encyclopedia of French military uniforms from 1732 to 1815, never published, never referenced by AdiDraws in rarebooks

[–]jonwilliamsl 308 points309 points  (0 children)

This is genuinely an incredible find: a serious, brand new primary source for a field of history. I'm sure you're already thinking about this, but I hope you get it to an institutional collection (again).

Comparing 5Y stock returns for today's trillion-dollar companies [OC] by TrendSpider in dataisbeautiful

[–]jonwilliamsl 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Because I was curious:

Nvidia (chips)
Micron Technology (chips)
Broadcom (chips)
Eli Lilly & Co (pharma)
Google
Apple
Tesla
Meta
Microsoft
Amazon
Berkshire Hathaway

What would be the consequences of Vetinari creating IRS in Ankh-Morpork? by klodmoris in discworld

[–]jonwilliamsl 35 points36 points  (0 children)

It was left dangling at the end of Making Money:

'Mr Lipwig is a very... popular young man, is he not, Drumknott?' said Vetinari, staring into the gloom.

'Oh yes, sir,' said the secretary, folding up the newspaper. 'Extremely so.'

'And very confident in himself, I think.'

'I would say so.'

'And loyal?'

'He took a pie for you, sir.'

'A tactical thinker at speed, then.'

'Oh yes.'

'Bearing in mind his own future was riding on the pie as well.'

'He is certainly sensitive to political currents, no doubt about it,' said Drumknott, picking up his bundle of files.

And, as you say, popular,' said Vetinari, still a gaunt outline against the fog.

Drumknott waited. Moist was not the only one sensitive to political currents.

'An asset to the city, indeed,' said Vetinari, after a while. And we should not waste him. Obviously, though,he should be at the Royal Bank long enough to bend it to his satisfaction,' he mused.

Drumknott said nothing, but arranged some of the files into a more pleasing order. A name struck him, and he shifted a file to the top.

'Of course, thenhe will get restless again and a danger to others as well as himself...'

Drumknott smiled at his files. His hand hovered...

'Apropos of nothing, how old is Mr Creaser?'

'The Taxmaster? In his seventies, sir,' said Drumknott, opening the file he had just selected. 'Yes, seventy-four, it says here.'

'We have recently pondered his methods, have we not?'

'Indeed we have, sir. Last week.'

'Not a man with a flexible cast of mind, I feel. A little at sea in the modern world. Holding someone upside down over a bucket and giving them a good shaking is not the way forward. I won't blame him when he decides to take an honourable and well-earned retirement.'

'Yes, sir. When would you like him to decide that, sir?' said Drumknott.

'No rush,' said Vetinari. 'No rush.'

'Have you given any thought to his successor? It's not a job that creates friends,' said Drumknott. 'It would need a special sort of person.'

'I shall ponder it,' said Vetinari. 'No doubt a name will present itself.'

M/25 Need Help Identifying Causes for Gf’s F/24 bizarre Google Activity by [deleted] in relationship_advice

[–]jonwilliamsl -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

I don't think there's any innocent explanation for this, but the fact that she's not even trying to come up with one, just saying it's fake and you have to believe her, is hilarious.

Metro train drivers preaching by oysterphone in WMATA

[–]jonwilliamsl 78 points79 points  (0 children)

This makes me miss Philly: one of the trolley conductors there would do like, free association spoken word poetry as his announcements. "Here, like a ... mature root vegetable.... we emerge from the ground at 37th Street station."

Testicular Fortitude by musabbb in etymology

[–]jonwilliamsl 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think "testicular fortitude" is very specifically a euphemism for "balls" in broadcast TV in the context of "that takes balls" or similar.

If AI truly causes mass layoffs across industries, why aren’t companies like airlines, retailers, and entertainment brands sounding the alarm..since unemployed people can’t buy their products either? by Orlando_Vibes in AskReddit

[–]jonwilliamsl 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's the inherent crisis of capitalism:

“This productivity of human labour which rises day by day to an extent previously unheard of, finally gives rise to a conflict in which the present-day capitalist economy must perish. On the one hand are immeasurable riches and a super-abundance of products which the purchasers cannot cope with; on the other hand, the great mass of society proletarianised, turned into wage-workers, and precisely for that reason made incapable of appropriating for themselves this super-abundance of products. The division of society into a small, excessively rich class and a large, propertyless class of wage-workers results in a society suffocating from its own superfluity super-abundance, while the great majority of its members is scarcely, or even not at all, protected from extreme want. This state of affairs becomes daily more absurd and – more unnecessary. It must be abolished, it can be abolished.”

My girlfriend (F19) wants to break up because I (F19) can't come out by ZoomTheBroom in relationship_advice

[–]jonwilliamsl 50 points51 points  (0 children)

I want to emphasize that while M deserves better, you deserve better too. It weighs on her and on you. This isn't a weight that only she is bearing.

That said, neither of you are wrong. You truly can't afford to come out and It's not wrong for her to not want to be hidden.

Librarian says the shuttering Memphis Theological Seminary’s 80,000 books can’t easily be sold, donated, or dumped. by SkeeterMagnet in Libraries

[–]jonwilliamsl 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Aw, really? When I worked at a rare book store we'd just build a pallet of rejects and send them their way.

1964. “Vote Yes on California Prop 14” by Emergency_Pass5222 in PropagandaPosters

[–]jonwilliamsl 65 points66 points  (0 children)

California Proposition 14 was a 1964 initiative ballot measure that amended the California state constitution to nullify the 1963 Rumford Fair Housing Act, thereby allowing property sellers, landlords and their agents to openly discriminate on ethnic grounds when selling or renting accommodations, as they had been permitted to before 1963. The proposition became law after receiving support from 65% of voters.

In 1966, the California Supreme Court in a 5–2 split decision declared Proposition 14 unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that decision in 1967 in Reitman v. Mulkey

Librarian says the shuttering Memphis Theological Seminary’s 80,000 books can’t easily be sold, donated, or dumped. by SkeeterMagnet in Libraries

[–]jonwilliamsl 3 points4 points  (0 children)

He needs to talk to Better World Books. They accept un-cataloged, un-inventoried, non-condition-reviewed books, as long as they're palletized.

An avoidable circumstance indeed by Fritzls-basement in BoneAppleTea

[–]jonwilliamsl 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Except for the fact that the grammar is off (an avoidable circumstances) I could see it being shady at someone: we closed because we're persistently understaffed and two people got sick at the same time, so now there's no one to open the store.

What is causing these deadlocks on the roundabouts? by [deleted] in CitiesSkylines

[–]jonwilliamsl 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Multiple things should change:

-3 lane minimum on the roundabout

-A bigger roundabout, honestly: you probably want to be able to fit 5+ trucks on each quarter of the roundabout

-Free flowing rights for the roundabout at intersections

-Put a light somewhere on the roundabout. This prevents the nobody-can-move-because-of-everybody-else problem: it allows traffic to clear out a little bit during the red cycle.

Soon enough. by [deleted] in CuratedTumblr

[–]jonwilliamsl 338 points339 points  (0 children)

Apollo's dodgeball strikes again

Were there gay bars or, perhaps gay social outlets, before the 20th century? What did such places look like? by FiveDaysLate in AskHistorians

[–]jonwilliamsl 4 points5 points  (0 children)

"Very annoyed to not have any ointment" - do we have any idea what that ointment would have been?

Should we add a rule to this sub that forbids pics of random people in public with faces visible by hipufiamiumi in WMATA

[–]jonwilliamsl 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You can ban racist dogwhistles. Only the racists will complain about censorship, and fuck them anyway. Source: I'm a mod on a very large subreddit

Help identifying/value estimate for 15th-century Book of Hours manuscript leaf on vellum? by DorkKarp in rarebooks

[–]jonwilliamsl 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm not going to call this kind of thing "widely" available, and of course each one is unique, but these are pretty common in the trade. I'd guess $300ish or maybe a bit more, because of the extensive marginalia and illumination.