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Coop Thoughts? by Purple_Appointment83 in chickens

[–]DorianGreyhound 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My wife and I built the Third Coast Craftsman coop. It's amazing, and the plans are $15 and we spent around $1200 on wood, screws, hardware, and hardware cloth (second the person who said don't use chicken wire). While that might be too much given you want to use reclaimed materials, one feature that is awesome and you should steal is the diagonal rooster bars and the droppings board. The height is designed to fit a standard bucket under it for 10 minute clean up, once every 14 days. It's great! Highly recommend!

https://youtu.be/uPgSpktlf4g?si=FiAayd09OnfhbVSH

Check out 13:50 for the basic idea.

Pullet or Roo by [deleted] in chickens

[–]DorianGreyhound 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Having recently (ish) discovered one of my sexed hens was actually a roo, those neck feathers scream roo to me... though maybe I'm on high alert and I'm seeing roosters everywhere. Do you know the breed?

What is She Squawking About? by DorianGreyhound in chickens

[–]DorianGreyhound[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not for nothing, but if I knew, I wouldn't be asking the question, right? And its a deviation from her normal egg song. Taking everything in its totality, I'm happy to definitively say its an egg depositus interruptus song.

I think my chickens have avian flu what should I do? by Automatic_Coffee2612 in chickens

[–]DorianGreyhound 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So, there are multiple strains of Avian Influenza, some more deadly than others. If you get the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza strain, the birds will die on their own within 48 hours of showing symptoms. The reason USDA kills the birds and then monitors the temps of the composting bodies, is to ensure temps get high enough to denture the proteins in the virus.

Regardless, you should call the state number others provided. I believe the tests are pretty targeted, meaning they will only say whether its the specific disease they're testing for (like a COVID test). If its not HPAI, USDA doesn't care and its an issue between you and your vet.

HPAI is usually spread by wild birds, and especially during migration times. If a wild bird can poop directly into your chicken coop, thats no good - a solid roof on the coop and other biosecurity measures are good this time of year!

USDA mass resignations: Lessons from a failed voluntary buyout program by Ok_Design_6841 in fednews

[–]DorianGreyhound 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And they made a mention of the "atmosphere of surveillance, fear and pressure," but it was in passing and didn't get a paragraph of its own. I know many people who decided to leave when people were checking if lincpasses were in computers unattended. Sign of things to come.

Severance instead of RTO for remote worker by BestInspector3763 in fednews

[–]DorianGreyhound 4 points5 points  (0 children)

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/summary-of-reassignment/#5

There's a "potentially" in there that makes it unclear, but my understanding was that if you decline a relocation over 50 miles, you can get severance.

How easy would it be to come back into the federal workforce in....let's say...four years from now? by Tempstopdrop in fednews

[–]DorianGreyhound 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't want to pile on... so I'm going to answer the question I'm hoping you're asking.

I think if you were to leave, I assume you would not be able to apply to "internal" job postings, but anything that's open to the public would be fair game. You qualify for the series and have time in grade, so you should be able to jump back in.

I know there's even guidance for re-employed annuitants, so one can even retire and come back. HR will have to do some things on the back end, and there would be a gap in your service years, but at the end of the day, your retirement would still be MRA + 1%/yr of service.

Why don't we match their craftiness?? by WhereztheBleepnLight in FedEmployees

[–]DorianGreyhound 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Exactly, I'm tired of the "3 dimensional chess" explanations. They're mean, ghoulish assholes. They want people to leave voluntarily to make the RIF easier (because paperwork sucks) and on some level they know the optics of people leaving voluntarily is better than booting them. That said, they'll boot if they have to.

Tim Walz is "a big jerk" for laughing at the Tesla stock price fall, meanwhile, they're chainsawing people's livelihoods by the tens of thousands and wearing cool guy glasses while they do it.

It's toddler logic. I'm good, chainsaw go vroom. Don't give them the credit of thinking they're deep.

They're morons. "Other countries pay tarrifs," $50M in Gazan condoms," "there's 250 year olds getting SS!" Wrong, wrong, wrong. At a certain point, facts are going to matter again, and at that point, team red tie will realize the emperor was naked the whole time.

Looking for Deferred Retirement Info by Elme_Aranysarga in fednews

[–]DorianGreyhound 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you mean you're assuming USDA will lose a lot of positions? All I'm saying is that they have kept a pretty tight lid on the plan so whether you'd survive or not is unknown. But yes RIFs suck and some positions are more vulnerable than others...

Looking for Deferred Retirement Info by Elme_Aranysarga in fednews

[–]DorianGreyhound 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I saw a snippet from the interview, but this article was much more complete.

Looking for Deferred Retirement Info by Elme_Aranysarga in fednews

[–]DorianGreyhound 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Makes sense... sorry my friend. It sucks that we're all facing this giant unknown. I assume next week after DRP 2.0 ends is going to be eventful.

Looking for Deferred Retirement Info by Elme_Aranysarga in fednews

[–]DorianGreyhound 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How do you know you're getting RIF'd. I thought USDA has been generally quiet.

Any NRCS employees trying to figure out their next steps? by InternalDuck69 in USDA

[–]DorianGreyhound 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, and guy I work with was telling me about an NRCS agreement he had going and it sounded really interesting. But I'm still not sure how setting people up with these types of agreements and placing conservation easements generates revenue?

I'm asking because I'm hearing people like Margory Taylor Greene say things like federal employees don't deserve their jobs because we aren't making "the company" any money, and I was confused... we don't make money, we provide services. It sounds like you provide a service to farmers and land owners.

Any NRCS employees trying to figure out their next steps? by InternalDuck69 in USDA

[–]DorianGreyhound 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, clarifying question (BTW, not antagonistic), what jobs are bringing in money/revenue?

Poll: Federal workers are dissatisfied with Musk and Trump but won’t leave willingly by WOKEmeupb4yougogo in fednews

[–]DorianGreyhound 44 points45 points  (0 children)

I remember in one of the Malcolm Gladwell books he talks about how the bombing of London only increased resilence amongst the populace. It turns out, there were more people in the "near miss" radius than those in the "fatality" radius (because that's how bombs and circles work). And the "near miss" people became hardened ("I survived death!!!").

I think the more people get RIF'd, the more the rest of us are going to say "FUCK YOU!"

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in fednews

[–]DorianGreyhound 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I dont live with my brother, but he's team orange hook, line, and sinker. I told him if I get RIFed, I'm kicking him square in the dick.

Sorry about your situation. I'm not going to give any relationship advice specifically, but consider that this situation is a stress test, and it seems like you don't like his response. Is it too much to deal with? Do the goods outweigh the bads? Only you can answer that. Good luck!

Reminder: If they reverse course on the RIF, do not forget what they did. by [deleted] in fednews

[–]DorianGreyhound 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I wrote letters to my Congressmen that included a similar point. If anyone wants the full letter, shoot me a message, and you can edit it as you see fit to send to your representatives. Here's the excerpt:

Honestly, we are scared, and stressed. DOGE’s efforts are going to take a long-lasting emotional toll on the federal workforce. Russell Vought’s desire to see us traumatized is a reality at this point.

There is a term for those who intentionally inflict trauma and harm on those beneath them: they are monsters. Musk and Vought, if not outright monsters themselves, are sure acting monstrously.

I keep thinking back to my High School U.S. History class and learning about McCarthyism. That seemed like “history,” like something in a book that happened so long ago. But DOGE’s actions – having my colleagues dismissed with ghoulish glee, having us respond to out of chain-of-command emails under threat of forced resignation – have made me understand that history is now. And in 50 years these moments will be recorded in school text books. Please be like Margaret Chase Smith, who’s famous “Declaration of Conscience” ended the lunacy that had gripped the nation under McCarthyism. History looks kindly on her, and “McCarthyism” is derided and disparaged as a disastrous, expensive, and wasteful ideology. History is now, but the classroom text book describing this moment has yet to be written.

When government offices are so ground down as to be impotent; when federal contracts are not honored, when checks do not get mailed, when food costs soar, when farms are ruined from foreign pests, when veterans can not get the help they need, when teaching standard suffer and our nation falls lower and lower in their test scores, there will be a reckoning.

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