One time, we were given six month’s wages plus a month’s wages for each year we had worked there (I had been there 12 years). The company paid for career counseling, resume training, self awareness (similar to Myers Briggs only it was useful), use of an office space and computers and printers to hunt for jobs.

Another time, we were told that our entire IT department wasn’t important enough to keep and our jobs had been outsourced to India. But they still wanted us to stay for four weeks and train our replacements. Bitch, if I’m not important enough to keep, then I’m not important enough to train anyone. I collected my stuff and walked out that day.

• The Italian Job (1969)
• The Magnificent Seven (1960)
• Ennio Morricone’s music for the Man With No Name series

Press windows D to go to desktop and press alt F4 until you get the shutdown menu.

Colossal Caves. First graphic game was Space Invaders.

It’s “its”, not “it’s”, unless you mean “it is”, in which case it is “it’s”.

• Mr Francis, high school English

Like in “science”.

Mother very easily made a jam sandwich using no plate.

ADHD or autism. See a therapist for advice.

Get a dozen mates together, pay him a visit.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

I use vie in the zeeshell to edit my suedooers file.

• Eccentric
• “A wide variety of interests”

My parents emigrated separately in the 1950s from a large city in Europe to Australia.

• My mother didn’t know anyone in Australia and went to stay with her sister (who had previously immigrated) until she could find somewhere to live.
• My father went to stay with his best friend (who had previously immigrated) until he could find somewhere to live.
• Coincidence 1 That friend had been the best friend of my mother’s older brother back in their city of origin
• Coincidence 2 My parents grew up around the corner from each other in their city of origin, within a few hundred metres of each other. They went to the same school, knew the same teachers, but had never met
• Coincidence 3 My parent’s fathers worked at the same company and were friends at work, but didn’t socialise together outside of work

There were 3 ways my parents could have met each other, but they didn’t meet until they moved to the other side of the world, when they discovered that they had so much in common.

Chicken salt

Rubik’s cube

Why would you think it can only be pronounced with an “uh” at the end? Where did that come from?

I can’t think of any words that end in the hard a (but I’m willing to learn, hence this post).

But words that end in the letter a with the “uh” sound seem to be common:

China Koala Academia Pizza Cicada

Crowdstrike
Microsoft

If you have to interact with them, make it as minimal as possible. Otherwise just blank them out; ignore them, don’t look at them, don’t talk to them, don’t notice them.

My son came up with “epilopter” and that’s what we call them now.

Spray water (fine mist from a bottle) on the inside of your windows and use it to stick aluminium foil to the glass, shiny side out. I do the top ⅔ of the north-facing windows (I’m in the southern hemisphere) each summer and it reduces the indoor heat significantly.