Thread 7 - TalkLair: “In fact it’s an oblate spheroid”

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of previous threads (thread 6).
The new lair of JTT escapees is all cosy and homey; we have truly settled here. Outside, the garden is blooming with spring flowers. Inside, the hearth is glowing, pictures are up on the walls, rugs are down on the floors (and assorted pets curled up on them).

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

wrong

The dog did that too. Clever, but not quite clever enough.

I don't know of any flying squirrel species that live in permanent social groups, but some will nest together in winter. And they have a longish period of parental care (by small rodent standards), so might well retain some 'look after me' behaviours in adulthood.

They also fluoresce pink under UV light. Nobody knows why.

I'm now imagining the distress of drunkards wandering into an area with UV illumination in the background and suddenly surrounded by pink flying squirrels.

Ha ha at that. <Squirrels away factoid for QI V series under 'ultra-violet'>

I am currently laughing at the fascinating 'What is a man' documentary linked to on another thread.

Squirrels are allegedly the most intelligent of the rodents, and now it seems that flying squirrels also have a sense of humour. We should perhaps fear them?

Animals that unexpectedly glow under UV would be an excellent QI question - they've recently discovered quite a lot. Mainly marsupials, I think, but that's quite likely to be a result of the first unexpected glower being a marsupial, so anyone with an equiring mind, a UV lamp and access to marsupials rushed out to test the rest of them.

Have they established whether it's the animal itself that glows, or stuff that lives on/in its hair?

I'm pretty sure my cats don't glow - I have a little UV torch I use for checking out which bits of green glass in the family collection contain uranium.

I did learn recently that scorpions glow under UV light so that's another one.

I love that squirrel. I would give it hugs and cuddles and treats every single time it played dead because the work he put into that deserves a reward.

@Kucinghitam I'm so sorry that Phoebe has left you. She was a beautiful girl and like others I know how much it hurts when we lose a pet. Much love to you.

I saw Mark Steele live last night and he was very funny indeed. I had a front row seat!

Well now I want a flying squirrel!

We use a device similar to this and it works well:

Damn, wrong thread...

Now I'm curious to know what sort of BDSM thread it ought to have been on?

It's a jar opener, but I know what you mean! 😅

Thank you all for being so lovely about my ancient scratty little cat For such a tiny thing, she's left an enormous aching crater in our hearts

Perhaps we should fill it with a pink-glow-in-the-dark flying squirrel?

If you look up Thumbelina squirrel there’s a woman in NY who rescued a baby one and it now lives as a pet because it wouldn’t cope outside due to some sort of medical condition. Apparently it’s extremely hard work and she doesn’t recommend them as pets to anyone. She did a video of all the damage the squirrel has caused over the years, it was quite shocking

I've seen photos of what squirrels can get up to in lofts and dread to think what they'd do with soft furnishings. Did this squirrel shred her house?

It did shred a lot of stuff yes, particularly the sofa

I was just reading this thread: www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4821404-weird-man-on-running-route-how-to-handle-public-sharing-of-my-image?
and feeling furious on behalf of the OP about how women are socialised to Be Nice and Kind, and when it starts to go tits up everybody minimises it.

Then I thought, that's just happened to me (albeit in a less scary context) at work this week.

Earlier this year, I was involved in advance booking/arranging a series of things, which required sorting things out online. A non-internetty colleague asked me for help to book their thing and they wanted to have a date this summer, which I was happy to do. Put through the booking, all approved by line managers, purchase order sorted by admin office.

Last week, they emailed again to say they needed to make changes. I replied saying Yes, the thing can't be cancelled but changes are allowed, go ahead.

Then they emailed again on Thurs/Fri asking what were the administrative rules, could this go through XYZ budget, could I contact the relevant admin office on their behalf, etc. I don't know what the fuck I was thinking, apart from a desperation to clear my inbox so I could concentrate on Phoebe. So instead of saying "Look, just sort it out yourself" I fired off an email to the admin office with the query.

Monday's reply from the admin office is that the colleague's date for the thing, it turns out, is outside the allowed dates (this had not been mentioned by admins at the time of booking) and in fact the cost should be reimbursed (not indicated by whom or what the fuck to do since the thing is past cancellation date). Basically, if colleague had just gone ahead with unchanged thing, and I hadn't so helpfully made the enquiries colleague had asked for, the thing would have just gone ahead. Now I have a big fucking headache ahead. And presumably it's ultimately my headache because I was the so helpful numpty who made colleague's booking in the first place.

Is there anything to stop you forwarding admin's email to colleague saying ' this is more complex that I was led to believe, you will need to talk directly to office bod in order to sort it.' Cc'd back to the office and your line manager(s).

You are not the bloke's admin support person. afaik. If you are, a shady corner and cup of tea and an ice pack on the head seem the best plan.

Also, why is colleague 'non internetty? in 2023. That's a sort of learned helplessness that should not be accepted - it's like not being able to read and write. A quarter of a century ago it would have been more common, and addressed by training - the skill was expected, even back then (I started a job in 2000 and was non internetty^ - work organised ECDL for all of us in that benighted state before the end of that year).

Three post incompetent formatter, hope you can work out what I meant to write.

Maybe I need an ECDL refresher course.