Posts by Jessica Torres63

rapidnomad322 said:Honestly, I was just thinking about writing something almost exactly like that! I'm a government employee myself, and my paycheck is actually under $1667 (not that it's my fault, right?) ☕ It feels like even the ladies working at the local Target might be pulling in more than me, though realistically, the level of work, the responsibility, and the specialized knowledge involved isn't really comparable—and hey, I’m totally happy for them if they’re making more, I truly am!

But seriously, whose fault is it if you don't just go grab a job at that store instead?

If you actually look at the effective hourly rate for government workers compared to the private sector, it’s actually massive...

Because, okay, if that lady (who probably has just as much schooling as you or anyone else mentioned here) were actually working five days a week, like, a standard 9-to-5 or 8-to-4 schedule, and had actual vacation time and sick leave similar to what we get in the public sector, her pay would top out at maybe $1333.

And yeah, what Sam Martinez9 is saying is totally spot on.

I see it all the time, in so many different departments, even across different cities and counties... sorry, but with the way things run and how efficient everyone is...

Let me give you an example.

Take PersonA working at 7-Eleven versus PersonB working for UPS or FedEx.

Now, sure, PersonB is definitely making more money, no doubt about it. But once you see their actual downtime, the sheer volume of packages they have to move, the state of the delivery trucks, and the fact that they're grinding for 10, 11, or even 12 hours straight whenever there's a surge—instead of that nice 6-to-2 shift where if anything is left over, it just waits until tomorrow...

I've spent time looking into these kinds of situations and seeing how much work people are actually putting in. Trust me, if one guy is making $8.25 net, then the other guy in the private sector deserves at least 40-$15. But he isn't getting that.

Benjamin Taylor6 said:We’ve been asking for years. And look what we finally got: 😬 https://www.nytimes.com/article/company-layoffs-bankruptcy-news.html

GE is laying off 71 redundant employees, leaving basically nothing behind but the CEO and a handful of managers. This was once a legendary powerhouse, but for years now, they've been bleeding money, and now they're staring down the barrel of bankruptcy.

I mean, if you have even half a brain, you can see exactly what went down with this outfit 😉

Linda Young38 said:I'm totally with you on that, honestly, I've tried to point out this exact same issue so many times before—it's like when the person being accused is suddenly the one acting as judge and jury—but man, it feels like I'm just shouting into the void... 🙄

I was just fixing the typo because that specific moderator (the one you're calling out) just shuts down the whole thread without saying anything else...

Yeah, obviously. But it’s just weird how a moderator can just lock a thread without even leaving a comment, which basically implies they’re always right, and we all know that's just impossible in the real world...

And remember, it was mentioned early on that the OP is supposedly just a clone of the moderator (probably Louise, I guess?), and from what I hear, you could actually prove it if you tried. So, if there's no proof, then the mod is basically lying—and what happens when that's the case?...

I mean, seriously, people are doing this work for free and yet they still show their true colors!

Jacob Brown11 said:So, are you guys saying higher-ups should be getting more involved with the appeals process?
Because at that rate, we'd just be handing out more warnings...
One moderator actually told me straight up what everyone already suspects: "You can file an appeal against the staff all you want, but you know how it goes—you'll probably just end up getting another strike from Nice right after you submit it." 🙂

Democracy in the North American region has always meant something completely different than what it's supposed to...🤦

Linda Young38 said:I think only the specific subforum mods and the admin have the actual power to lock threads for banned users, not just any random moderator on the site... though, obviously, a mod can easily just give their colleague a quick heads-up to get a thread shut down.

Whatever man... it's just totally ridiculous that you're having some "appeal" reviewed by the exact same moderator you're actually complaining about 🙄

I mean, seriously, would you ever let the same cop who gave you a ticket be the one to review your appeal? Or a judge? That makes zero sense...

It’s like if you had an issue with a professor at some big state university, they’d at least—and I mean *at least*—try to set up a committee of different faculty members to look into it, even if it's sometimes just a formality...

David Parker93 said:I mean, that’s just how the game is played. A moderator has every right to defend their call. The real headache is that the admins and super-mods always—and I mean *always*—back up their moderators. They just drop some generic line like, "The mod explained everything, the ban stands, deal with it," which is honestly ridiculous because it’s statistically impossible for every single moderator to be right 100% of the time. If there’s ever been an instance where an admin actually stepped in, fixed a mod's mistake, and admitted someone was unfairly banned or warned, please, for the love of God, show me an example... because I haven't seen one yet.

Look, sure, defending yourself is fine... but in most cases here, you see people trying to lodge a complaint against a mod, the mod gives them a response, and then boom, the whole thread gets locked 😵

It’s kind of like going up to a judge to complain about bias, only to have that exact same judge decide if your complaint is valid or not... it's wild 🙄

Total democracy, right? Just kidding...

And yeah, I totally agree, they’re always right, aren't they? Not to mention the level of subjectivity from the mods is getting pretty out of hand among the members too...

Maria Johnson said:I wasn't really planning on starting a whole thing here, but since I've got nothing better to do... why not, right?☕
Everyone’s always talking about complaining about the mods or getting banned if you don't use the specific thread meant for that stuff, but...
What happens when a mod themselves starts commenting—or honestly, just straight-up baiting people—on threads that aren't even about them, especially when they're responding to users who are actually trying to file a formal complaint about their behavior? Is that even allowed? Is there a rule for that? Because I was just wandering through some old corners of the site and stumbled upon this mess:
Here's what I found out in the archives:

And then, following that, there's just more insults flying around that nobody seems to be policing.

Then, once again, coming from the mod side:

I'm just wondering, are we regular users supposed to just turn a blind eye and swallow all this crap?

I'd love to hear from Nice on this one.

Just my two cents, thanks!

That last one (the second post from the moderator) pretty much tells you everything you need to know about their character, and honestly, it breaks my heart that nobody can step in and hold them accountable, regardless of what the actual argument was about...

So I'm scrolling through to see if any other threads are active, and I hit this... this person has already driven several users away from the PDF sections, and I'm seriously worried they might push even more people out.

It really goes to show that "absolute power corrupts absolutely," doesn't it? Once you give someone control, you see who they really are...

I really want to know, is there actually any oversight for moderator decisions? And what kind of twisted logic is it where the person being complained about is the exact same person who gets to jump in and "handle" the complaint? It makes zero sense...

So, is there anyone out there actually down to just... chat and type for a bit? I guess for starters, I’m looking for someone in that 25 to 45 age range—though honestly, I’m totally open to being surprised by how serious (or how much of a total goofball) you might be...

Just looking for someone to chat with casually and kill some time while things feel a bit gloomy lately... 😁 I'm totally down for meeting up in person, maybe grabbing a drink or hitting up a holiday market or something, but there's zero pressure if you'd rather just talk online. Age-wise, I was thinking somewhere in the 25-35 range, but honestly, that’s not a huge deal as long as we actually have stuff to talk about...

Location: Washington, D.C. and the surrounding areas

P. S. I don't want to come off as rude or anything, but after having a few bad experiences in the past, I’d really appreciate it if people who turn 80% of every conversation into a vent session about their own drama stay away... I'm happy to listen and maybe offer some advice here and there, but I'm not really looking to be a shoulder to cry on or a dumping ground for everyone's emotional baggage, you know? Thanks!

Jessica Torres63 said:I just stumbled onto this recently, so I figured let's give it a shot 🙂

I’m thinking about bringing this over to the US too—no shade intended to anyone, really—and while I wouldn't call myself a super depressed person, I’m definitely not the life of the party... I don't have a huge circle of friends or even acquaintances to speak of, though honestly, I'm not even sure if I actually want them, but I guess sometimes you just have to fight against that urge to push everything away.

It’s kind of tough to get a real conversation going through messages on here, especially since we don't really know each other that well, you know? We don't know what people think about or what they're actually into...

I mean, I love my peace and quiet, and being alone is something I genuinely need sometimes, but I've realized I'm not exactly some lone wolf who can just cruise through life without any human connection at all :P

I'm in my mid-twenties, so if you happen to be around that age—I find it way easier to vibe with people 25 and up—and maybe you're somewhere near Mickey Mouse, well, there's no guarantee we'll ever actually meet up, but I'm not exactly a coward either. It just gets a bit tricky when you live on the other side of the country.

Any experience shared is a good one, and a little bit of chatting doesn't hurt to get things moving 🙂

New Era.

Matthew Castillo5 said:I’ve been wondering how being part of the Psychic Reddit community has actually impacted your lives. What was it that first drew you to follow this sub, and what have you actually gained from participating—whether you're actively posting or just lurking in the shadows?

If it’s alright with you, I’ll wait a day or two before explaining my own reasons for starting this thread; I don't want my bias messing with your honest answers. But if you'd rather I just get to the point right now, let me know.

I’m genuinely looking forward to reading your deep dives on this. Thanks in advance for sharing. 🙂

Well, just like anywhere else on the internet, you've got the amazing people and then you've got... well, everyone else.

I honestly love reading, doing some deep self-reflection, and just throwing out threads about things that are bugging me or stuff I'm just genuinely curious about...

Besides Radical, I'm sure there are plenty of high-quality people here, but there's also a fair amount of folks who, unfortunately, have kind of soured this part of the forum for me, so I don't find myself hanging out here nearly as much as I used to...

Samuel Kim50 said:Why are so many young people fleeing this beautiful country? Once you finish school, you've got a decent career path ahead of you, and if you land a job with a starting salary of around $3,000 or $4,000, isn't that plenty for a young person just getting started? If there aren't enough opportunities in the Midwest, then pack up and head to California, the Coast, or even down to Florida—anyone with a real work ethic can always find a job somewhere.
Take a young family, for instance, where both the husband and wife are working and each brings home about $1.75. That adds up to $3.25 a month, which, in my opinion, is more than enough to get by. And if you’re lucky enough to live in a house provided by your parents, you're basically set for life; you won't be dreaming of moving to some gloomy place like Germany.😵 Even here, dishwashers can pull in about $1333 a month, and you don't need an advanced degree for that kind of work. I have a friend who is only 25, married with kids, and he drives a semi-truck making nearly $3.25. What I'm trying to say is that you can absolutely live a solid, comfortable life right here in America; you just have to be resourceful and make things happen.

I totally get where this guy is coming from, and honestly, I’m right there with him... it’s such a massive win in a lot of these situations, you know? Because let’s be real, most people just don't have the guts to pull the trigger on something that big... like, it's actually terrifying to think about packing up your entire life just to go rent some random sublet in a completely different state or even halfway across the country... it's a huge gamble and most folks just can't bring themselves to take that kind of leap...

Man, when you think about what wages should actually look like for young people or anyone working their way up the ladder, it’s honestly such a massive, complicated mess... I mean, it really could go a dozen different ways depending on who you ask, right? Like, if we’re talking about setting a baseline that actually lets someone live a decent life without constantly checking their bank account before buying a coffee... it’s gotta be more than just the bare minimum... because let's be real, everything from rent to groceries is getting so insanely expensive lately... so if we want the next generation to actually have a shot at building something for themselves, those paychecks need to reflect that reality... it’s not just about a number on a screen, it’s about being able to breathe... anyway, where was I going with this... oh yeah, the whole idea of fair compensation for the workforce... it's a huge conversation... $2000Of course, but I gotta know... how many hours of work are we actually talking about here? 🙂

But honestly, if you want my two cents—and this is really the real answer because I’m part of that younger crowd myself and I can already see myself heading out of here pretty soon...

The answer is actually pretty simple if you think about it... It's all just pure uncertainty!

There’s just this constant, nagging uncertainty hanging over everything, you know? Like, people love to tell you that once you hit 35 or 40, the private sector is basically a joke because they decide you’re suddenly "too old" for the grind... it's such a load of crap, honestly. But then you look at the public sector—and I’m talking about those big-name giants like Exelon, Zillow, Amtrak, or even the US Navy—and it feels like those spots are strictly reserved for people who already have some serious muscle or connections behind them... it's like there's no middle ground at all...

Man, you really have to think about the math when you’re staring down a massive loan with those sky-high interest rates... especially when you hit that mid-life stretch around 45, where you aren't exactly some high-flying specialist like a surgeon or a top-tier engineer with a flawless resume sitting on a golden parachute... and just when the kids are finally starting school and everything is getting expensive, life decides to throw a curveball and you lose your job... it’s just heavy, you know? It's that feeling of being totally stuck between a rock and a hard place while the bills just keep piling up...

I think I heard some statistic floating around somewhere—and hey, please feel free to set me straight if my memory is totally shot on this—but apparently, when you’re looking for work over the age of 50, the odds of actually landing a job are like... maybe 10%? And even then, you're probably just looking at something like a security guard gig or something similar... it's honestly pretty brutal out there...

You know, looking at things out there in that gloomy part of Germany... there are actually quite a few guest workers who finally made it to the finish line and reached their full retirement...

It’s just not the same thing when you think about it, you know? Like, when a married couple actually gets the chance to build a life together over sixty years... or even just forty years like we see here with certain averages... I mean, if you look at the median, it's like... well... $1333).

That’s just how I see it, honestly... though you can't ignore that mountain of debt we're sitting on, plus the fact that we'll eventually have to stop borrowing altogether once we hit the ceiling, which basically means we'll just end up handing everything over to those people who are only interested in squeezing every last cent out of the system anyway... and it just keeps going like that...

I just stumbled onto this recently, so I figured let's give it a shot 🙂

I’m thinking about bringing this over to the US too—no shade intended to anyone, really—and while I wouldn't call myself a super depressed person, I’m definitely not the life of the party... I don't have a huge circle of friends or even acquaintances to speak of, though honestly, I'm not even sure if I actually want them, but I guess sometimes you just have to fight against that urge to push everything away.

It’s kind of tough to get a real conversation going through messages on here, especially since we don't really know each other that well, you know? We don't know what people think about or what they're actually into...

I mean, I love my peace and quiet, and being alone is something I genuinely need sometimes, but I've realized I'm not exactly some lone wolf who can just cruise through life without any human connection at all :P

I'm in my mid-twenties, so if you happen to be around that age—I find it way easier to vibe with people 25 and up—and maybe you're somewhere near Mickey Mouse, well, there's no guarantee we'll ever actually meet up, but I'm not exactly a coward either. It just gets a bit tricky when you live on the other side of the country.

Any experience shared is a good one, and a little bit of chatting doesn't hurt to get things moving 🙂

William Richardson12 said:darkowl72, man, just a few years back, once my contract was finally up, they actually swapped out my busted router for a shiny new one without even making me sign anything new... totally unexpected... 😁

I’ve honestly realized that ever since I finished my commitment—which was over a year ago now—they've been way more chill with me, you know? Like, suddenly the service feels different...😁

I’ve been hanging around this forum for almost seven years now, but honestly, I think I’m done... I don't see myself posting here ever again.

The people running this place act like they're running an entire country or something; they rake in all this cash from ads and promotions, yet you never see a single cent being reinvested back into the site.
The whole forum is just constantly glitching out lately, especially over the last couple of weeks—it's just constant errors, slow loading, and half the time the pages don't even load at all...

And don't even get me started on the search tool or trying to browse through old posts—which, by the way, is super important if you actually want to see if someone is worth listening to or what their track record is like.
First they gave us one deadline for a fix, then they changed it to another, and now? Absolute radio silence...

I haven't spent much time poking around every single sub-forum, and most of them were fine, but man, that Diaspora section is a total disaster zone.

It’s a complete mess over there because one moderator—who is basically the textbook definition of someone who loves the "power trip" vibe, acting like she’s some untouchable authority figure... who does she think she is?—has driven away so many genuine expats. These were people who provided such great insight into life abroad, and now they've just moved on to other sites entirely.
People try to complain, but it feels totally pointless because this forum operates like a broken government where the only people getting anything out of it are the bureaucrats sitting in their cushy jobs while everyone else gets ignored.

And look, if we're supposed to be living in a democracy here, why aren't the moderators actually elected by the community with set terms and actual voters?

Question:

Are we really just nothing more than a bunch of statistics used to line your pockets, while any kind of real investment or modernization just never happens?

Thanks for nothing, and take care!

Charles Ramos7 said:Why don't you quote the whole thing instead of just picking out the sensational parts? 🙂

It’s a harsh reality, but even a job like this for Al-Asadi might just be a temporary fix. According to sources in Germany, these initial refugees still aren't legally allowed to work for private companies under a standard contract.
It's worth noting that in Germany, the legal minimum wage for all workers, regardless of nationality, is 8.5 euros an hour.

What does that even have to do with anything?

The full text is right there in the link.

Germany's policy was basically—for whatever reason—inviting refugees into the country in the first place...

Short and sweet: it all comes down to political will. The influx into Western Europe is minimal today, and that's strictly because of simple political choices.

And yeah, it's true that he's working, but it's within a state-owned institution... He's essentially a slave whose situation is being exploited, just like I said before...

Also, you can't forget that over the last three or four years, the expectations of Americans here have really plummeted because of everything going on in our neck of the woods... people are settling for lower pay just to keep a job and accepting all sorts of conditions just to get by...

dustyheron5 said:The global elites are following their playbook to the letter—while the working poor are left with nowhere to turn. If you don't want to play by their rules, you can always opt for unemployment. It's your choice...

It’s becoming obvious that bringing migrants and refugees into Germany isn't about what the German people actually need—it's about serving the interests of the ultra-wealthy and massive corporations. (Not exactly a secret, though the mainstream media does its best to bury it)

In the States, we have all these grand humanitarian initiatives—but you can't escape the hypocrites and idiots who refuse to see past their own noses.

I honestly feel like the influence of those elites—that tiny handful of people who basically pull all the strings on this planet—is just getting stronger and stronger every single day...

They’ve clearly amassed an insane amount of capital and property, and it feels like we're heading straight toward this massive, widening gap between the super-rich and everyone else...

Personally, though, I think this whole situation is going to have some serious consequences for those of us thinking about moving over there...

And it’s not just about money, it's about safety too, because you don't even have to look far to see how the second or third generations in France are becoming increasingly radicalized...

Anyway, I'm just sitting here waiting for tonight's results to see how the voters in Germany are actually feeling...

Looks like nothing’s changed yet, so I guess we're probably looking at another delay...

I was just wondering if anyone else is running into this weird error where you can't actually connect to the forum? Like, everything seems totally fine with my server and my connection is solid, but for some reason, I just can't get through to the site itself...

So, basically, the first wave of Syrian refugees in Germany are starting to pick up jobs for an absolutely insane wage—we’re talking one dollar an hour—and honestly, nobody is even trying to hide it anymore...

Back on Wednesday, the head of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, was out there saying "Germany needs more workers if they want to keep their lifestyle where it is." So, I guess now we finally see the "humanitarian spirit" Angela Merkel showed toward Syrians actually making sense from a purely economic standpoint...

Take Anas Al-Asadi, for example. He’s one of the first folks to arrive in Germany from Syria. After just a few days in the largest economy in Europe, he already landed a gig at a local youth center in a small town in Germany near New York City. His pay? A measly buck an hour, just doing basic tasks to help out the heads of the community center...

According to a report by Bloomberg LP, Al-Asadi wasn't just some random guy; back in Syria, he was actually a lawyer. He’s 26, highly qualified, and totally ready to work...

"Work isn't the issue for someone who was a lawyer in his home country, but let's be real, the pay is terrible," Bloomberg wrote...

And look, I get it, people from the North America really helped boost the German economy decades ago with their lower labor costs...

But even back then, when I was a young, educated guy moving over to Germany to work, Germany was the one reaping all the profits while America got left behind...

But man, what is this going to do to other immigrants, especially us Americans?

Are we really going to be expected to just show up, happy to work, and agree to take maybe a dollar or two an hour if they throw a meal in our direction...?

http://www.altermainstreaminfo.com.h...ce-rade-za-670

Same question here, is anything actually being done about this mess...

At first I was just thinking maybe I couldn't see other people's posts, but now I'm realizing I can't even use the search bar or access my own threads...

Is there any kind of fix on the horizon or what?

Jerry Robinson56 said:You really ought to blast that thing with some compressed air because there’s probably just a thick layer of dust gunked up on the heatsink fins, making it way less efficient at dumping heat than when it was brand new. Static electricity is a beast too, it pulls this super fine dust right onto the metal casing and just sticks it there...
The next big thing is you absolutely have to prop the laptop up off whatever surface it's on—like using a couple of 😁LEGO bricks or something—maybe an inch or two off the table.

Honestly, using your laptop on your lap or, even worse, on a bed or any kind of soft surface is basically a death sentence for the hardware.

You could also crack the case open and use a little brush and some isopropyl alcohol to deep clean both the fan and the heatsink assembly.

It’s usually sitting on my desk, just resting on its own little rubber feet, so it's not much, but there's at least some airflow happening down there...

darkowl72 said:Man, it would have been a whole lot easier if you’d just told us the specific model, the specs, and how old the machine actually is...

And maybe give us a better play-by-play of what's happening. I mean, if you stream the exact same video from YouTube and everything is totally fine, but then you download that same file to your hard drive and watch it locally and *then* it acts up... I don't know if overheating is the culprit, but hey, just to be safe, you should definitely check your temps using a few of those free monitoring tools just to be sure (check the CPU, GPU, and the drive).

If you decide to clean the laptop—which implies the temps are high and since it's an older machine it's probably out of warranty anyway—you really ought to take it apart, clean it out properly, and maybe even swap out the thermal paste. You can try doing it yourself or just take it to a repair shop like Geek Squad or something.

Just a heads up though, don't go shoving the compressor nozzle directly into the vents, because you'll just blow all that dust deeper into the guts of the machine, and you might actually spin the fan so fast it breaks itself...

So, yeah, basically...

It's a Dell XPS 13,

it's about four years old now,

got an i5, a GeForce with 1GB, and a 500GB HDD... do you guys need more info or what?

View on imgur -this is just playing some basic mp4 song file...

When I'm watching the same video online, the fan doesn't start ramping up immediately, but once I download it and try to play it back, after like 20 or 30 seconds, the fan just kicks on full blast...