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I also am terribly understaffed and the staff I do have do not care at all about working. It is ridiculous. New hires come in and tell me they don't understand how i can function, and then quit because the existing staff are so terrible, and with our HR policies I can't just fire them, I have to go through all the steps and write-ups. Yeah.
So I started applying at other places, and just got an email asking when would be convenient for a phone interview.
I have never done one, especially not one with someone from a separate HR company. I have no idea what to expect. It is also for a completely different job - admin manager at a furniture store. I know I can probably do it but I am freaking out a little, because I at least know what to expect from where I am and I get 4 weeks paid vacation and decent benefits... and this is a complete unknown. I do know that they have to meet my salary expectations, but other than that I have no clue what to even ask. I also want to stay on at my current job for another 5 weeks (including the one I am currently in) because I will qualify for my annual bonus and it is a significant amount of money, and I have to finish the financial year. Bonus is actually not usually paid out until end of April, but if i work out the year I am entitled to it and I will fight for it if I have to, because we are talking thousands of dollars - last time it was almost $3200, and I was pro-rated for the 7 weeks of unpaid leave I was on. But I don't know if telling them that will cost me the job, so I don't know what to do. I guess I am also partly putting the cart before the horse, as I have not even interviewed yet, but I am a planner and want the ducks all in a row beforehand if I can.
Advice?
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Originally posted by
whiskyinmind at Google Privacy Issues: Web HistoryOriginally posted by 
anjak_j at Google Privacy Issues: Web History
If you are going to do this, you need to do it before March 1st. It has been said that users will not be able to do anything about this after that date.
With reference to Google's policy changes and how everything you do with your Google account will be tied together into their super-cauldron of information, you will probably want to clear your Google Web History out - if you turned that feature on - before month's end. After that, you won't be able to clear it, and everything you search for will be connected with your account.
To check settings and/or clear out your Web History:
1. Go to Google. If you aren't signed in already, do so.
2. In the top right-hand corner you'll find your email address or name, perhaps an icon if you have a Plus account, and a little downward facing arrow. Click on the arrow and a menu will pop up.
3. Click to 'Account Settings'. This will take you to a page called 'Accounts'. (If you have a Plus account, you might go via a Plus sign-in page.)
4. Scroll down to a section called 'Services'. Here you'll find an option called 'View, enable, or disable web history', which has a link next to it. Click on the link.
5. If you never turned web history on, you'll get a page asking if you want to turn this service on. Just click 'No Thanks' and all is good. If you did turn it on, you should have a list of your searches. At the top there is a button that says 'Remove All History'. Click this and follow the instructions which will remove all items from your Web History and pause the feature so nothing else will be added in future.
Also, you can completely remove Web History as a service from your account by clicking THIS LINK, checking the tick-box and confirming you want to remove Web History. To be safe, it is probably best to do the steps above first to remove any history that might have already been collected.
With reference to Google's policy changes and how everything you do with your Google account will be tied together into their super-cauldron of information, you will probably want to clear your Google Web History out - if you turned that feature on - before month's end. After that, you won't be able to clear it, and everything you search for will be connected with your account.
To check settings and/or clear out your Web History:
1. Go to Google. If you aren't signed in already, do so.
2. In the top right-hand corner you'll find your email address or name, perhaps an icon if you have a Plus account, and a little downward facing arrow. Click on the arrow and a menu will pop up.
3. Click to 'Account Settings'. This will take you to a page called 'Accounts'. (If you have a Plus account, you might go via a Plus sign-in page.)
4. Scroll down to a section called 'Services'. Here you'll find an option called 'View, enable, or disable web history', which has a link next to it. Click on the link.
5. If you never turned web history on, you'll get a page asking if you want to turn this service on. Just click 'No Thanks' and all is good. If you did turn it on, you should have a list of your searches. At the top there is a button that says 'Remove All History'. Click this and follow the instructions which will remove all items from your Web History and pause the feature so nothing else will be added in future.
Also, you can completely remove Web History as a service from your account by clicking THIS LINK, checking the tick-box and confirming you want to remove Web History. To be safe, it is probably best to do the steps above first to remove any history that might have already been collected.
obstinatrix at To UK FlistiesOriginally posted by de_nugis at To UK Flisties
de_nugis at To UK Flisties(Taken most recently from amber1960, slightly adapted.)
If you're from the UK and you believe in freedom of speech and an uncensored interenet, you really need to sign this petition. There are others floating about, but that particular one is the best way to ensure that your voice gets heard. It's hosted on the directgov website and addresses parliament directly. If it gets more than 100,000 signatures, it becomes eligible for discussion in the House of Commons.
Everyone's been getting so worked up over SOPA -- and rightly so -- that ACTA seems to have slipped under the radar. This is hugely problematic, because ACTA is a similar bill, but it has the potential to be far more damaging than SOPA ever could be.
Some people seem to have this misconception that ACTA is the 'European SOPA', but that simply isn't true. It's a global treaty, and it's already been signed by eight countries, including the US, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore. Europe votes on Thursday. If they vote 'no', the bill will have to be taken back to the drawing board and reformulated, which should buy us some time at the very least.
If you think this doesn't affect you, you're wrong. If ACTA passes, it could well signal the end of the internet as we know it, and that isn't an exaggeration. It's not just about watching movies and television online. If ACTA passes, sites like YouTube, Livejournal, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and even Google and Wikipedia could become impossible to maintain. ACTA would allow ISPs to monitor your net activity and cut off internet access for your entire household if one person is suspected of breaching copyright. Think Big Brother is Watching. I don't think I need to emphasise just how damaging it can be to be without internet access in this day and age, when we rely so heavily on technology.
It's not only bloggers and fandom that would be affected, either. Small businesses, independent film-makers and unsigned musicians who have previously found their niche online would also suffer hugely, and would be at risk of being bullied into submission by Hollywood and multinational corporations under accusations of copyright infringement. All those artists who found fame by uploading covers of songs to YouTube would never have had the opportunity to do so under ACTA, as those cover versions would be prohibited.
I know the internet has its problems, but to my mind it's the single greatest invention to come out of modern times, and it would be an absolute travesty if we were to lose that now. From a personal point of view, I can't even put into words how important this is to me. I've met some of my closest friends through the internet and online fandom, people whom I would likely never have met without it, and it's given me this amazing social support system. I don't want that to end here, and I want to preserve it for future generations so that they can have the same experience and opportunities I've been given through my online interactions.
I know that opinions on the seriousness of copyright infringement and online piracy vary wildly, but that isn't really the point. Internet giants such as Google are opposed to this bill, and it's pretty safe to say that they're not in favour of copyright infringment, as anyone who's ever had a fanvid taken down from YouTube will be painfully aware. Whatever your stance on copyright, this isn't the way to go about dealing with it. This is dangerous legislation that impeaches on some of our most basic human rights, such as the right to privacy and freedom of speech.
So if you're from the UK, please, please sign the petition. If you hail from elsewhere in the world, there may well be similar movements in your own country, but I think the most effective thing anybody can do right now is to keep talking about this. Talk about it on Livejournal, on Twitter, on Tumblr, on Facebook, and anywhere else you can think of. Make sure this issue is never far from people's minds. The internet is an amazingly powerful tool: let's utilise it while we still have the chance.
Please repost and spread the word :)
SAY NO TO ACTA!
Please consider reposting this, especially if you have a large proportion of UK flisties. And please consider spreading the word via other platforms: Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, your own personal network.
amber1960, slightly adapted.)If you're from the UK and you believe in freedom of speech and an uncensored interenet, you really need to sign this petition. There are others floating about, but that particular one is the best way to ensure that your voice gets heard. It's hosted on the directgov website and addresses parliament directly. If it gets more than 100,000 signatures, it becomes eligible for discussion in the House of Commons.
Everyone's been getting so worked up over SOPA -- and rightly so -- that ACTA seems to have slipped under the radar. This is hugely problematic, because ACTA is a similar bill, but it has the potential to be far more damaging than SOPA ever could be.
Some people seem to have this misconception that ACTA is the 'European SOPA', but that simply isn't true. It's a global treaty, and it's already been signed by eight countries, including the US, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore. Europe votes on Thursday. If they vote 'no', the bill will have to be taken back to the drawing board and reformulated, which should buy us some time at the very least.
If you think this doesn't affect you, you're wrong. If ACTA passes, it could well signal the end of the internet as we know it, and that isn't an exaggeration. It's not just about watching movies and television online. If ACTA passes, sites like YouTube, Livejournal, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and even Google and Wikipedia could become impossible to maintain. ACTA would allow ISPs to monitor your net activity and cut off internet access for your entire household if one person is suspected of breaching copyright. Think Big Brother is Watching. I don't think I need to emphasise just how damaging it can be to be without internet access in this day and age, when we rely so heavily on technology.
It's not only bloggers and fandom that would be affected, either. Small businesses, independent film-makers and unsigned musicians who have previously found their niche online would also suffer hugely, and would be at risk of being bullied into submission by Hollywood and multinational corporations under accusations of copyright infringement. All those artists who found fame by uploading covers of songs to YouTube would never have had the opportunity to do so under ACTA, as those cover versions would be prohibited.
I know the internet has its problems, but to my mind it's the single greatest invention to come out of modern times, and it would be an absolute travesty if we were to lose that now. From a personal point of view, I can't even put into words how important this is to me. I've met some of my closest friends through the internet and online fandom, people whom I would likely never have met without it, and it's given me this amazing social support system. I don't want that to end here, and I want to preserve it for future generations so that they can have the same experience and opportunities I've been given through my online interactions.
I know that opinions on the seriousness of copyright infringement and online piracy vary wildly, but that isn't really the point. Internet giants such as Google are opposed to this bill, and it's pretty safe to say that they're not in favour of copyright infringment, as anyone who's ever had a fanvid taken down from YouTube will be painfully aware. Whatever your stance on copyright, this isn't the way to go about dealing with it. This is dangerous legislation that impeaches on some of our most basic human rights, such as the right to privacy and freedom of speech.
So if you're from the UK, please, please sign the petition. If you hail from elsewhere in the world, there may well be similar movements in your own country, but I think the most effective thing anybody can do right now is to keep talking about this. Talk about it on Livejournal, on Twitter, on Tumblr, on Facebook, and anywhere else you can think of. Make sure this issue is never far from people's minds. The internet is an amazingly powerful tool: let's utilise it while we still have the chance.
Please repost and spread the word :)
SAY NO TO ACTA!
Please consider reposting this, especially if you have a large proportion of UK flisties. And please consider spreading the word via other platforms: Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, your own personal network.
I will be going home in just over a week and I will be staying with my aunt, as she has a spare bedroom. It will be very weird though, and I think I will be more stressed once I am there and have to deal with it in a more immediate way. My brother tends to be quite antisocial, so I don't know how much I will be able to see him, but on the other hand he has gone to see mom at least twice (on top of helping her get her stuff out of the house too) in the last 2 weeks. He and the girlfriend picked mom up at work and drove her home one day, and on the weekend they stopped off at Grandma's to visit with mom too, which is good. I think that was probably what Mom was most worried about, that he would stop seeing her.
Other than that, I am almost ready for Christmas. I have to do up gift packets for the girls at work, and I still have to bake cookies tonight (2 am baking is my specialty), and I have one gift left to get for Chris, but everything else is done, wrapped, put up, etc so now I can just try to enjoy the holiday. I am off early tomorrow - I have to be in early as a tradeoff - and then I work the night shift Thursday, then back to early days Friday and Saturday. I only have Christmas Day off before I leave on the 30th at 5am, so I need to get organized and ready to go pretty soon after Christmas, which I am finding a little stressful, but my flight was a Christmas gift bought with Chris's airmiles, so I didn't have a lot of choice in the matter.
In other news, I am trying Plants vs Zombies on my phone. It seems a little glitchy, but I love it so that's okay I guess.
Then the bad. I found out in September that my dad has become a crack addict. In a literal sense. My brother, who still lived at home (paying rent to do so), found crack pipes in the living room on more than one occasion. Dad had weird changes in behaviour. He tried to hide it. I went home for a week in October, and he was often out all night. In fact, he did not have a single meal with me. Probably because he was smart enough to know if we were all home and awake he would hear about it from all of us. He skipped Thanksgiving dinner with the family, to drive around his dealer. It was not a good time. So I have been very stressed about all this. Mom also has a severely ruptured disc in her lower back. It was definitely ruptured back months ago when she started physio, but no one told her that. She was very sick with migraines for 2 weeks in August (which is when she first noticed Dad's off behaviour, as he could not hide it all with her home for 2 weeks and up at weird times when she needed more medication or was puking it up) and during that time she did not do any of her physio exercises... so when she went back to work after 2 weeks off the strain caused a spasm which in turn caused the ruptured disc to bulge so badly she is in traction twice a week at physio now and she can barely walk.
Anyway, tonight they got evicted.
My brother first saw a notice on the house when he got home from work one day early last week. He showed Mom, who talked to Dad who said it was because he had been late on payments but he was caught up now. Me, with the distance and knowledge that addicts LIE about everything money related (and apparently the only one with cynical genes at all), I would have immediately had a "go-bag" at the ready and all my important stuff at hand in case he was lying. They desperately wanted to believe he would not make them homeless. I guess they have learned their lesson now.
So Dad called my brother at work (he works 6-2:30, monday to friday, in a retail environment but in the receiving department) at about 2pm, telling him he had to get home NOW as he had to go to the lawyer's to get this mess straightened out but if no one was here they would not be able to get back in as they were drilling out all the locks right then. Luckily my brother had been talking about this to his GM at work, so she let him go right away (and I think she is paying him the half hour he left early too). He got home, Dad took just his one week of medications in a weekly pill thing - he has MS and needs his meds pretty badly - and left. He was not even going to call my mom at work to tell her anything. He was just ranting about them having no legal grounds to do this. So my brother had to call Mom at work, tell her to get in a cab and get home ASAP, as they had to be out by 4:30.
Mom came home and pretty much had a breakdown over this. She was able to call her sister to come (brother called his GF and she brought her brother in law with a truck to help, so he got out all his expensive electronics and stuff, but his $1100 bed, $500 portable A/C unit, $300 golf clubs, hockey equipment, most of his clothes, and his desk with all its papers are still in there; he is staying with one of her relatives for now) and mom and my aunt got the cats, some food & litter, some clothes and toiletries packed up and mom is with Grandma in her one bedroom apartment for now. The guys from the rental office felt bad, because as they put it, it was like "breakfast was on the table" - clearly they were not expecting it as nothing was packed, dishes in the sink, etc. So they will get another chance to get in and get some more of their stuff, but it will be at the convenience of the rental office because they have to be there to supervise. Mom is in no state to deal with any of this, and as brother was a minor when we moved in he is not on the lease so they are telling him nothing.
I have no idea where Dad is, nor do I care. I told him I would not come home if I did not hear that things were getting better. I had not heard that, but a few of my friends told me to come anyway and offered me their place to stay at, so I will be going home for new year's. Clearly that was not a wake-up call, and it was pretty much the only card I had to play as I live 2 provinces away.
This is terrible timing, but I suppose it could be worse. If it were 2 weeks ago they probably would not have let them back in as they would be trying to turn it around to re-rent by the first of the month. They do have a roof over their heads, and my aunt will store some of the furniture for when Mom can get a place for herself. I still have things there that I want out, but at this point I am pretty much calling it a loss - I have some books, some stuffed animals, and stuff like a crochet kit and travel Clue there, plus some clothes, etc. I hope they get a chance to get out most of the irreplaceable stuff, like our baby books, Mom's wedding dress, pictures of Grandpa who died 30 years ago, stuff from Grandma on Dad's side, who also died 30 years ago, our baby pictures, all that stuff. I think I know where most of it is, but I am halfway across the continent with no way to get back there, and I work retail so I have no options at Christmas to even take time off. (Head Office has given us our schedules down to the hour this year so I REALLY have no wiggle room for even a long weekend to go back and help out.) We have a LOT of stuff in there too, so I have no doubt we will miss a lot of it and leave it behind. When we moved in, it was just us, some friends, and a rented U-Haul and it was 2 days-ish (the evening one day to get in a lot of the bedroom stuff, and all day for furniture the next) AND we had the time to pack properly too. I am a bit of a hoarder, so I am feeling a lot of anxiety over the stuff, because I know the rest is going to be taken care of, and for the most part already is. I am also feeling a lot of rage about this, because even though intellectually I get that you cannot trust an addict, I am SO MAD that dad put his wife and son out on the street. how can you do that? how? how do you break your wife's heart like that? they were together from about 1973. after all that time, this is what it comes down to. it's terrible. I am trying to stay angry, because all i have left after that is anxiety and sadness, and i really don't have the reserves to deal with all this.
Originally posted by issendai at WARNING: Purina pet food has started making pets ill
I switched my own cats to Purina a couple of months ago, and their coats look so much better than they did on the old brand of cat food... but Buffy has started vomiting stomach liquids. Purina and Fancy Feast are off the menu. Permanently.
I have no idea why this isn't news. But if you're feeding your pets any Purina brand, please don't wait for media confirmation that something is going on. Stop feeding your pets Purina immediately.
issendai at WARNING: Purina pet food has started making pets illMy coworker John told me that his cat was seriously ill--throwing up, lethargic, refusing food, dropping weight. The previously healthy 6-year-old, 15-pound cat had lost a third of her body weight over the last few months. The vet couldn't find anything wrong with her. Blood tests were clean, and she didn't have any known illnesses. Yet she was a few days from organ failure.
That was a week ago. She's fine now. The solution was... to stop feeding her Purina cat food.
When John told me that, and said that friends of his had the same problem with their cats and Purina cat food, I looked into it. Holy shit. Take a look at the consumer complaints about Purina cat and dog food. This exact same problem has been an issue with Purina pet foods since 2007, but since this summer, the rate of complaints has picked up drastically. People who previously had to problems with Purina are reporting issues. Comment after comment sounds the same:
I've been feeding my three cats Fancy Feast canned food Chopped Grill Feast for many years. They have always devoured their meal and licked the plates clean. Last week, I noticed they did not want to eat much and went from plate to plate, ate a little. Next day, none of them would eat it. I kept trying new cans. What they did eat made them vomit and one cat was lethargic for days. I refuse to buy any more of this food. It's very scary. I don't know what is wrong with the food, but I fear it has toxins in it. I switched to another brand and the cats are fine now. Did anyone else experience this?
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My dogs have been eating Purina Dog Chow (green bag) for about four years. They used to eat only Iams, but due to financial issues, we had to go with a cheaper brand. The last bag I purchased was about a week and a half ago. My 14 years old Labrador has vomited about 5-6 times and my German Shepherd has vomited about 4 times. Something is wrong with this food! The food has a kind of metallic smell to it. It just does not smell right. I'm taking it back to the pet store. I am changing my dogs' food, it's just not worth taking the chance to save a few dollars.
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We purchased a large bag of Purina One Salmon dry cat food to give to a needy pet owner. She emailed us a couple of days later ,to say that there were maggots, lots of them with what looked to be like strands or webs with more dead gnats or flies, pieces of web in the food and "shells" of gnats or flies in the bag. Cats would not eat much of the food and, fortunately, they did not get sick. The store had noticed this problem in other bags and was willing to swap out.
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I purchased a 34 lb bag of Purina One Smartblend dog food every three to four weeks for my two Labradors. The last bag I purchased seemed fine until I noticed a new infestation of little black bugs. Upon further inspection through the contents of the bag, I noticed clusters of white "eggs" adhered to quite a bit of the food. Some of these clusters contained larvae in the process of hatching. I immediately threw out the remaining contents of the bag but did save samples for my vet.We went out of town last weekend and had friends dog sit for us. We originally attributed their lethargy and random vomiting to separation anxiety. Although they are doing better, I am still concerned and will be watching them closely. As stated, I saved samples of the infested dog food for our vet in the event that anything results from this issue.
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I recently switched to the Friskies Poultry Variety pack (32 cans) that says it must be used by August 2013 (12281789 09:31 lo61237) sku (050000454242). I have 5 cats and feeding them this food, I noticed some of them throwing up. There's nothing in it but liquids, no hair ball, no food, nothing. My cats range from 8 weeks to 13 years old.
I switched my own cats to Purina a couple of months ago, and their coats look so much better than they did on the old brand of cat food... but Buffy has started vomiting stomach liquids. Purina and Fancy Feast are off the menu. Permanently.
I have no idea why this isn't news. But if you're feeding your pets any Purina brand, please don't wait for media confirmation that something is going on. Stop feeding your pets Purina immediately.
