Not Quite a motss.con xii (via Zoom)

On Saturday, February 4, 2023, the soc.motss.con bunch had another Zoom call.

We had 14 people over the course of the two hours or so I was there (though never more than nine camera feeds at a time). I had fun catching up, and it seemed like others did too. Discussion topics (as I wrote them down, but not necessarily in chronological order) included: Art, artistry, and business Weather (cold and rain) Television, advertising, and streaming services Sportsball versus the Oscars® Theaters, performances, and acoustics Award show venues Performers' reliance on technology versus projection Travel (mainly NYC, muesums, and the High Line) Funerals and parents' expectations Reunions When being (or being called) a nerd or a geek became okay What's the last great insult? (Dork (since reclaimed), dweeb, nimrod...) AI replacing tasks (including computer programming and students' essays) How people are losing skills (math, reading analog clocks, reading and writing cursive (including signatures), reading paper maps (navigation in general), and so on) Clock Face Test (for Medicaid and as a cognition test) Where do you even see analog clocks nowadays (hospitals and schools)? Pets (mainly Hector the ancient mouse and Sarah the terrier) and longevity... including when eaten by bears or neighbors' pets Finding a job and "money panic" (especially on a disability pension that goes away at 65) Jury duty as a daily routine Odd schedules and meals, split sleeping, and early bedtimes and meals Imaginary characters (Shrek), ogres versus trolls, baby Shreks The Mandalorian and the cuteness of "Baby Yoda" Cost of branded merchandise Is the scam rate increasing, decreasing, or staying the same? Help someone set up a firewall for her WiFi router (which became an out-of-band discussion) Internet fads (cats, goats in pajamas, and so on) Atomic clocks, and watches (and other electronics) that stop working Medical care, costs thereof, and how being married affects that Domestic partnership and marriage, and conversions thereof (esp. in Washington state) Cohabitation as a habit Providing proof of marriage for corporate health benefits (marriage certificate is sufficient even without state involvement) Identification (realID and otherwise), college transcripts, and diplomas, both real and fake Graduate degrees Running for congress while deceased New jobs, like liaising between police and technical companies Police problems, antagonism, and corruption Police K9 units and bomb-sniffing dogs Nihilism and other philosophical beliefs Past employment (as civilian employees with the military and the police) Founding of soc.motss and how nobody could come out because of their jobs Longhorns on vehicles, truck nuts, silhouettes on mudflaps, and so on motsseurs not present, and who's where and seeing whom Vote for motss.con.xxxiii (proposals are for Astoria OR and Orlando FL Previous motss.cons Travel and trauma, with surviving plane, train, and car crashes Sneaking pets onto planes and trains Pets falling off rooftops Ithaca as the "dog" con