Random Questions

Yes, but it bans discriminating against men just as much as it bans discriminating against women.

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Fair enough! Sorry if I insulted you with the protections thing. I have “protections” under the law as a disabled person and never thought the need for it implied anything negative about me or others, etc.

Bowing out now! Have a good night all :slight_smile:

ETA: Just wanted to add to this for clarity because I feel the topic veered way off; the whole reason I brought up sex protections is because the three people kicked out, who I posted about initially, have all been women. Caster identifies as female, not intersex, and the other two athletes who couldn’t meet the female standards for competition were cis women who identify as female and whose hormone issues were not even known until olympic testing, because they were that subtle. There’s this thing where cis women are starting to being told they are not women, but are intersex or “other” if they have a hormone irregularity, when that is not their experience at all and certainly not how they are treated in the world.

I was never implying protection from men trying to compete against them, but protection from medical/athletic discrimination in general, and I think in this case women are being discriminated against by a rule that doesn’t apply to lots of women. When cis women repeatedly can’t meet the standards for female sex, I think that’s inherently discriminatory to women. That it’s happening most to Black women is not surprising since having African heritage can make women likelier to have naturally higher t and all our hormone standards are based on white people. So, in an effort to be inclusive we are excluding the exact group of women that is most often thrown under the bus, Black women, and I feel like there’s not a lot of outrage and it will keep happening if we don’t alter standards. There should be a list of characteristics to determine sex and you should have to meet a certain percentage of them to qualify, is my alternate idea. Like at the DMV when proving residency. That way if you can’t hit one you aren’t immediately disqualified as “not a woman”.

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Is a small safe or “fireproof box” better than the ones that are more like fireproof laptop bags? I seriously don’t have much to keep in it so it does not need to be big. I’m thinking house and car titles and birth certificate. I don’t have good jewelry. What else even goes in there? The subject was brought up by my boss yesterday in reference to house title.

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There’s typically a rating of some sort listed on the products, but overall yes the boxes are substantially more protective than the little laptop bags you can get.

Whatever you do though, none of the products short of gigantic fire safes are actually all that protective, so make sure that you have copies of everything digital back ups and know how to replace stuff. If it’s something truly irreplaceable, definitely consider a safe deposit box.

My (rhetorical, I am avoiding reading anything about this or the Olympics in general) question is whether testosterone levels are known for the specifics of the general population as well. Is Olympian xyz an actual outlier or do others in their home area have similar hormone values? Has anyone creating the rules even made sure the values are current and applicable to all people, or are the rules based on values gleaned from generations of white people like 99.99999999% of the rest of medical knowledge?

My very unscientific opinion about this ruling is that the Olympics are racist as fuck. So is medicine. So is the way most people interact with science. Biased against women too, but foremost racist.

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Thanks! I will get a small box type thing.

Now for the stupid question: where do you keep the digital backup? Is it in an email I send to myself so I always have access? Is it a memory stick given to a trusted family member in case the house (and computer) does burn down?

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This would be a good question for @brute or the like re: security. I use Evernote, because I started doing that over a decade ago lol. Husband uses one drive a lot. We also email stuff to each other in gmail, and some stuff is on a flash drive as well :woman_shrugging: It’s hot mess soup around here but hey, I know where to find stuff.

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I mean… for my tech level? A sticky note works lol. But I am probably capable of scanning and emailing stuff to myself. But anything will be better than the not-fireproof thing all my stuff is in currently. Also I don’t have much that needs securing.

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This is totally my weak point.

Well, no, my actual fire safe is also fairly empty at the moment and I keep sending off the copy of my birth certificate so I should take time to relocate all this stuff!

Any of the cloud based storage things are pretty decent. I keep a flash drive in a fireproof safe for things are particularly sensitive that I’d rather lose than someone else get ahold of. Everything else is in box or Google drive

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Mine’s all in Google Drive, plus I keep photos of a few things on my phone that I might need day to day - vaccine cards come to mind.

And a safe deposit box for the things where electronic really won’t do the trick. Husband’s DD 214 is the main example of this, and he was navy, so all of the official records were lost when Katrina flooded the Navy’s long-term records.Also backup copies of passports and birth certificates, since that way at least I know where they are. And those are a good start on rebuilding anything else that might need rebuilt.

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Ironically the biggest thing with most fires isn’t actually it being fire safe, because most things aren’t rated to withstand direct attack. It’s actually being water safe, because the water and smoke damage that result from putting out the fire is what causes most destruction for most structure fires. So even just a good Ziploc baggie with a dehydrating packet in it is an excellent start beyond what most people are doing.

And don’t store that Ziploc in your garage or kitchen. That’s where most fires start, so if you can store away from those two spots in your home it’s way more likely to have your documents survive that way. Ideally don’t store in a room directly above either of those rooms either.

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Hey sorry! Didn’t mean to leave you hanging, I had to go out, but looks like you got what you needed :grin:

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Are you supposed to tip a cleaning person if they are self-employed? If so, how much? I tried googling but all the answers were from maid agencies, which are a different story.

Numbers

The person I’m planning to hire for monthly cleanings quoted me $130 for my ~1400 sq ft 3 bed/2bath house. She says she generally spends 2 hours cleaning. Do I tip 15% in this case?

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I recently asked this, it sounds like (at least people local to me?) they only do holiday bonuses, not tipping every time. Some people do small tips if the cleaners are with a big company though?

I’m trying to navigate this right now, we’ve never had a cleaner/I never had one growing up, and we’re looking to hire someone now, local lady and her daughter came out yesterday to prep a quote for us.

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Maybe I’m the odd one out but in general I don’t tip contractors. I figure they are running a business, telling me what they want to be paid, so please just tell me and don’t play games. I often get multiple bids for big projects, and price is one of the things I evaluate. When I award I expect to pay what they quoted.

For ongoing services holiday gifts or bonuses are definitely a thing.

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Same - I haven’t had a cleaner before either.

In googling it looks like folks generally tip a small amount if the cleaning person is part of a larger agency, but for an independent contractor I find it confusing. I mean - I don’t tip my plumber or electrician… :woman_shrugging:t2:

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@AnneBeddingfeld I’m not sure where you’re based, this may not apply if you’re outside of the US.

I always tip cleaners, even if they’re independent contractors. My take on it is that an extra $20 (or whatever) isn’t going to make a difference to me, but likely will to someone who isn’t making a living wage and has a physically demanding job.

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As long as it wasn’t a financial strain, I would tip (in cash), wouldn’t abide by a certain percentage though.

In regards to the contractor arguments above… I wouldn’t tip any skilled trades but maybe would tip a handyman. Hmm.

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Hi! Is 200mbps a good enough internet speed for an apt that:

  • has two adults, 1 wfh
  • 2 phones that are usually set to use wifi as main connection source
  • no cable, relies on streaming netflix most days
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