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Men’s Sheds offer alternative avenue for improving health and wellbeing


Men’s Sheds health initiatives increase men’s confidence, self-worth and sense of wellbeing by providing an environment for men that is appealing, safe and socially acceptable, new research by a Leeds Beckett University academic has...




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International Firefighters’ Day: Recognizing and Supporting Firefighters in Their All-Hazards Role

Today, May 4th, is International Firefighters’ Day. Each year on this day, firefighters are celebrated – and rightly so.   Most people have an image of firefighters clad in heavy coats, over-sized boots and sturdy helmets, rushing into




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They learn so quickly!




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Too darn silly




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Include and empower: an international conference on improving the rights and wellbeing of disabled children and young people

When: Thu Dec 3, 2015 to Fri Dec 4, 2015 

Where: Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Event Status: confirmed
Event Description: Aimed at delegates from across Europe, this conference offers an opportunity to share the successes and challenges of recent developments across Europe, and to explore the creation of inclusive services for all children and young people as part of our shared vision of how they can fulfil their potential. For further information, please visit the event website



  • http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#event

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Assessing with confidence: supporting learning and assessment in practice

When: Mon Apr 4, 2016 to Wed Apr 6, 2016 

Where: Europa Hotel, Great Victoria Street, Belfast BT2 7AP, United Kingdom
Event Status: confirmed
Event Description: An international conference of interest to anyone involved with the professional development of students in any field of health or social care. Supporting students in practice settings is an integral part of the preparation of health and social care professionals. Practice and Field Educators enable students to acquire, develop, apply and transfer educational knowledge, skills and attributes to support their learning within the workplace learning environment. This conference will focus on evaluating learning and assessment of performance. For further information, please visit the event website



  • http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#event

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Things Take a Turn

Clusterfuck Nation For your reading pleasure Mondays and Fridays Support this blog by visiting Jim’s Patreon Page Around the same time that most Americans set their clocks ahead this weekend, something more momentous shoved the world into an epic phase-change, and the modern era, with all its mighty baggage, was finally swept away, along with that more »

The post Things Take a Turn appeared first on Kunstler.



  • Clusterfuck Nation – Blog

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KunstlerCast 326 — Confab with David Collum of Cornell U about Corona Virus, Markets Gone Wild, and Politics

Support this Podcast by visiting Jim’s Patreon Page   David Collum is the Betty R. Miller Professor of Chemistry at Cornell University. He is the intellectual utility infielder of internet commentary, covering all the bases: culture, politics, finance, science, and technology, with often surprising views on the the predicaments of our time. Here we attempt to more »

The post KunstlerCast 326 — Confab with David Collum of Cornell U about Corona Virus, Markets Gone Wild, and Politics appeared first on Kunstler.




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Turning and Churning

Clusterfuck Nation For your reading pleasure Mondays and Fridays Support this blog by visiting Jim’s Patreon Page It’s one thing to get sandbagged by a public health crisis ­– a plague being about the worst kind – and quite another for an advanced, complex economy to fall away under your feet like a freight elevator that more »

The post Turning and Churning appeared first on Kunstler.



  • Clusterfuck Nation – Blog

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As today’s homes burn faster than ever, this year’s Fire Prevention Week campaign presents critical home escape planning and practice messages

Knowing that today’s homes burn faster than ever, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) announced “Every Second Counts: Plan Two Ways Out” as the official theme for this year’s Fire Prevention Week campaign, October 8-14, 2017. Experts say you may have as little as two minutes (or even less) to safely escape a typical home fire from the time the smoke alarm sounds.




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Fire chiefs share lessons learned from recent high profile emergencies including hurricanes, hi-rise fires and hostile shooting incidents at the Urban Fire Forum

Fire chiefs from France, the United Kingdom, and the United States gathered in Quincy, Massachusetts at the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Urban Fire Forum (UFF) to listen to first-hand accounts of some of the biggest emergency response incidents over the past 15 months, including hurricane response in Texas and Florida, the Grenfell Tower fire in London, and the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando.






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Palast & Hartmann: How Trump Stole 2020 — A Warning!

Trump & Co are stealing the election right now, but we can steal it back. We can beat the ballot bandits. Watch this video of my conversation with constitutional expert and broadcaster Thom Hartmann — then pre-order my new book, How Trump Stole 2020, to find out how!

The post Palast & Hartmann: How Trump Stole 2020 — A Warning! appeared first on Greg Palast.




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Palast & David Cay Johnston: How Trump Stole 2020 — A Warning!

They don’t steal votes to steal elections. They steal votes to steal the money. If you can steal an election, you’ve stolen the keys to the treasury — our treasury. In this conversation, award-winning investigative reporters and authors Greg Palast and David Cay Johnston follow the (stolen) money, and expose the billionaires and ballots bandits who are systematically stripping the United States of its assets, just as a vulture fund would with a corporate entity caught in its talons.

The post Palast & David Cay Johnston: How Trump Stole 2020 — A Warning! appeared first on Greg Palast.




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Morning Thread




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Morning Thread

TGIF




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Doom Eternal $39.99 at Best Buy

First time I’ve seen it discounted. With return windows extended until May 31st, you may be eligible for price match even if you bought it at launch.

Xbox One https://www.bestbuy.com/site/doom-eternal-standard-edition-xbox-one/6255282.p?skuId=6255282

PS4 https://www.bestbuy.com/site/doom-eternal-standard-edition-playstation-4/6255267.p?skuId=6255267

Windows https://www.bestbuy.com/site/doom-eternal-standard-edition-windows/6255255.p?skuId=6255255





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SouthernStrokes: Luke Geer and Jack Finix

Jack Finix is alone in his room, with the door ajar. He’s stroking his uncut cock when suddenly, he looks up and signals for someone to come in. It’s his buddy, Luke Geer, who immediately steps inside, grabs hold of Jack’s tool, and takes over as they make out. They’re soon hard and naked except... View Article

The post SouthernStrokes: Luke Geer and Jack Finix appeared first on QueerClick.




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Access Journalism Is Killing Us

Published with permission of PRESS RUN, Eric Boehlert’s new must-read media newsletter. Subscribe here.

Finally emerging from his pandemic-era Fox News bunker, Trump sat for an interview with ABC News this week. For weeks as the U.S. death toll skyrocketed and tens of millions of people lost their jobs, Trump had agreed only to answer pleasing, one-on-one questions from Fox News. He did his best to create an alternate universe, where the deadly cornonavirus would soon "wash away."

Agreeing to be interviewed by ABC, Trump appeared to be taking a risk by exposing himself to tougher questions about his historically incompetent response to the public health crisis, and a mountain of evidence that he personally chose to do nothing to protect the country from a virus invasion. In the end, the soft-as-a-pillow interview on ABC proved to be no risk. And Trump probably knew that going in, because TV journalists, perhaps more concerned about access than answers, simply refuse to hold him accountable in-person.

read more




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Entitled White Man, Todd Starnes, Whines About Wearing A Mask When He Went To Buy A Toaster

We all know that the most oppressed group in all of history is (checks notes) White Christian Republican Men. They were sold into slavery, forbidden from drinking at certain water fountains or from riding in the front of the bus. They didn't get the right to vote until the last century. They have never won the Presidency. Hell, they don't even get to control their own bodies.

Wait. Wrong groups.

White men control pretty much EVERYTHING.

So, imagine Todd Starnes frustration when he was told by the mean store person that he had to not only wear a mask — but he had to use hand sanitizer — DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC. Yes, to put others' safety before your own convenience is hard for the White Christian Republican Man. After all, he has been raised to expect everyone else to bend to his will, not the other way around.

Here is Todd's super whiny tweet:

Twitter had thoughts:

read more




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California: Latest updates on coronavirus

California has reported 472 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 11 deaths as of Monday evening (March 16).





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Your COVID19 Turning Points #9

From TPM Reader MM … My story is like many others — not dramatic in itself but important to me....




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Your COVID19 Turning Points #10

After walking us through a series of COVID19 turning points over the course of the spring (out of work in...




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The Very Early Perimenopause: What We Can Learn from Dr. Jerilynn Prior’s Research

by Nina Coslov

In my early 40s, I started noticing changes in my body. A once great sleeper, I was now waking at 2 a.m. – often with lots of energy and sometimes with anxiety. I’d be awake for about 3 hours before I could get back to sleep. Around the same time, premenstrual breast tenderness returned — something I hadn’t experienced since my 20s, before I had children. Not long after, I’d notice from time to time a pervasive edginess, a revving — an energetic ... More

The post The Very Early Perimenopause: What We Can Learn from Dr. Jerilynn Prior’s Research appeared first on Our Bodies Ourselves.




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Book Week 2019: Gretchen McCulloch's Because Internet


Welcome to the final review post of Book Week 2019. In the intro to Book Week 2019, I explain what I'm doing. The 'week' has turned out to be eight days. If you're perturbed about that, I'm happy to offer you a full refund on your subscription fees for this blog.

On with the show. Today's book is:


Because Internet

Understanding the new rules of language (US subtitle)
Understanding how language is changing (UK subtitle)

by Gretchen McCulloch
Riverhead, 2019 (N America)
Harvill Secker, 2019 (UK)


Gretchen McCulloch describes herself as an internet linguist: writing about internet language for people on the internet. She actually does a lot more than that, with daily blogging at All Things Linguistic for years and being one half of the Lingthusiasm podcast team and writing on all sorts of linguistic themes for all sorts of publications. So, I expect many readers of this blog will already know her and have heard about this book. 

US Cover
I expected Because Internet to be good, knowing Gretchen's work, but I also probably (in my grumpy, middle-aged, oh-do-we-have-to-talk-about-emojis-again? way) expected it to be faddish. There have been too many just-plain-bad, (orig. AmE) jumping-on-the-bandwagon books about emojis, and I've got(ten) a bit sour on the topic. 

This book is so much more than I expected it to be. 

I should have known better. Having read and heard much of her work, I should have expected that this would be a truly sophisticated approach to language and to general-audience linguistics writing. So far in Book Week 2019, I've recommended the books as gifts for A-level students/teachers, science lovers, and language curmudgeons. This book is good for all those groups and more. 

UK cover
The key is in the subtitle(s).* This is not just a book about emojis and autocomplete (and, actually, autocomplete isn't even in the index). This is a book about the relationship between speech and writing and how that's changed with technology. It seamlessly introduces theories of why language changes, how change spreads and how communication works in a time when the potential for change is high and the potential for changes to spread is unprecedented. 

That seamless introduction of linguistic concepts is the reason I've started this book from the beginning and not skipped around (unlike for other books in Book Week—where the rule is that I don't have to read the whole book before I start writing about it). In most books about language for non-linguists, I'm able to skim or skip the bit where they talk about the basics of how language works and the classic studies on the topic and the ideas springing from them. McCulloch covers those issues and those studies (the Labovs, the Milroys, the Eckerts), but since this is intertwined with looking at how language is changing in the 21st century—because (of the) internet—it was worth my while to read straight through. The great thing about the language of the internet is: even when it looks really different from non-internet language, it's still illustrating general principles about how language, communication, and society work. But it also shows how society is changing because of technology, particularly in changing who we are likely to interact with or hear from, In the process, it gives a history of the internet that's enlightening even for those of us who've lived through it all. (I've just flipped open to a section about  PLATO at the University of Illinois. One of my student jobs was working in a PLATO lab, playing Bugs-n-Drugs [aka Medcenter] while signing people in and out. That game was not good for my hypochondria, but I have awfully fond memories of PLATO.)


Another thing to appreciate about McCulloch's book is how unreactionary it is. She doesn't set up her discussion as "You've heard people say these stupid things about the internet, but here's the TRUTH." (A style of writing that I can be very, very guilty of.) She mostly just makes her case gracefully, based on what the language is doing, rather than reacting to what other people say the language is doing. Rather than 'This, that and the other person say emoji are a new language, but they're not', she just gets on with explaining how emoji fulfil(l) our communicative need to gesture. It's a positive approach that academic linguists will have had trained out of them by the requirements of academic publishing.

This is a bit of a nerdview 'review'. Usually reviews tell you some fun facts from the book they're reviewing, whereas I'm telling you what I've noticed about its information structure. That's because that's what I really look for in books as I prepare to write a new one. In terms of information, in this book you'll learn, among other things:
  • which "internet generation" you belong to and how your language is likely to be different from other generations'.
  • what punctuation communicates in texting/chat and how that differs from formal writing
  • how language change can be traced through studying strong and weak social links and geographic tagging on Twitter
Inevitably, the book is mainly about English, in no small part because English rules the internet. But it does make its way to other languages and cultures—for instance, how Arabic chat users adapted their spelling to the roman alphabet and how emojis are interpreted differently around the world.  In the end, she briefly considers whether space is being made for other languages on the internet.

It's a galloping read and you'll learn all sorts of things.


So, on that happy review, I declare Book Week 2019 FINISHED.


* I love the transatlantic change in subtitles, since it completely illustrates the point of chapter 8 of The Prodigal Tongue: that Americans like to talk about language in terms of rules, and Britons in terms of history/tradition. I've also written a shorter piece about my personal experience of it for Zócalo Public Square.




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International Firefighters’ Day: Recognizing and Supporting Firefighters in Their All-Hazards Role

Today, May 4th, is International Firefighters’ Day. Each year on this day, firefighters are celebrated – and rightly so.   Most people have an image of firefighters clad in heavy coats, over-sized boots and sturdy helmets, rushing into




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Cool, California ranch house in San Francisco is a sustainable gem

San Francisco-based firm Malcolm Davis Architecture has managed to combine the cool vibe of Cali design with the energy-saving principles of sustainable living. Their latest design is a modern ranch home that was built using reclaimed materials and boasts several active and passive strategies that reduce the home's environmental impact.[...]




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A pair of industrial buildings are reborn as a creative office in Portland

In Northwest Portland, two former industrial structures have been given a new lease on life as Redfox Commons, a light-filled campus for creative, tech and retail workspaces. Local design practice LEVER Architecture led the adaptive reuse project that spans 60,000 square feet and is split between a west wing and a larger east wing across two floors. The architects reclaimed over 6,500 linear feet of timber and combined the salvaged material with new industrial-inspired elements — such as weathering steel cladding and ribbon windows — to pay homage to the building’s history. [...]





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Recycled wind turbine blades proposed as a playscape for Burning Man

Washington-based architect and designer Michael Mannhard has unveiled designs for BladeYARD, a proposal for a Burning Man 2021 installation built from recycled wind turbine blades. Created as a visual warning of the effects of climate change and shortsighted solutions, the installation mimics a large-scale ruin with parts of the blades submerged in the sands of Nevada’s Black Rock Desert.[...]




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Modern farmhouse targets net-zero energy in Vermont

On a hillside meadow in rural Vermont, local architecture firm Birdseye has completed Bank Barn, a new residence that, from afar, might look like any another agricultural building. But it is actually a modern farmhouse strategically engineered to meet future net-zero energy targets. The architects drew inspiration from the regional farm structures built into the banks of hills to create the gabled dwelling, which is clad in weathered cedar and topped with a durable metal roof. An intensive energy consultation and modeling informed all parts of the design. The resulting project features an electricity-based energy system that is expected to[...]




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Modern prefab retreat in Italy takes in panoramic alpine views

Perched atop a hill in Aosta Valley’s highest municipality in northwest Italy is the newly completed House in Chamois, a modern, prefabricated home by Torino-based design and build firm Leap Factory. As with all “Leap Houses,” the home’s entire design and construction process was managed by the Leap Factory team and was constructed with a modular system built of natural, recyclable materials to allow for maximum flexibility. All of the components provided by Leap Factory for the House in Chamois were also designed and produced in Italy. [...]




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Nina+Co sustainably furnishes a zero-waste London restaurant

In an industry notorious for food waste, award-winning chef Douglas McMaster has achieved the seemingly unattainable — Silo, the world’s first zero-waste restaurant. For Silo’s second outpost in London, local interior design studio Nina+Co teamed up with McMaster to craft an interior that reinforces the restaurant’s sustainable ethos with locally sourced natural materials and innovative design aimed at minimizing environmental impact.[...]




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Distinctly modern net-zero home sits in harmony with its woodland surroundings

Chapel Hill-based firm Arielle Condoret Schechter is known for its commitment to building sustainable homes that don't sacrifice elegance or comfort. The company's latest work includes the spacious Haw River House, which was built with several efficient features to create a net-zero energy home that is seamlessly linked with its natural surroundings.[...]




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Invasive "murder hornets" arrive in US, threaten honeybees

If you’ve been itching to get back to the outside world, two words might make you think again: murder hornets. For the first time, these gigantic, invasive hornets have been spotted in the U.S., which could be a problem for both humans and honeybees.[...]




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Kibardin shares creative recycled paper furniture designs

Creating furniture is an age-old art form that has incorporated standard materials such as aluminum, wood and rattan. However, one artist has perfected a way to use another prolific material, cardboard, into furniture designs, and he'll show you how to use it too. [...]




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Ace Attorney Zoom Backgrounds

As even lawyers now work from home, and trials are now held via Zoom, I guess it would only be appropriate if they had a background that’s related to their job. And what background would that be other than the courtroom? But even if you’re not a lawyer, you can still use these Zoom backgrounds released last week by Capcom’s Ace Attorney, via Twitter. You can use the 2D background from the original trilogy, or opt for the 3D one from the more recent games.

Take that! And no objections, please.

(Image Credit: Ace Attorney/ Twitter)




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CISA Warns Patched Pulse Secure VPNs Could Still Expose Organizations to Hackers

The United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) yesterday issued a fresh advisory alerting organizations to change all their Active Directory credentials as a defense against cyberattacks trying to leverage a known remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in Pulse Secure VPN servers—even if they have already patched it. The warning comes three months after another




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Zero-Day Warning: It's Possible to Hack iPhones Just by Sending Emails

Watch out Apple users! The default mailing app pre-installed on millions of iPhones and iPads has been found vulnerable to two critical flaws that attackers are exploiting in the wild, at least, from the last two years to spy on high-profile victims. The flaws could eventually let remote hackers secretly take complete control over Apple devices just by sending an email to any targeted




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Critical Bugs Found in 3 Popular e-Learning Plugins for WordPress Sites

Security researchers are sounding the alarm over newly discovered vulnerabilities in some popular online learning management system (LMS) plugins that various organizations and universities use to offer online training courses through their WordPress-based websites. According to the Check Point Research Team, the three WordPress plugins in question — LearnPress, LearnDash, and LifterLMS —




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New Malware Jumps Air-Gapped Devices by Turning Power-Supplies into Speakers

Cybersecurity researcher Mordechai Guri from Israel's Ben Gurion University of the Negev recently demonstrated a new kind of malware that could be used to covertly steal highly sensitive data from air-gapped and audio-gapped systems using a novel acoustic quirk in power supply units that come with modern computing devices. Dubbed 'POWER-SUPPLaY,' the latest research builds on a series of




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Warning: Citrix ShareFile Flaw Could Let Attackers Steal Corporate Secrets

Since the past few weeks, software giant Citrix has privately been rolling out a critical software update to its enterprise customers that patches multiple security vulnerabilities affecting Citrix ShareFile content collaboration platform. The security advisory—about which The Hacker News learned from Dimitri van de Giessen, an ethical hacker and system engineer—is scheduled to be available




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Facebook Launches 'Discover,' A Secure Proxy to Browse the Internet for Free

More than six years after Facebook launched its ambitious Free Basics program to bring the Internet to the masses, the social network is back at it again with a new zero-rating initiative called Discover. The service, available as a mobile web and Android app, allows users to browse the Internet using free daily data caps. Facebook Discover is currently being tested in Peru in partnership




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The Dem Primary is Over, and We Need Bernie Sanders to Lead on Health Care From the Senate

On Tuesday, I cast a joyless vote for the very much politically doomed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Illinois primary, in an elementary school where hushed whispers and fearful glances had replaced the normal din of an election day. There was no one standing just outside the perimeter hustling me to vote for this […]




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RETURNING TO NORMALCY?

When the question is economy versus public health – literally, “Your money or your life” – the answer should be pretty obvious.  That said, though, the profound economic consequences threaten more than quality of life, depending on the progress of Read more




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Learning the meaning of public service.

This morning, I attended a meeting of a coalition of local organizations who provide services for people who are unstably housed. I was glad for the opportunity to listen to how the members of these organizations are supporting our community, and I was especially touched by how a couple of these members reached out to... Continue Reading →




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Shady Leasing Agent Learns About Lease From Tenant

Ah, yes, a fine example of a sketchy leasing agent getting bested by a truly, professional revenge. This tenant was well equipped to educate the leasing agent on the finer details of how the lease worked. Makes you wonder how many more unsuspecting tenants that leasing agent might've fooled. Well, not this one.

Check out more juicy apartment drama with this story about a dude who was threatened by his landlord, and proceeded to go full Karen.