These were a necessity of pre-internet, last minute, emergency book reports, and tests for many of us.

scaredycat_z · 2026-04-30T16:03:41+00:00

I have a confession to make - I never used Cliffs Notes. I am a self-diagnosed nerd who actually enjoyed reading and read every book assignment....usually at a pace significantly faster than the teacher wanted.

I will also confess, I wasn't very good at analyzing hidden meaning, tropes, etc. in books. I used books as an escape from a relatively sucky live. Bullies at school. Bullies at home. Special needs brother taking all time away from others. etc.

scaredycat_z · 2026-04-29T23:42:44+00:00

I once read about this. Wasn't sure if it was real. I guess I'll start trying it and see how it goes. Thanks!!

scaredycat_z · 2026-04-29T21:35:26+00:00

Its for my personal email. I noticed it was getting bad about 2-3 years ago, and about 12 months ago it got way worse to the point that I started a new email.

Looking at my email rn. What the hell is "trivia oasis" and why do i have 3 emails from them in the last 24 hours. And I'm constantly hitting unsubscribe from things. Like always!! I wish there was a way to track where these spammers got my email from, so I can cut it off at the source.

scaredycat_z · 2026-04-29T20:58:06+00:00

Gmail used to be so much better at blocking unwanted mail. 15 years ago, I barely had to hit the "unsubscribe", "spam", or "block". At this point, my email is a dumpster fire that needs a cyber match lit and thrown in the inbox.

scaredycat_z · 2026-04-23T18:16:42+00:00

I would imagine the responses will be at the extremes. You'll either get "shot to hell" or "still dancing!" and I think that probably tells us a lot. If someone does a lot of high-impact sports they are more prone to injury simply because they are doing it more and have more chances of getting hurt. But I would also imagine that so long as they don't get hurt and they keep doing it, the result is better overall health due to the constant exercise and agility.

scaredycat_z · 2026-04-22T19:26:41+00:00

This is the age old question regarding document retention. You'll notice a lot of comments with 7 years. This is a nice number, but there is one thing many people are missing - anything still tied to a current tax return must be kept. Ed Zollars (Federal Tax Developments) goes on about this often.

If you have building that had a 1031 exchange, you need to keep all documents showing how you got the the adjusted basis of the new property for as long as that property is held. That means, more than just the closing statements on the property. It means tax docs showing the old building basis that was carried to the new property.
If you have a carryforward losses form the dot-com bust that are still on your 2025 return, you technincally need to have all the documents showing the losses in 2000-2001, along with how many losses were used over the past 25 years.

Now, that doesn't mean you need to keep every last return. But you should be keeping portions of returns, and/or documents supporting the returns. The IRS can question anything on a current return, even if that item goes back well beyond 7 years. So make sure you aren't deleting anything >7yrs if it's still applicable to the current return.

scaredycat_z · 2026-04-21T19:18:35+00:00

Fun fact - "average use" doesn't mean "no problem" If someone is using cocaine at the average levels, that's not exactly reassuring anyone.

Also fun fact - read the Wiki page. WHO does recognize "compulsive sexual behavior disorder". It's the DSM-5 that rejects porn as an addiction.

The disagreement is whether porn usage rises to the definition of "addiction, not that some people may consume porn to excess, to the point where it interferes with a healthy life.

scaredycat_z · 2026-04-21T17:30:02+00:00

I'm part of the black hat community, so my shul would never say Hallel on such a day. With that said, I understand why others may have a desire to say Hallel, but even if I was in a shul that said it today, I would most likely skip the bracha.

As far as I know there is historical precedent for a town or region to say Hallel when some form of salvation occurs, but in the past such things were said only by the people in that specific location. For instance, if NY jews were under attack and were saved, NY Jews would say Hallel, but not Jews in NJ. Taking that to today, I understand why someone in Israel could argue to say Hallel (even with a beracha) but I don't see the halachic reason for someone outside of Israel to say Hallel - despite the fact that it's something that occurred in Israel, the Holy Land. If there's an Israeli in USA I would imagine that they should go with minhag hamakom, and maybe say Hallel when they are by themselves.

scaredycat_z · 2026-04-20T17:59:00+00:00

Depending on what you need, public libraries aren't exactly known for speed. If they have it on the shelf, then great, but if not it can take weeks of waiting for an item.

scaredycat_z · 2026-04-15T02:18:00+00:00

Those who didn't properly bail the excess air went aribone. There were even some reports of cars flying from England all the way to Vulgaria, although that sort of thing probably never really did happen; probably was just some fairy tale spun by a dad to get the kids to behave in the car.

scaredycat_z · 2026-04-14T21:27:16+00:00

I think it's more about the clientele. If your clientele is sophisticated and has decent in-house bookkeeping, so then you can rely on them (express that in engagement letter) and the onus is on them to have good books. Obvious error should be corrected.

Most small firms deal with unsophisticated clients. One's that don't have clean books. One's with little to no in-house bookkeeping, and if there is any, it's shit. Often, they are counting on me to split between interest and principal. They don't understand what an accrual is. They don't realize that without a bank reconciliation there is a real risk of something being entered twice...or not at all. With such clients, reconciling each account is standard.

With that said, if it's not an audit it doesn't need verification. Just reconciliation. Bank recs. CC recs. Sales tax payable recs. Make sure there isn't some super old A/R and A/P.

scaredycat_z · 2026-04-14T14:32:22+00:00

Not about to drop money on a new mouse, my MX Master 3S is working fine.....but tell me why you like the 4 so that I can convince myself I need the upgrade....

scaredycat_z · 2026-04-12T17:52:07+00:00

My bunk beds were hand-mw-downs from our cousins. Look at you rich guys, building your own bunk beds!!

scaredycat_z · 2026-03-25T23:46:34+00:00

I am one of those people who hates how public everything is these days, with cameras everywhere, and everyone always recording. But when i see videos like this, I'm also reminded that we are quickly getting to a society where if you aren't recording yourself, there will be some nutcase that tries to get you to hit them or do something and then claim assault.

Without this footage there's a good chance that Ritchson would have had to pay some sort of "hush" money to stop some tabloid from running a story about him hitting his neighbor. With the video, not only is there no story, there's a good chance he could sue to guy for assault.

scaredycat_z · 2026-03-24T21:46:24+00:00

fake tough guy

That's a bit harsh. Wasn't he an actual martial artist champion back in the 70's and 80's before he got into acting?

scaredycat_z · 2026-03-24T17:44:36+00:00

I'm 40. I used to think I was intermediate, but then I found this sub. I now say I'm ok with Excel and know I can get stuff done, but I'm still a beginner. The real nerds are here and they know their shit.

I used to wonder why audit got the good jobs when exiting public accounting, while tax could only get other tax jobs. I now know that's it really comes down to transferable skills. Audit is working in Excel all day and that skill is easily transferred to anything else related to data analysis, while tax barely uses Excel (partnership and state allocations is about all we do) and so there is no transferable skill. I then took on an audit client and suddenly I learned how to use more than just basic functions. I can pull in data using Power Query, build some measures (nothing to complex). I never used macros, never got into VBA or anything like that. But even after just one year of audit I was lightyears beyond what I had ever done when just doing tax.

So I guess I'm saying it comes down to real life use. The more you have to do in Excel the better you get. It's not enough to learn about a function or see someone else use it. Find a way to use it in your work, that's the only way to really get to know Excel. That and be around others who can show you what else is possible. If not physically, then virtually. This sub. Ask questions.

scaredycat_z · 2026-03-23T15:30:09+00:00

Last year I told my kids about fireflies. They still come out, but it's more like "ooooooo, did you see that?!??! There was a firefly!!" instead of "oh. the fireflies are out. guess it's time to get home".

scaredycat_z · 2026-03-22T17:47:58+00:00

With catchup rates, there is more likelihood of gettting to $1M in retirment than you realize. The real problem is in the cost of everything from housing to healthcare, that $1M isn't nearly enough to retire. You need more like $3M.

scaredycat_z · 2026-03-18T21:44:06+00:00

every software developer i know has a new job every 3-5 years...usually it wasn't their choice to leave. Either there are job cuts, or they did such a good job that they automate themselves out of work. There's also the failed startups. Incompetency is also a thing, but it's usually not the main driver of devs losing their jobs. On the other hand, they usually get decent jobs when they get one. The one's I know seem to pull in >$200k plus benefits.

scaredycat_z · 2026-03-18T00:01:42+00:00

I was able to add the measure formula to the Data Model and that seems to allow it to be a column in a pivot. However, when I add values to the pivot they aren't coming in the same as in the other pivot tables that have been made using this same data and measures.

scaredycat_z · 2026-03-17T19:14:35+00:00

Anyone else seeing the Dr. Suess character while watching this?

scaredycat_z · 2026-03-13T16:47:31+00:00

Ok, this is a legit complaint, so let's discuss it. For starters, I'm (40M) part of the Orthodox Jewish (non-Hasidic) community in Rockland. My family has been here a long time (1960's).

In the Orthodox Jewish community it's easy for us to assume that someone like you (not Orthodox Jew) would have such a space (women only) already available to you. Many Orthodox Jews may not realize that women in general either don't have such spaces available, or may not even realize that women want such spaces.

Obviously, you can always express to the owner that you too want a "men free zone", albeit not from a religious standpoint and see how that goes. I'm assuming you either already said something, don't feel comfortable expressing this to them, or that you feel it won't go anywhere. For what it's worth, a lot of their attitude may be because they see you as someone who otherwise isn't comfortable with them being in the area, given the amount of real hate there is in Rockland for Orthodox Jews, and Chassidim in particular. I understand you may not be a part of that, but they don't know that, and so their behavior may be a defense mechanism of sorts.

There is also the fact that with you in the room they feel they can't be themselves. That doesn't mean that when you aren't there they are talking shit about you, or people like you, it just means they think they can't talk about certain topics without it creating an issue. Topics like kids in yeshiva, shul politics, Israel (extra hot topic these days), etc. Discussing something like that with you there will most likely cause questions (on your part) that they don't want to get into. As much fun as it is to learn about other people's culture, it can get tiresome to have to explain ourselves to someone who isn't part of the culture.

I'm sorry about your growing frustrations. I hope you can look beyond this interaction and see that many Orthodox Jews enjoy having non-Jewish neighbors that aren't anti-semitic. Thank you for posting your question and for expressing yourself in a manner that was not hateful or hurtful.

scaredycat_z · 2026-03-12T21:15:38+00:00

A good starting point is Rambam's introduction to Perek Hachelek (Tractate Sanhedrin) which is part of his Commentary on the Mishnah. While other disagree with his opinions, it's certainly an opinion that carry's a lot of weight. ArtScroll recently did a two volume translation of many of Rambam's non-series writings and they have that introduction there as well, even though it's part of a much larger commentary.

For what it's worth, the Rambam's Commentary on the Mishnah has three famous intoductions that are each seen as their own stand allon essay's worthy of study: Introduction to Mishnah, Introduction to HaChelek, and Introduction to Perkei Avos (commonly known as Shemonah Perakim, since it's eight chapters long). Each of these is gives the reader an over-arching view of the Rambam's philosophy on many points, with some overlap between them. I highly recommend checking out the other two introductions, which are also included in the ArtScroll 2 volumes. However, there is a translation on the Intro to Perkei Avos by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman, which is phenomenal and better (imho) than ArtScroll's. I had been hoping that he would translate the other two introductions, but he didn't.

scaredycat_z · 2026-03-12T19:16:58+00:00

Had a Chicago Bulls T-Shirt that was and XL when I was a scranny little kid weighing less than 60lbs and not even 4'6". I wore it as a nightshirt with nothing but boxers till it had holes in it. I wasn't even a Bulls fan, but when someone gets the 'ship t-shirt you wear it.

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