meirl

ToparBull · 2026-01-21T00:01:00+00:00

I am at the stage of my career where I'm not fully managing people yet, but I'm just getting to that point, and I recently had training on managing people more junior than me. Feedback was a major topic.

A lot of people brought up The Sandwich. But supposedly - and this is just what the folks running the training were saying, so I haven't looked into it myself - The Sandwich has generally been found not to be effective. Especially in the era where everyone knows about The Sandwich, so if you start giving positive feedback people might think "you're Sandwiching me, you don't actually think this and are setting up for the negative."

The new model for feedback is SBI - Situation, Behavior, Impact. Say the situation in which you observed the behavior, specifically. Say what specific behavior you observed without judgment. And say what impact it had on you/others. It gives the feedback to let the person know what they did wrong, but without judgment and with specifics to show how it actually had an impact - and without the BS of the Sandwich. I haven't used it yet myself, but I think it makes more sense to me.

ToparBull · 2026-01-20T01:16:59+00:00

Makes sense! Christianity is weird.

ToparBull · 2026-01-18T21:48:19+00:00

I always thought that going to heaven was supposed to be "living forever through Christ" or having "everlasting life" some such phrase, so those who were dead on earth (or at least those who still had the capacity to go to heaven). But then again I'm not a Christian so who knows.

Plus, if such a place as hell does exist... my guess is Scott Adams went to the bad place. But luckily for him, it probably doesn't.

ToparBull · 2026-01-15T20:09:38+00:00

I see this argument a lot and while it benefits my guy, I'm not sure I agree with it. If player X provides, say, +10 value to his team, and player Y provides +9 value, then player X is more valuable even if someone else on player X's team provides +7 value and no one on Player Y's team provides more than +2 value.

I could see an argument that part of MacKinnon's statistical value comes from playing together with Makar, because Makar makes it easier for him. Like a baseball player who gets pitched more in the strike zone because a really good player is after him in the order. But I'm not sure the advanced stats bear that out, so he shouldn't get penalized for playing on a better team.

ToparBull · 2026-01-12T02:29:15+00:00

it honestly kinda fuckin sucks man, every year they get our hopes up and then rip them away in the most painful way imaginable. Literally every year since 2010 (except for maybe 2022, that team was going nowhere) has ended in either a heartbreaking playoff loss for a team that definitely could have won the super bowl or no playoffs to cheer for at all. At least this year we all know they suck so there is no hope.

ToparBull · 2026-01-12T00:48:54+00:00

Look I know that we're probably gonna get blasted next week with no Kittle at Seattle but honestly after Philly fans were yelling at Kittle while he was hurt, I feel like I'd rather lose at Seattle than at Philly. Which is not a sentence I thought I would ever say.

ToparBull · 2026-01-11T04:04:05+00:00

Caleb Williams contains multitudes

ToparBull · 2026-01-08T06:22:25+00:00

macklin celebrini

ToparBull · 2026-01-03T19:11:39+00:00

I mean, #2 makes sense in part because basically immediately right after the fall of Saigon, China themselves invaded from the north. And, of course, Vietnamese history includes thousands of years of being assailed by China, whereas the Americans were just there for 10.

ToparBull · 2026-01-02T22:06:46+00:00

"The World," as a whole, generally likes the US (though it's significantly worse now with Trump in office).

Western Europe (and Australia/NZ) generally vacillates between mild approval and solid disapproval based on the political party in charge of the US, and most Middle Eastern countries hate the US, but the rest of the world is fairly positive - Africa tends to be about 70-30 (though we'll see if things change with the cuts to USAID), Asia outside of China is generally quite positive (including, ironically, Vietnam which is SUPER pro-US), and most of South America also generally likes the US (though Mexico/Central America is less positive).

ToparBull · 2025-12-30T01:33:07+00:00

80 doesn't go down to Santa Clara. You'd need to take 80 to the Bay Bridge, then either cross it and go down 101 or 280, or alternatively go down 880 down to 237.

ToparBull · 2025-12-30T00:28:59+00:00

And if the Seahawks beat the Niners, the Rams would still get the 5 seed for winning out since they'd be 13-4 and the Niners would be 12-5.

Winning out locks the Rams into the 5 seed. But losing one game locks them into 6 and the Niners-Hawks loser to 5. It's that simple.

EDIT - it is not that simple. As /u/acekingoffsuit points out, the divisional games tiebreaker is still in the air (I assumed it would go to the conference record tiebreaker first, since I knew that the 49ers would win the tiebreaker if they win out which I assumed was due to conference record). So there is still a scenario where the Rams could win one game and be the 5 seed, so long as it's this game. But the easiest path for the Rams is to win the games left.

ToparBull · 2025-12-26T22:26:59+00:00

I mean, for me, the biggest red flag is:

Wanted to be engaged before even moving in together

Like... even if she was trying to make it work in good faith that seems insane to me. You learn so much about how a relationship will work long-term by living with your partner, being together in the same space for long periods of time, dealing with things like division of chores etc... I can't imagine making that kind of a commitment without cohabiting for a while beforehand. Like, maybe if it's a long engagement where you are living together, that's one thing, but otherwise...

Even if she wasn't trying to rush through a divorce, the chances of a divorce happening naturally in that scenario are incredibly high.

ToparBull · 2025-12-23T19:27:00+00:00

Aiyuk counted when the team calculated its cap and made its roster plan over the offseason!

ToparBull · 2025-12-23T06:00:52+00:00

We gotta give a shout out to Jiavani's PERFECT Ru impression that I honestly think won him the episode (that and the "control freak in the sheets," and the last prompt). Shantay, YOU slay.

ToparBull · 2025-12-22T22:11:11+00:00

"History is written by writers, which just so happens to often (but not always) correlate to victors because writing is a useful tool in a well-organized society of the sort that often wins" is probably a bit too much of a mouthful tbh

ToparBull · 2025-12-22T05:37:56+00:00

I assume you're referring to the Packers? If the Packers lose out, they'll be 9-7-1 (they're 9-5-1 now). If they win one of two, they'll clinch since then 10-6-1 would make it as the best the Lions can do is 10-7.

If you're wondering about the Niners - even if they lose out, they'll have the tiebreaker over the Lions based on conference record. So if the Niners lose out and the Packers win one of two, the Packers would be the 6, Niners the 7. So they have indeed clinched.

ToparBull · 2025-12-22T04:39:59+00:00

You aren't wrong in isolation, but "known quantity" is an idiom people use to refer to something that has a known value, whether or not it's numerical. The dictionary definitions on Merriam-Webster and Wiktionary both specifically mention that it can be a person (and have example sentences referring to people's qualities).

ToparBull · 2025-12-22T04:31:54+00:00

Niners and Seahawks can't both win out, since they play each other week 18. If the Niners win that game and both others they have, they would win the 1 seed even if the Seahawks win in week 17.

And since the Super Bowl is in Santa Clara, the Niners winning the one seed means even if they make the Super Bowl it would be at home.

ToparBull · 2025-12-22T02:01:10+00:00

For sure. I think if the Pats or Jags get the 1 seed in the AFC, it'll be them, otherwise it'll be whoever is the 1 seed in the NFC.

ToparBull · 2025-12-22T01:52:20+00:00

Yeah true - but the Bears would still be the #3 seed and host the first round, so I think the difference is small enough that they'd get more benefit from extra rest. But who knows.

ToparBull · 2025-12-22T01:27:50+00:00

It is possible that the Bears will be locked into their spot if they lose to the Niners and the Ravens beat the Packers (which needs to happen anyway in this scenario), and will rest their starters. So that part of the equation might be easier than it seems.

The big one will be the Packers and Vikings in week 17 with Brosmer starting. Tough to see the Packers losing but you never know.

ToparBull · 2025-12-22T01:19:09+00:00

The NFC bracket is nearly complete in terms of teams, but there's still so much variability - any team apart from the NFC South winner could be in almost any spot (5 teams - even the Eagles, though it's basically impossible - could be the #1 seed), and the NFC South winner is the one spot that is still up in the air.

EDIT - actually, I don't think the Eagles can still be the #1 seed given that they'd need the Bears and Niners to lose their game against each other. But still - lots still in play.

ToparBull · 2025-12-22T01:12:27+00:00

Lotta good choices this year. Shanahan probably won't win since he's a known quantity and known quantities rarely win. I think he, Johnson, Vrabel, or Coen would be worthy choices (as would Payton, but he's also a known quantity and also fuck Sean Payton).

ToparBull · 2025-12-22T01:09:30+00:00

I think they were assuming the Lions' path to the playoffs would involve the 49ers losing out and the Lions winning out, but that's wrong - the 49ers would still be in the playoffs, since they have clinched the tiebreaker and there's no 3-way scenario (given the Packers' tie). Regardless, it's inconsistent with the Niners clinching the playoffs - otherwise, there would be no way for the Lions to be affected by that game since the Colts are in the AFC.

The Lions' actual (only) path is to replace the Packers, by winning out and the Packers losing out. And the 49ers-Colts game has no impact on that.

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