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PaperclipPerfector  1hr ago (text post)   32 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 8, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Who should I follow on X? I follow exactly zero people, and my feed is mostly low-quality culture war.

I want a high-quality feed, not necessarily CW, anything goes as long as I don't close the app feeling like I've just eaten at Hooters.

I follow A.Shipwright and one other artist, and my feed is filled with art (IMO only mediocre but I’m picky).

Someone rec me a good TL of the Illiad/Odyssey.

It's been a long time since I've read/studied it and I'm out of date. I at least dimly remember a lot of pushback from some better-read people than I about the Emily Wilson TL of the Odyssey.

I kind of want to read a passable translation again for posterity's sake due to some discussion and dissatisfaction I've noticed with the latest trailer for Nolan's attempt at Homer. Not in prose if possible, ideally the power and scope of the oral poetry should be preserved. Despite the power of the "Sing, O Muse, of the Rage of Achilles" line, many of the recommended or popular TLs I've seen have far shittier renditions of that verse.

Definitive editions with copious endnotes! Aren't they cool?

Example endnote:

Les noms de villages et de lieux-dits correspondent à des réalités géographiques. L'édition originale imprimait Herlies pour Herlier, se qui a été corrigé par la suite. Goskal n'existe, remarque Charles Samaran, que sur la carte de Cassini. Dumas ou Maquet l'ont-ils consultée? CS ne le croit pas, mais suppose que Dumas a noté le nom en se promenant dans la région de Béthune. Enfin l'édition originale porte non pas Erquinghem mais Enguinghem.

Via Google Translate, with obvious liberties curtailed:

The names of villages and hamlets [in The Three Musketeers chapter 65 (Judgment)] correspond to geographical realities. The original edition printed "Herlies" instead of "Herlier", which was subsequently corrected. Goskal does not exist, Charles Samaran notes, except on the Cassini map. Did Dumas or Maquet consult it? CS does not believe so, but surmises that Dumas noted the name while walking through the Béthune region. Finally, the original edition features not "Erquinghem" but "Enguinghem".

The evolution of my custom house's construction schedule:

  • 2025-07-23: The contractor offers me a contract with tentative schedule extending from 2025-10-13 to 2026-01-13 (13 weeks). I clarify that such an early completion date is not convenient for me. (At the time, I plan to retire in 2027-02.)

  • 2025-07-24: I sign a contract with tentative schedule extending from 2026-08-03 to 2026-10-03 (9 weeks).

  • 2025-09: I am overwhelmed by depression, retire ASAP, and inform the contractor that I am ready to proceed with construction earlier than I said previously.

  • 2025-12-16: I sign a contract with tentative schedule extending from 2026-03-30 to 2026-07-06 (14 weeks).

  • 2026-02-17: Via email (not in a contract), the contractor gives me a tentative schedule extending from 2026-03-02 to 2026-05-06 (9 weeks).

  • 2026-03-02: Construction starts.

  • 2026-05-04: I make my weekly visit to the site, note that completion within the next two days seems impossible, and via email ask the contractor for a new tentative completion date.

  • 2026-05-07: The "construction coordinator" informs me that both the "sales director" who gave me the date of 2026-05-06 and the project manager who has been overseeing the project no longer work at the contractor, and she will obtain a new tentative completion date soon.

This was this project's second project manager, too (replacing the one that I complained about previously). I don't know whether (1) the rats are fleeing the sinking ship, or (2) this churn is just a natural part of the renaming/restructuring/reshuffling that the contractor is going through (which started in 2025-11).

Photograph: Unpainted drywall; R-49 ceiling insulation

Interesting excerpt from the latest annual SEC filing of Opendoor, perennially-unprofitable startup number umpteen:

Market Overview

The current landscape is highly fragmented. Today, nearly 90% of residential real estate transactions in the United States involve an agent. There are over two million licensed real estate agents in the United States, who each complete approximately four transactions on average per year, and many of whom do not solely work in real estate. Without appropriate support, this can lead to an inconsistent experience for consumers looking for guidance in what is typically the largest financial decision of their lives. Consumer satisfaction reflects this broken experience, with traditional real estate transactions generating Net Promoter Scores around 30, significantly below other major consumer categories and well below Opendoor's average NPS of nearly 80.

Net promoter score is calculated as follows:

  • To your customers, give a survey: "On a scale from 0 to 10, how likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague?"

  • People who answer 10 or 9 are categorized as "promoters"; people who answer 8 or 7, "passives"; and people who answer 6 or lower, "detractors". (Insert complaint about rating inflation.)

  • Net promoter score is defined as promoters minus detractors (in percentage terms), and ranges from −100 to +100. According to popular survey administrator Qualtrics, 1 to 20 is "good", 21 to 50 is "favorable", 51 to 80 is "excellent", and 81 to 100 is "world-class". According to popular survey administrator SurveyMonkey, scores of 30 to 45 are average, and scores of 55 to 75 are in the top 25 percent of companies in a selection of popular industries.

Of course, this number is from Opendoor's SEC filing, so it probably is biased toward Opendoor. But 80 versus 30 is a pretty wide margin.

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