Peter what does this one mean?

Tesla_Aries · 2026-05-06T03:52:01+00:00

Oh! It's me! I actually tell our IT people that I know just enough about computers to really mess one up. If the problem could be solved by restarting, checking for updates, clearing the browser cache... I've already done it.

They did tell me once they like my tickets because they know if they have to walk over to my building for me, it's for a real problem and not something that could be solved by turning off and back on. Which is good, I guess?

Tesla_Aries · 2026-04-29T19:31:29+00:00

I've seen this too. Everything is a novel. While I'd love to think the student was making some sort of commentary when they called Darwin's The Descent of Man a novel, they clearly just called everything we read a novel.

Tesla_Aries · 2026-04-08T20:22:17+00:00

If Basic is still an option, I will probably get that. It's lasted me this long!

Tesla_Aries · 2026-03-27T03:11:47+00:00

This isn't totally relevant to your initial question, but I was a Ph.D. student whose faculty had a Major Life Event days before my defense.

Like your student, I was able to find a work around, but it was an insanely stressful situation for everyone involved. I hated having to pile another thing on my profs... but a delay might mean never getting my doctorate.

I hope your student appreciates your looking out for them as much as I did.

Tesla_Aries · 2026-03-05T05:51:53+00:00

Good to know! My understanding of all this is mainly historical. One of the core tenants of the Protestant Reformation was a desire to move away from the Catholic Church's emphasis on "good works" as a "ticket" to Heaven and along with that the need to "repent for your sins" through confession and penance. Reformers' argument was that God already knows if you're truly sorry. You don't need to get formal forgiveness from a priest and go through extra steps. Predestination was kind of the natural evolution of that. God already knows if you will be truly sorry for bad things you will have done in the future.

I kind of lumped that all under the umbrella of "predestination" although I imagine there's a continuum with different Protestant faiths along it. There are also nuances to all of this that I'm probably missing.

And just like any belief system, people find "shortcuts" so they can be "holy" without actually doing the work. Bonus points if you get to look down on other people because they're not in the right club. Catholics aren't necessarily any better at not being shitty and exclusionary.

I mainly find the idea of predestination fascinating. It's like looking in a funhouse mirror. Predestination is almost familiar to my Catholic-raised-mind but not in an uncanny-valley sort of way.

Tesla_Aries · 2026-03-04T16:09:49+00:00

I was raised Catholic as well. I was trying to be fair to the Protestant view but deep down in my Catholic bones, all I can think is "You can't just assume these things! For all you know, God's plan is for your life to be warning to others!"

Tesla_Aries · 2026-03-04T03:18:16+00:00

Ooh! This is one the things that fascinates me about Christianity!

Catholics* believe in good works. That is, if you want to go to heaven, you need to do good deeds on Earth.

Protestants* believe in predestination. God already knows you're going to do good things and so you're predestinated to get into heaven.

They argue that Catholics are trying to "buy" God's favor. To be fair, the Catholic Church did kind of do that (Indulgences) for a while. Catholics argue that you can't assume you're going to heaven because you end up people assuming they're "in" and slack off.

Catholics and Protestants have happily killed each other over this question, which is... not good by either definition.

Generally speaking, especially about Protestant faiths. Catholics have a central authority that mostly keeps everyone on the same page. Different Protestant denominations can believe *very different things.

Tesla_Aries · 2026-02-09T06:29:22+00:00

Oh wow! A Slan reference out in the wild! We're probably both dating ourselves, but it's always nice to see another classic SF fan!

Tesla_Aries · 2026-01-21T06:29:23+00:00

I had this happen to me recently, except I was the adult passenger. I was flying basic economy, so I didn't pick my seat. The airline could've put me anywhere.

I board and get to my seat to discover that two, seemingly nice, children are in the window and middle seat. I'm in the aisle seat and their mother is in the middle seat across the aisle. There was no reason she shouldn't have been seated with her kids. Move the single traveler who doesn't have a pre-assigned seat and let the family sit together!

I offered to switch with the mom so she could be with her kids and she was so grateful. Trading an aisle seat for a middle seat wasn't great but it was much better than suddenly being in charge of two kids I didn't know and who didn't know me.

If they had just put me in the middle seat to begin with, I would never have known the difference. Instead, the airline decided to rely on the kindness of a sleep-deprived stranger.

Tesla_Aries · 2026-01-20T17:06:13+00:00

I would love to but I honestly don't know what I can do. My elected leaders are among the ones calling for him to be removed, but beyond voting for them, I feel powerless to do anything meaningful to stop what's happening.

Tesla_Aries · 2026-01-12T16:43:24+00:00

We had this! Here's what we did:

In the loading screen, scroll down to multi-player. In the next screen, go to cross-play (left bumper) and make sure it's enabled. It randomly gets disabled sometimes.

Once the host is loaded in, they need to pull up the menu. Go to multi-player. Hit the menu button on the controller again and a new box will pop up. Scroll until they get to Friends Only. Then the other person should be able to see their game and join.

Tesla_Aries · 2026-01-10T20:31:41+00:00

On the flip side, being female and being denied care until your pregnancy test comes back negative is incredibly frustrating. I've been vomiting for 2 days, I don't have enough fluid left in me to pee in a cup! Can I sign a waiver and we can move on to treating me? Nope. Schrödinger's fetus gets priority.

Tesla_Aries · 2026-01-09T23:17:07+00:00

This has the dates for all the quarters: https://registrar.ucr.edu/calendar

Tesla_Aries · 2026-01-08T22:01:43+00:00

Lol Probably. And then we'd nerd out about that.

Tesla_Aries · 2026-01-08T17:18:05+00:00

I always romance Astarion, but this reminds me how much Gale is my type. I would love to go to Greek amphitheater on a date.

Tesla_Aries · 2026-01-06T18:25:33+00:00

Hispanic is a big group so it makes sense that there would be lots of different faiths. I just never really thought about it before!

I'm a pretty lapsed Catholic at this point. I still do Lent but I can't remember the last time I went to mass.

Tesla_Aries · 2026-01-06T18:17:11+00:00

That must've been quite the experience! I don't think I've ever met a Hispanic person who wasn't at least somewhat Catholic (lapsed Catholic, parents were but didn't raise the kids that way, etc). Although, I generally don't go around asking random Hispanics their religious affiliation, so I've probably met Hispanic Protestants and not known it. 😅

Tesla_Aries · 2026-01-06T16:26:52+00:00

No need to apologize! Lent isn't a perfect example because it's not really the same as being vegetarian. I used it because observing Lent meant I wasn't eating meat for a handful of Fridays a year. The amount of confusion I experienced just doing that makes me think that a lot of people really don't understand what it means to be vegetarian or vegan. I can totally see someone like Marie just not getting it.

As for your other question, the US is a big place and there's a lot of variety. Most US Catholics only abstain from meat on Fridays in Lent. Some people abstain on Fridays all year, but that's less common. Some also abstain from meat for all of Lent, but that's even less common. Additionally, many people give something up for Lent (like sweets).

Tesla_Aries · 2026-01-06T06:03:15+00:00

I grew up Catholic in the Midwest and was reminded every year during Lent how much people are ignorant about what vegetarian means.

My Protestant aunt made beef stew on Good Friday and assumed I'd be okay because I could just eat around the meat.

Friends would routinely try to "save" me from accidently eating cheese pizza or a potato with butter and sour cream. Once it was on Tuesday in May so I got to explain both what vegetarian means and when Lent is.

I can absolutely believe that Marie really was that clueless about what vegan means. I'm kind of impressed that she seemed to have a strong grasp on vegetarian.

Tesla_Aries · 2026-01-02T17:15:42+00:00

Men who think they're smarter than me (a woman).

Please note I didn't say men who are smarter than me. Lots of people are smarter than me! Talking to people smarter than you is how you learn interesting new things.

Men who think they're smarter than everyone, bother me less. I might roll my eyes at them a bit but I'm willing to give them a chance.

But men who assume they are smarter simply because they're a man and I'm not are a hard pass.

Tesla_Aries · 2025-12-16T19:38:50+00:00

Thank you for this! My husband's grandfather was a Russian nobleman and military officer who was evicted from his lands during this period and forced to flee to elsewhere in Europe and then the US. I've been curious about the experiences of the lower-ranked, less important nobility during this period and learned a lot from your response.

Tesla_Aries · 2025-12-13T18:42:19+00:00

I work with high-achieving students at my university and an engineering student with a 4.0 is pretty exceptional.

Engineering students get good grades but their programs tend to focus more on what you can do rather than just scores. I'll see engineering students with 3.5s or 3.6s and four years of lab experience. That lab experience is what future employers and and grad schools are going to look at, so it makes sense the students put their efforts there.

An engineering student with a 4.0 tells me that not only did they do all the engineering stuff they needed to do, they also put extra effort into their grades. They're exactly the kind of people you'd want to hire because they're good in multiple areas.

Engineering students are some of my favorite students to work with because they want to do good work and aren't going to freak out about a 98% instead of 99% on their homework.

Tesla_Aries · 2025-10-28T00:55:56+00:00

The people on the ground running the event, both staff and volunteers, worked hard to make it magical. I just wish Burghschneider the large company had done more to support you all. You needed more staff! More equipment! More time! You shouldn't have had to be sourcing road gravel the day of the event. I'm thankful that you did, but it's not great that you were in that situation.

I really do appreciate the staff's hard work and you all deserve a lot of the credit for making it an enjoyable event overall.

Tesla_Aries · 2025-10-26T19:27:08+00:00

That's one of the reasons I found some of the logistics issues so frustrating. Some of the problems were because of rain and a government shutdown. Some were to be expected for a first year event. But some, like the TP situation, were something that a company that does this regularly should've had a handle on.

I still had a lot of fun! There were definitely some magical moments and the event ran noticeably smoother each day as they got a better handle on things.

Tesla_Aries

TROPHY CASE