I loved the Quest games! They were my first real introduction to the English language. Simple phrases like Open Door and feed chickens were a great way to build my basic vocabulary. I kept pestering my dad for translations until he got fed up and taught me how to use a dictionary :)
I have so many great memories playing those games, on my own and together with my dad. It really was a bonding experience.
That's true, I didn't think of that.
They don't need the BBB though. PVV, NSC and VVD should be good for an 81 seat majority.
But yes, I pretty much expect the coalition to fall within a year or two (should they manage to get a coalition to begin with). The question is who will cause the fall and who will be scapegoated. I wouldn't be surprised if they'll be positioning themselves for this inevitability from the start.
Bad, the PVVV, a far-right party, won the elections here in Netherlands. I woke up to the news that they won 37 out of 150 seats (2nd largest has 25 seats). Geert Wilders is such a... nationalistic, short-sighted, opportunistic, loud-mouthed, Putin loving.. asshole! Sorry, I really need to get this out of my system.
Thankfully they'll still have to form a coalition with other parties and I really hope they'll fail. Either that, or they spend a few months in government and show how ridiculously inept they are and let the cabinet fall.
This is so depressing...
I knew it would be bad, but not this bad. Only comfort I can take is in the fact that they'll have to form a coalition with other major parties. Most of them already flat-out denied working together with the PVV (Partij Voor de Vrijheid - Party For Freedom) but we'll see how much of that will remain true.
Hopefully the coalition will break and we'll have new elections in a year or so.
Oh dear, I hope you have a spare?
Took part in a work provided health check, and was pleasantly surprised. My cholesterol levels need to be better, but other than that I'm actually in pretty good shape! It's nice to get some good news once in a while.
Other than that, I'm in a general good mood. Feel like I'm a bit more in sync between my internal and external self, if that makes any sense :)
Oh yes, that's how I got my current job. I used to be an external contractor myself, said I was interested at working full-time for my employer (it's a very stable and fun job) and had to go through an entire circus. It was guaranteed I would get the job but I still had to:
All because their HR software requires certain steps to be followed or it'll refuse to process the application.
For our last contractor recruitment (new position, not a rehire) we got rid of our external selection agency (responsible for the first stage of resume scanning) and decided to do it ourselves, specifically for the reason in my last little rant. We didn't trust them to select the right candidates because they had no experience with our line of work and just blindly searched for keywords.
It was nice to get to see all incoming resumes but I had to pick through 40+ of them manually. And because of procurement laws, I had to grade all of them on a 20 point list of criteria we got to decide. On top of that, an applicant (or their recruitment agency) can challenge the fairness of the process if they feel we rated them unfairly on a specific criteria. So it was important to have a proper substantiation for every single judged criteria. That was over 800 times I had to check for proof if what a applicant claimed lined up with what their resume said.
And again, it was the recruitment agencies that really ruined my days (yes, plural). You could see that the recruiter altered resumes, wrote nonsense cover letters and did whatever they could to get past the criteria. At least half of the people who applied were clearly not suitable, but I still had to explicitly say why they weren't suitable for every single criteria.
Sorry, this is really something I can go on and on about.
It's definitely a nightmare, but that's what you get when you work in the public sector I guess.
It's pretty much a given if you want to even get through the automatic HR software many companies use. They don't care about your experience or how it could translate to a new situation, all they want is a match on a list of keywords.
Our team consists of a few internal employees like myself and a larger group of individual contractors hired for a year or two at a time. Due to procurement laws, we have to start a new tender when one of the contracts end, we can't extend a contract indefinitely. Which sucks because the contractors really are part of our team and have built up a wealth of domain knowledge. So we formulate the tender to make sure our current contractor is a perfect match and gets a chance at an interview (our work is specialized enough that it would require a miracle if a second candidate is just as knowledgeable and available).
Anyway, we had a situation wherein our own contractor did not get through the HR selection process for a resume that was specifically written for him. Turns out he used a slightly different description than what HR was looking for and got denied even though he was a literal perfect match.
HR and similar organizations don't look beyond the limited list of keywords they know. If being less than perfectly honest on your resume gets you through the first round of selections, then I'd say go for it. There's always more nuance to a resume than just the list of skills you can tick off.
edit
Oh and before I forget, recruitment agencies do this all the time but for exactly the wrong reasons. The amount of lousy resumes I've seen come by where they try to squeeze in an applicant who's clearly unsuitable for the position but who happens to have the right keywords is depressing. I hate having to tell a hopeful applicant that they're not suitable, my time is hugely wasted going through all these resumes and a possibly suitable applicant is ignored because they don't play the game as well.
Sorry, I had to add this little rant. The hiring process is one of those moments I really dread and I wish it could go smoother.
I’ve been doing intermittent fasting for about a year now. Eating only between 12.00 and 20.00.
It’s been working so far, but I really need to fight the urge to have an oversized lunch when noon comes around.
Together with trying to walk or cycle wherever I go, and a weekly gym visit (pilates mostly), I have been slowly losing weight. I thankfully was only several kg overweight to begin with, but it was getting worse.
I could still do with cutting down on snacks though, but that has been a challenge. I subconsciously reach for things around the house that I shouldn’t be eating.
Started playing Space Wreck which has been fun so far. It's like playing the old Fallout and Arcanum games, or at least as how I remember them. The first act I basically talked my way through without fighting a single fight or passing any other skill checks. I really love these kinds of role-playing games so I'm a happy.. err.. person :)
I'm already thinking about how to replay this for my second and third run (it's supposed to be a short game)
Westwood, but not for Command & Conquer or Dune 2. I still remember them fondly for their Kyrandia games. I loved the art design, the music and the jokes.
Kyrandia 2 being one of my all time favorite adventure games, Zanthia was an awesome protagonist. Especially for her time.
It’s nice that their strategy games picked up the way they did, but part of me wishes they stuck with their fantasy games.