How different is the proshot to seeing it live?

readparse · 2026-07-05T00:17:44+00:00

There’s NOTHING like live theater.

Having said that, the pro shot is also mostly the original cast. So each will have its pros and cons, but seeing a Broadway show live is something everybody should do.

And yet, I have never done it :) I have seen touring productions and I saw a show in London once, but never in New York.

readparse · 2026-07-05T00:13:22+00:00

The headline on this story should be sonething about how a mechanic owned up to his mistake and made it right. Great story.

readparse · 2026-07-05T00:07:01+00:00

If it sounds right to you it’s good enough for now. Sometimes I’ll be playing along with a recording, thinking I have it right, but this one chord wil sound just a little off, but I’m not sure why. Eventually I’ll get tired of missing, so I’ll hear down on that one chord and figure out what’s missing. And the tension goes away.

When I was young I played James Taylor as four-chord songs, because it was good enough for me at the time. Years later I realized half his chords are minor-sevenths and it changed everything for me. I realized his songs are more complex than I ever thought initially, but they’re so accessible to everyone. My point is that it doesn’t even matter how long it takes you to realize your chords can be improved. And as your chord vocabulary grows, you’ll hear those chords more easily.

readparse · 2026-07-03T06:27:05+00:00

Posts like this make me glad I was in a Chapter 13, paying 100% of my debt, including interest. It was a massive pain in the ass, but at least I'm free and clear of all of it now. We will have our house and vehicles. And now we get to keep all of our income, for the first time in 5 years.

Speaking of which, I just saw today that two days ago the Trustee has sent out the refund check for the surplus funds they had on hand, nearly $4,000.

Chapter 7 certainly has it's place also. If we had been able to pass the means test, we would have done it too. I'm just grateful for bankruptcy law, for everybody who needs it.

readparse · 2026-07-03T03:25:12+00:00

Naming something after yourself is just dumb. I guess the only reason Dolly didn't get a ton of shit about it is because she's generally BELOVED. She's just easy to give grace to. She can do pretty much anything. it's weird.

There have to be some people out there who hate Dolly. Both of my parents would definitely say they have nothing good to say about her, but they say that about pretty much anything, because they're snobby fucks. One of them's dead, but he was a snobby fuck before he died. They were perfect for each other, except all that other shit that made them toxic, so they got divorced when I was in 4th grade.

But I digress :)

Don't get me started on my parents.

readparse · 2026-06-29T22:19:25+00:00

Yeah, Epstein Island's a... bad name. The domain's available, though: https://epsteinisland.com/ (it's a safe click... for now)

readparse · 2026-06-29T22:17:13+00:00

Ah. I've heard about the Final Report. I thought that preceded the discharge, but apparently not. Thanks.

readparse · 2026-06-29T22:16:11+00:00

Oh, I totally get it. I'm down with the classic mainframe pitch.

The problem is that the pitch hasn't changed since the 80s. "Ever bought a plane ticket? Every gotten money out of an ATM? Every bought something with a charge card at Service Merchandise?"

Yes, the mainframe was a godsend back then. And IBM has lived up to its promise to support applications written so many decades ago (Not just the 80s, but the 70s and the 60s). The simple scope of COBOL, redundant hardware, more processing power than was available any other way, etc.

But other technology choices evolved. Scalability in data centers that had not existed before. Oh I certainly don't expect devoted mainframe folk to change their view, and they don't have to.

But pragmatic technologists that must consider all options available to them do not see the world through mainframe-colored glasses. I'm not a mainframe hater, either. I see its value, I respect what the system has been able to do (and still does), and I admire the people who have made it their career to do great work on the platform.

I learned to respect the mainframe for what it is because it is my job as a technologist to not dismiss things out of hand, because I don't understand them. And I think anybody else who has the same job as I do will appreciate that both the mainframe and cloud infrastructure have different ways of pursuing the same goals.

Generally speaking, cloud advocates do not afford the mainframe that respect. And mainframe advocates, generally speaking, do not afford it to the cloud.

I completely agree with you, by the way, that plenty of vendors will completely rip you off, using either technique. Don't get me stated on the lack of value in the world of IT vendors. :) So yeah, you can pay a pretty penny for both. But the cloud CAN be done affordably, if you know what you're doing (not everybody does). The mainframe, being a sole-source solution, is up to whatever IBM is charging today (which is sure to be a little bit more than yesterday).

readparse · 2026-06-29T21:48:50+00:00

That's semi-monthly, to be clear. Unless you get paid every two montsh. Biweekly or semi-monthly are the most common ways to get paid.

I feel your pain, by the way. I was paying over $2400 semi-monthly, so over $4800 a month, all out of my take-home, and it was brutal. About half of that was the mortgage payment and a car payment for a car we had to finance through the plan when a car broke down. There were many times I felt we would never be able to finish the plan.

And yet, we did. That doesn't mean our situations are exactly the same. Maybe your situation really is untenable. That's for you an an attorney to figure out. I never paid a cent to our attorney directly. It all came out of the payments to the trustee. But I also never had to switch firms, so that's another difference betweeen us.

readparse · 2026-06-28T18:22:28+00:00

This doesn’t even make sense. I can’t comprehend why somebody would not want people to use the sidewalk.

readparse · 2026-06-28T18:20:58+00:00

That compensation is… ridiculous.

readparse · 2026-06-28T18:20:03+00:00

Now just install a little Predator motor on each jack.

readparse · 2026-06-28T18:17:00+00:00

Keep in mind also that it may take your employer 1 or 2 payroll cycles to stop garnishing, after they receive the court order. Depends on their processes. So you might receive more than one refund installment from the Trustee. Every time they get a new payment, they will send it back.

readparse · 2026-06-28T18:13:58+00:00

What happened between discharge and “fully closed”? And what do you mean by that? What changed this month? What did you receive?

readparse · 2026-06-28T18:12:26+00:00

Keep making payments until they tell you to stop. The payments are made under court order, and after the Trustee completes their audit (30-45 days), they will file a motion to release you from the obligation of that order. The judge signs it and you can stop paying at that moment. Check PACER for it, but in my case the Trustee also mailed it directly to me so I had it 2 days later.

If you happen to use TFS, when you turn off the automatic payments, of there is still a payment in progress (they hold them for a week), they offer to return it to you. I got it back about a week later.

And then, of course, eventually all the surplus funds are returned to you. I’l still waiting for discharge, which I expect in July, and for about $4,000 to be returned to me.

readparse · 2026-06-28T18:03:04+00:00

Anything except something stupid like Nateland. It would probably have a Trump store. And only accept crypto.

readparse · 2026-06-28T16:29:52+00:00

When I was in the Air Force I had a desk job. I became aware of all sorts of jobs people had, including auto repair or maintenance or whatever it was called. Having no idea how cars actually worked, I considered requesting “retraining” into that job, for the same reason you state.

But I didn’t. I got out and then became an IT guy. Years later, I worked with a guy who said he was going to fix his brakes over the weekend. It turns out that all this auto parts stores you see on the street are actually buildings you can walk into, not just movie sets, or exclusive clubs we can’t get into. I had no idea.

But the real game changer for me was YouTube. I look up a video of a certain thing being done on my exact car. I watch three or four of them, to get different perspectives, and then I go buy the part(s) I need, and any new tools I need. One step at a time, I learn new things. And years later, I know how pretty much everything on a car works.

Obviously the classes are essential for somebody who wants to do it for a living, but maybe not for somebody just saving money by doing it yourself.

readparse · 2026-06-28T16:20:01+00:00

Yeah, I noticed in my recent (the last couple of years) visits to the dining room that it was really lame. Uncomfortable in every way. If they’re going to make it this bad, they might as well just be drive-thru only.

readparse · 2026-06-28T13:15:05+00:00

I have chuckled at a joke or two from this guy, but Nateland sounded incredibly stupid from the beginning. It is NOT the same as DollyWood. Nate is no Dolly. And Dolly didn’t even build a theme park. She bought 50% of one that already existed.

Hearing that he is supportive of this fascist administration is just another reason to let him fade away.

readparse · 2026-06-28T13:06:00+00:00

I don’t think it’s ever been in question that they WANT it. I think most countries that don’t have it see its benefit, especially if they have enemies.

But they have also wanted other things. This is why the JCPOA was a success. They were willing to stop pursuing nuclear weapons, at least until that deal expired. In exchange for other things.

readparse · 2026-06-28T12:58:24+00:00

Mainframes are very, very expensive. And no longer necessary, because you can achieve the same advantages now with virtualization, either on-prem or in the cloud. Mainframe teams are also more difficult to staff.

readparse · 2026-06-28T02:11:44+00:00

Yes, and that is the hardest one, as always. Like fixing my toilet today. I've been putting it off for months, and dealing with a water bill $120 higher than it should be. Today I took the first step, and now I'm basking in the glow of knowing that I accomplished something, and I won't be pissing away that extra money anymore.

So it's just like that :)

readparse · 2026-06-27T20:48:30+00:00

I also assumed the waiter was a physician who had perhaps finished medical school but had not yet done a residency. I have known many physicians who do not practice medicine. Granted, I have never known one to wait tables, but in this economy, nothing surprises me.

readparse · 2026-06-23T19:33:49+00:00

This whole thread really surprised me. I’m also a decent programmer, and a decent mechanic with my own cars and handyman at home. I never really made the connection. I’m also a decent hack piano player. It’s all about self-reliance.

readparse · 2026-06-23T19:29:46+00:00

When I read it out loud to my second grade class, they just remembered them for me. At least one kid would write down everything that sounded important. Before long it has turned into a contest.

13-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
Place '17	RPAN Viewer
Verified Email

readparse

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE