u/LouisaMiller2_1845

Thank you so much to everyone who replied. I really appreciate it!!!

Hi all. I need a gown tailored for a gala. It's a really nice gown but I only paid $25 for it, so I'm looking for a tailor who won't break the bank but will do quality work.

I have read through the prior tailor recommendations on the sub but most people were asking about rip repair. This gown could use some fitting in addition to shortening/hemming.

Someone recommended a Chinatown tailor but filtering through reviews brought up one stating there was no privacy for women to change in the shop and multiple older men were "ogling" the reviewer while changing.

Any recommendations for a cost effective tailor? I'm in Newton but can travel anywhere in the area.

Are they closed for good or temporarily?

By, say, suggesting your content go to the loser subs...that they really belong on.

End of rant.

Is this a low? I had to cut someone out of my social media circle. I had already put the person in my jerk circle SM (filled with all of the people I went to HS with and who I feel similarly obligated to accept on SM) because I haven't seen her in a long time but I removed her last night altogether. This is not something I would write about or ponder on my identifiable SM but I do feel like venting. Don't let people use you for a false sense of superiority. Go with your gut and don't feed these people. Delete them fast!

We were tight as teenagers but things definitely changed over time and, especially as certain people are so thirsty to fit into, uh, majority America, they will stab you in the back without much thought. Even when we were tight, this person constantly treated me like I was lower than she was on the social ladder. My father was a civil servant with a great administrative job but she would speak about what he did for a living versus her family (ethnic food restaurant) like my dad was a maintenance man or something. As an adult, I definitely give this the side eyes. I don't make it a point to look down on people but will respond to pretentiousness and attempted snobbery. Treating a black man born with no wealth who created a successful, stable life for himself and his family like he was lower than food service workers is definitely an odd choice. This person also always made me step outside of her house before setting the alarm system. She explained that many people in their culture don't like using banks and they kept a lot of cash money in the house. As an adult, I can translate this to tax evasion. However, I know she wasn't asking any, uh, majority Americans to step out of her house before setting the alarm.

As grown adults, the first infraction was the person complaining that Amazon wrote a single letter on her package. Somehow, she interpreted this as the Amazon driver being racist against her family and marking the packages with that letter for their race. (Yes, that's absolutely a leap but there could be backstory. I know this person racked up a lot of credit card debt from shopping and student loan debt because she kept failing classes. She had worked in package delivery part time - not Amazon - until doing some kind of nude photoshoot for a previously trendy sport for $$ and then misusing a small business administration loan for her personal debts under the guise of starting an equipment company for this sport. In any case, I got the feeling she had backstory with the specific delivery driver although I don't remember exactly why.)

The person never gets much feedback on SM but those who responded asked why she thought the letter was about her race. I responded that if she really believed there was an issue with the driver, she could report it to jeff@amazon.com. I stated that, while rumored, I really didn't know if Jeff actually read the comments but the one issue I had with Amazon was resolved that way. (That was more than a decade ago - maybe two. FTR, I doubt Bezos read them then and seriously doubt he reads them now.) Some guy replied to my comment and called me an idiot for believing that. Frenemy responded along the lines of, 'I'll DM you about that person.' The whole thing left me feeling like I was the idiot...although we had a person saying that writing a single letter on a package amounted to racism (which, as a black person, I am sensitive to). Also, this person flunked class after class at her nonselective uni while I graduated from an Ivy, but I'm the idiot? In any case, definitely left me with side eyes.

Infraction that made me delete? This person often posts pictures from events where she volunteers. She's a clerical worker for a large company and they do a lot of volunteer work in my former area. She posted pictures related to World Cup - no, not from an official venue, so I'm not identifying. I responded, "Vive la France!" She deleted my comment. Okay, guess she doesn't like France. I then get an email from FB about a comment that her BFF made. When I clicked, her BFF posted on her own FB that she wasn't liking France "just because" their players are majority black, that people who like teams just because they're black and France's players are black are "idiots", and she was really hoping that Morocco "beat the Black off of 'em". (Thanks for pointing this out to me, Meta. Especially before I went to bed last night.)

I sometimes run into the BFF. Although we both live hundreds of miles away from where we grew up, we both live in the, uh, state hosting France's World Cup team. When we were undergrads, I remember this person snapping at me after I drove her from our hometown to our college city (not here and not the same college) and I asked her if she was okay when she wasn't really speaking. My frenemy explained what she did to become upset and I would rather not give that explanation, but the BFF moved here because she was dating someone who lost his job where I teach and he's now an adjunct instructor for my stepson elsewhere - small world. In any case, they posted pictures together from a restaurant here and I hope to G-d I never run into the two of them around town.

If you had to guess, what are the elements and how are they weighted?

Single ticket sales started today at noon. (This is not an ad as they were widely available prior to today.)

However, I have been stalking seat maps and see some interesting trends in terms of pricing.

Demand per section matters, which The Met has already acknowledged. However, velocity (i.e., how quickly seats are selling per section) also appears to matter.

The artists appear to matter tremendously with singers favored by those in-the-know carrying a premium. (Davidsen is obvious but Feola maybe less obvious.)

Special event dates (Friday and Saturday evenings, matinees, premiers, galas, last shows) may carry a premium.

The work itself may carry a premium.

Anything I'm missing and how are we thinking these elements are weighted?

I know the mission has been a moving target, but what do we know about the planned mission at present?

As I understand it, this is largely a systems integration mission.

We are launching at least THREE rockets for Artemis III.

Is this the plan to date???

/ 1) Pathfinder launches. Two rockets will carry the commercial test vehicles - Blue Origin's and SpaceX's pathfinders. They will be placed into low Earth orbit. NASA is deliberately choosing an Earth-orbit mission for Artemis III because it provides many more launch opportunities and flexibility for coordinating the multiple spacecraft.

The exact launch order has not been fully published afaik, but reporting from NASA's crew announcement indicates the Blue Origin vehicle was expected to launch first, followed later by Orion with the crew. The SpaceX vehicle would also be launched independently as part of the campaign.

2. Crew launch. The crew launches aboard Orion on SLS from Kennedy Space Center. Commander Randy Bresnik, Pilot Luca Parmitano, and Mission Specialists Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas will enter low Earth orbit.

This phase is essentially Orion's checkout period. The crew verifies navigation, communications, environmental controls, life support, power systems, and docking hardware before beginning proximity operations. NASA has specifically said that Orion will spend more time in orbit than it did on Artemis II so that these systems can be evaluated more extensively.

3. First docking. This is the first time Orion's docking system will be demonstrated in space. The crew and ground teams will validate relative navigation sensors, automated approach procedures, communications links, software interfaces, and docking hardware. NASA has said astronauts may potentially enter at least one of the test vehicles, though that apparently remains under evaluation. This stage is really about proving that spacecraft built by completely different organizations can function as one integrated system.

4. Second docking. After completing the first set of tests, Orion undocks and repeats the process with the second commercial vehicle. This may be the most valuable part of the mission. NASA isn't just testing one lunar architecture. It's testing interoperability across multiple architectures. The agency wants to learn how Orion, SpaceX systems, Blue Origin systems, astronauts, mission control teams, software, and procedures all work together before anyone attempts lunar operations. If everything works, NASA will have demonstrated that Orion can safely rendezvous and dock with both commercial lander providers.

5. Deorbit and reentry. Once the docking objectives are complete, Orion separates from the commercial spacecraft and prepares for reentry. The service module performs the deorbit maneuver, Orion reenters Earth's atmosphere, and NASA tests an upgraded heat shield intended to support future lunar missions. The crew then splashes down in the Pacific Ocean for recovery.

This is obviously a lot and I'm wondering what a realistic timeline is, especially given the recent Blue Origin explosion.

Also, I'm unclear whether SpaceX still plans to do in-flight refueling as a part of this mission?

I noticed in the discussion below a lot of people gutted by a woman not being a part of Artemis III. Can we maybe look at the numbers?

The current US astronaut eligible core is roughly 60% male and 40% female afaik.

However...

two of the four seats on any Artemis mission will go to the flight crew - pilot and commander. Regarding the current US astronaut core eligible for the flight crew, roughly 80% are male and 20% are female.

And you begin to see why things turned out this way. Two of the four seats must go to experienced pilots, preferably military test pilots, and there are gender disparities in that profession. Roughly 98% of military test pilots are male.

Also, I would keep in mind that Artemis III isn't happening as planned, which was originally supposed to be a lunar landing mission. So, other than the seat promised to ESA, this crew probably wasn't a part of NASA's long term plan either.

I support our Artemis III crew and hope others do too.

In Market Basket. Heard a deep, loud boom with vibration several minutes ago. Any idea what it was?