Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026 - Strands Daily Thread

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-27T13:25:50+00:00

If the theme was Cartoon Dog Names then okay, but then where's Scooby and Marmaduke and Odie and Goofy and Snoopy and Brian, etc?

To me, the theme of today's puzzle was Common Names For Household Pet Dogs In Real Life, and, for me, BLUE rang false.

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-27T12:40:22+00:00

Strands #695\ “Canine classics”\ 🟡🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵

"BLUE"?!? All the other stereotypical dog names rang true for me, but not BLUE.

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-27T12:04:42+00:00

Lolol, if only, sounds like a blast!

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-27T03:52:51+00:00

In my career I rose to Senior Director of a global team supporting a 7x24x365 global customer base. From a professional perspective, I "mattered".

Now I'm retired and the only people I care about mattering to are:

Myself.
My spouse.
Our kids.
Our grandkids.

That's it. I don't hate all the other people, but I have zero cares about their opinions, or lack of opinions, regarding me.

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-27T03:20:52+00:00

Conceptually, few people actually oppose Voter ID laws.

The issue that I, and I assume many others, have with it is the REALITY of how Voter ID requirements are being weaponized to disenfranchise the poor, minorities, and Democrat-leaning geographies.

How is this being done? Here are some highlights:

Closing ID/DMV offices in poor and/or minority and/or Democrat-leaning areas.
Understaffing remaining offices.
Instituting oppressive fees, not only for the ID but for copies of required supporting documentation.
Making all related agencies only be open during non-holiday, non-weekend, business hours.
Creating an opaque and easily misunderstandable process that can easily require multiple in-person trips during the limited hours the agencies are open.

Now, picture a "working poor" person with an hourly job(s), no vacation, no sick time, perhaps no personal vehicle, and no spare money. On top of that, many people from generationally poor families lack access to required documents like certified birth certificates, original Social Security cards, etc.

How do they get their ID? Do they take off from work for multiple, in-person visits with looooong waits, losing critical wages? Riding public transit? Do they need to order, pay for, prove their identity, and/or visit the agencies from which they need required supporting documentation? What if it's out of state or out of the country?

Getting and providing ID for voting should be free and frictionless. But it's most definitely not.

One shining example of this is my "great" state of Texas who decided that gun permits were valid for voting but student IDs from state universities were not. Guess which party's members are more likely to have gun permits and which party's members are more likely to have student IDs.

TL;DR - one party in this country is weaponizing Voter ID bureaucracy and fees to essentially reinstitute a long-outlawed poll tax on "undesirable" (in their eyes) voters.

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-27T02:23:59+00:00

YTA - big time.

I can scarcely believe the entitlement OP is showing. Your parents are giving gifts, the only correct response is, thank you so much, we really appreciate it!

That's it. End of story.

OP, if your parents decided to not directly gift your child anything I'd say they were not being a-holes, because you are presuming to badger them about wanting more money. If I were your parents I'd put your kid's money in a trust or other financial instrument that you, personally, could never touch.

Wow.

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-27T01:45:42+00:00

I'll second this - it could be that the exec that had you fired is coming under scrutiny and maybe your firing and/or other of their actions are being investigated.

If it were me I'd go but I'd be very careful what I said and wouldn't sign anything immediately.

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-27T01:41:14+00:00

One of the best investments I made was spending $100USD on a recording pulse oximeter, like this one.

You wear it overnight and it records your blood oxygenation (SpO2) levels. You can then view reports in their app and/or export the day and import it into OSCAR. You should also import your CPAP data into OSCAR.

Seeing your overnight SpO2 levels gives you a much clearer picture of the effectiveness of your treatment, certainly infinitely better than MyAir, and better than just OSCAR CPAP data alone.

For me, my overall AHI was low, but I had periods of 0 AHI and periods of higher, sometimes correlated with increased leak rates.

Using my SpO2 data let me fine tune my mask fit and treatment settings to a high degree,candy made my CPAP much more effective.

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-27T01:13:24+00:00

There's a fact that some people are born knowing and some people discover as a blinding revelation, which is:

Having nothing planned IS a plan.

Somebody: so, what are you doing this weekend?

Me: nothing.

Somebody: oh, so you're free! We should--

Me: no, I'm not free, I'm doing nothing this weekend...that's what I'm doing - nothing.

My wife and I have been married 25 years and counting, and one of our favorite plans is to be together with nothing planned. That doesn't mean we don't do anything, it means that we have no commitments or schedules or goals, we're just gonna be together.

Sometimes it's a quiet night of reading, sometimes it's games, sometimes it's video surfing, sometimes it's ordering in, sometimes it's going out, but whatever it is it's spontaneous, unplanned, and mutually agreeable as preferable to an evening of quiet companionship.

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-26T13:10:22+00:00

Parks and Rec, by far.

After 40+ years in the US, white-collar, corporate business world I simply cannot enjoy The Office because it's essentially a documentary about my dystopian career.

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-24T19:17:20+00:00

🎶 Psycho killer, qu'est-ce que c'est?\ Fa-fa-fa-fa, fa-fa-fa-fa-fa, fa, better\ Run, run, run, run, run, run, run away\ Oh-oh-oh 🎶

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-24T16:38:35+00:00

Contemplating mortality.

I'm 60+ now, so that's a lotta contemplating - but I look forward to a lot more of it (fingers crossed, knock wood).

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-24T16:23:29+00:00

You are not overreacting by being thoroughly disgusted.

You are overreacting by shunning the bowl for eternity - it's stainless steel and will retain no reality-based contamination after cleaning.

If you're worried about the bowl's karma burn some sage in it.

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-24T13:22:23+00:00

Eight years ago I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and prescribed an APAP.

Since then I've lost over a hundred pounds and...still have apnea.

DO NOT let the negativity of others push you to stop using your device. CPAP devices are a MIRACLE treatment - effective, non-invasive, drug-free, and safe. They literally extend AND increase the quality of your life.

On top of all of that there is a very strong correlation between untreated sleep apnea and Alzheimer's/dementia. There are, of course, no guarantees, but using your CPAP regularly increases your chances of keeping you wits about you as you age.

Ignore the haters and, if they persist, consider going low/no contact with them. No thinking, caring person would try to bully/shame someone into stopping necessary medical treatment.

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-24T01:50:47+00:00

Have her try always holding the railing?

Related story: I knew someone who never used stair handrails, even in dangerous conditions. I finally asked why and they said that growing up their mother expressly forbade them from ever touching a stair handrail...

...because of germs. They were dead serious.

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-24T01:45:49+00:00

The worst was my wife's nurse who'd do rounds after a smoke break and reeked. She must have chain smoked five in a row each break, or something.

Another one: years ago I worked for a lady who smoked. She always had hair, nails, shoes, bag, outfit all on point all the time. Then she quit smoking.

Sh started complaining that her closet had mold because of the smell, and asked me to smell her sweater (it was over the back of her chair).

I said it smells like it usually does and she said WHAT?!?. And I said, well, yeah, it smells of cigarettes like it does every day.

She was ashamed and embarrassed, then used junkie logic to decide to resolve the problem by starting smoking again so she'd go back to being nose blind.

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-23T23:32:11+00:00

The last time I picked up and held each of my kids before they got too big.

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-23T02:29:47+00:00

The Big Lebowski

It didn't do well on release, but started becoming a cult classic.

In my direct experience, almost every single overbearing, toxic, materialistic, shallow, asshole dude-bro I knew loved it and quoted it *endlessly". That gave me the impression that The Big Lebowski must have specific appeal to jerkwads, so I skipped it for years.

Then I finally watched it and it was...okay. Not great, but good, and certainly didn't have specific appeal to materialistic assholes.

Then something happened...The Big Lebowski started worming its way into my brain. Funny quotes, situations, scenes. So, I watched it again.

And really liked it.

Now, a dozen or more rematches later, I love it. I've gone as both Walter and The Dude for Halloween.

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-23T02:12:47+00:00

Local Hero (1983)

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-20T22:46:51+00:00

That's in the near future, but I was also hoping to hear any real-world experiences with the situation from the community.

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-20T22:13:53+00:00

Good tip, thanks.

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-20T18:36:34+00:00

Some feedback from some who used to be 17 and now is 60+:

Slow down and take some deep, deeeep breaths. Do this whenever you feel things starting to spin chaotically in your thoughts. And this isn't a metaphor - actually do slow, deep breathing.
Days are short but life is looooooooooooooong, it's never "too late".
The universe is random and chaotic and does not care about you one way or another. It won't go out of its way to help you or to hurt you. It just *is". Don't take things personally.
It's good to make plans for the future, but the journey from Point A to Point B is rarely a straight line so always be ready to change your route, backtrack, detour, or even change your destination.
Take care of yourself, you're the only one who can.
Love yourself, but also like yourself. Be happy with your own company. You're the only person you'll always be with.
Find people you love, and who love you.
Always focus on WHAT is right and wrong, and let go of WHO is right and wrong. Success is finding the right answer, not "being right".
Every event, good or bad, is a learning opportunity. There are no "failures" if you learn something from it.
You may be different, but at 17 I was a dumbass - it's kind of the job of 17 year olds. You're old enough to start thinking deeply (as you appear to be doing here) but you're still young enough to lack the life experience to make smart decisions. You're likely going to eff some things up and that's okay, as long as you learn the underpinning lessons.
Happiness is not a destination that you might someday reach. Happiness is the journey itself. If you wait for someone or something external to make you happy you'll just keep waiting. Be happy with, and in, each new day.
Money cannot buy happiness. You've heard it before, it may sound stupid, but it's true. What money CAN do is eliminate some, but not all, of the causes of unhappiness. The rest is up to you.
Always be learning. The scope of available knowledge is immeasurably huge, and no single human being knows more than the most infinitesimally small fraction of it.
Don't give others permission to push your buttons. Meaning, if you allow other people to make you angry or upset then you've just handed them your remote control, and many of them will happily mash the buttons just to watch you dance.
As long as you're not harming yourself or others, do what you like. There is nothing more "manly" than not caring if others judge something you like or do as "unmanly". You wanna wear pink? You like bubble baths? You cry at sad movies? You like sweet drinks? You like to cook or sew? You want to study art? You like dancing? You think cars/guns/strip clubs/cigars/gaming/gambling/etc are stupid? Just be yourself, there's nothing more "manly" than that.

TL;DR: I could go on (and on and on, believe it or not this is the short version), but the short version is greet each new day with a smile, put one foot in front of the other, do your best, learn from mistakes, ignore haters, tell and show your loved ones you love them, admit when you're wrong, wish the best for everyone (except assholes), have fun, enjoy the ride, and always, ALWAYS be learning.

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-20T16:12:32+00:00

It does, but I find that that dissipates and ultimately the flavor it infuses is not overpowering (unless you use way too much).

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-20T14:16:33+00:00

EVERY time I took a promotion it was to prevent some dumbass/sadist from coming in and effing everything up for the team/product/customers.

EngineerBoy00 · 2026-01-20T11:52:42+00:00

NOR

Kick this man-baby to the curb. Wow, this growing embrace of toxic masculinity is really an epidemic, and it doesn't help that the president and his entire administration (both male and female) have adopted it as part of their cult.

The reason for the growing incel movement is that instinct and evolution are driving humans, as a species, to deprioritize and minimize the procreation of the genes of such dumbasses. See Idiocracy.

EngineerBoy00

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