The I Miss the Old Days Complaint Thread

Sfariah D

I somehow get the Daz sales emails over several email addresses?

LeatherGryphon

hacsart said:

indeed.. now try this - stopped at a light on an upslope on a 700 pound 1936 bike with a hand shift and foot clutch and a pretty non-existent front brake..  (left foot, non return clutch, not like a car,  its a a heel and toe foot rocker pedal clutch. When you push it down basically you are moving. When you heel back you're in neutral. right foot was the back brake..so - with a really bad front brake on a slope start, you need one foot on the brake, one foot on the clutch - see where this is going?? .. eventually got the needed bits to rebuilt the fron t brake.. (oh adn the left hand grip was a twist grip that controlled ignition timing...)  Bike was a 1936 ex-police Harley..

OK, you try to park a 700 pound motorcycle on a 30 degree slope in a space that's oriented the wrong way.) 

Yeah, there's a lot more to riding motorcycles other than the wind in your face, the sweet smell of the crops, and bugs in your teeth.  Keeping a staticly unstable, top heavy, 700 pound vehicle upright when not moving can easily get out of control.  The length, strength & angle of your legs are critical.  Half an inch too short or a few degrees too perpendicular, and over you go.  But if your feet are busy fulfilling requirements elsewhere, you have to be quick & clever.  I loved my years with my motorcycles. (*sigh, memories*)

Picture it, summer of '95, Utah, Dinosaur National Monument.  I pulled into the new parking lot for the wonderful museum showcasing dinosaur finds in the area and enclosing large dinosaurs still embedded in the rocks, paritially exposed.  I park my motorcyle and flip down the  kickstand.  Hot hot day in the Utah desert.  I enjoyed the museum, but came back to my motorcycle laying on its side.  The kickstand had punched through the asphalt paving.  Sigh, yet another ding on my brand new motorcycle.  From that point forward I carried a metal plate to put under the kickstand.

NylonGirl

Meanwhile, I'm somewhere filing a patent for kickstands with wide bases...

McGyver

NylonGirl said:

Meanwhile, I'm somewhere filing a patent for kickstands with wide bases...

I'm curious to know more... for bikes or motorcycles or other machine/instruments/stuff that uses kickstandery.

But for whatever it's application, good luck... it's definitely a frustrating and cumbersome experience*... extra good luck if it's a personal project.

 

 

*It's been a while, but I can't imagine it's gotten better.

TJohn

I just made a made a ham and cheese sandwich and ate it. I am a mighty omnivore!!

NylonGirl

McGyver said:

NylonGirl said:

Meanwhile, I'm somewhere filing a patent for kickstands with wide bases...

I'm curious to know more... for bikes or motorcycles or other machine/instruments/stuff that uses kickstandery.

But for whatever it's application, good luck... it's definitely a frustrating and cumbersome experience*... extra good luck if it's a personal project.

 

 

*It's been a while, but I can't imagine it's gotten better.

They were mainly for cool guys from the 80's. They like to lean against things. But my plan has been foiled because somebody already had a patent for stands with bottoms. 

hacsart

A sidestand is sometimes handier to use. A well designed centre stand is a far better support, and if done well, easy to use..(most aren't) with a well done centrestand, you should not have to lift as much as roll the bike on to it.Then if go go back far enough, there were front and rear wheel stands.

PerttiA

NylonGirl said:

McGyver said:

NylonGirl said:

Meanwhile, I'm somewhere filing a patent for kickstands with wide bases...

I'm curious to know more... for bikes or motorcycles or other machine/instruments/stuff that uses kickstandery.

But for whatever it's application, good luck... it's definitely a frustrating and cumbersome experience*... extra good luck if it's a personal project.

*It's been a while, but I can't imagine it's gotten better.

They were mainly for cool guys from the 80's. They like to lean against things. But my plan has been foiled because somebody already had a patent for stands with bottoms. 

Yeah, we all saw McGyvers picture of Spidey with such a stand up his bottom 

NylonGirl

PerttiA said:

NylonGirl said:

McGyver said:

NylonGirl said:

Meanwhile, I'm somewhere filing a patent for kickstands with wide bases...

I'm curious to know more... for bikes or motorcycles or other machine/instruments/stuff that uses kickstandery.

But for whatever it's application, good luck... it's definitely a frustrating and cumbersome experience*... extra good luck if it's a personal project.

*It's been a while, but I can't imagine it's gotten better.

They were mainly for cool guys from the 80's. They like to lean against things. But my plan has been foiled because somebody already had a patent for stands with bottoms. 

Yeah, we all saw McGyvers picture of Spidey with such a stand up his bottom 

I never would have guessed Spiderman was posing there to invalidate a future frivolous patent by displaying "prior art". It was ingenious.

McGyver

A very temporally disorienting two days... but a nice sunset... I think it's a sunset... unless I'm facing the wrong way... no idea what time means anymore.

LeatherGryphon

This help?

Sfariah D

Maybe time is an illusion.  I asked Siri what is time?  I think she once answered an illusion!

TJohn

I asked Alexa "What is time?" She said "Time is 8:06 am."

LeatherGryphon

I agree, time is an illusion, as is space, gravity, and solid matter, but at least time and these other aspects are measurable illusions.  But still not an answer to their meaning.

Being an illusion is not to say that it is unreal.  Its just not what we think it is.  We're forced to look at a 4 dimensional world through very narrow bandwidth 3D glasses, with half a brain, and a million years of haphazard programming.

PerttiA

TJohn said:

I asked Alexa "What is time?" She said "Time is 8:06 am."

She was wrong 

kyoto kid

...

ArtAngel

Just an FYI "perfect Physique' is populating old Easter Egg.  

Ignore this. Delusional me thought I was posting in the Report Sales thingy thread. Been sleep deprived from post surgery issues and care for little 4lb 12 year old Yorkie (emergency surgery for a terrible case of Pyometra) and another who got spayed. Hand/force feeding both.  Our 10 month old Shih Tzu  was just spayed last week. During surgery her heart rate dropped to BPM. They resuscitated her with Antropine. I probably spelled every second word wrong. But it's my keyboards fault. It should be more helpful.

LeatherGryphon

Excitement:  Wheee... for the last three days, I've been watching windfarm blades being trucked east past my house.  I've seen at least 6, but there may have been more.  I only notice when I happen to be standing at my kitchen window and see the flashing red & blue lights of the escort vehicles disappear around the curve.  They must be heading for somewhere in mid next county otherwise they'd be on the Interstate past town.

Zylox

ArtAngel said:

Just an FYI "perfect Physique' is populating old Easter Egg.  

Ignore this. Delusional me thought I was posting in the Report Sales thingy thread. Been sleep deprived from post surgery issues and care for little 4lb 12 year old Yorkie (emergency surgery for a terrible case of Pyometra) and another who got spayed. Hand/force feeding both.  Our 10 month old Shih Tzu  was just spayed last week. During surgery her heart rate dropped to BPM. They resuscitated her with Antropine. I probably spelled every second word wrong. But it's my keyboards fault. It should be more helpful.

That sounds scary and exhausting. I hope they get better quickly.

Charlie Judge

Sfariah D said:

Maybe time is an illusion.  I asked Siri what is time?  I think she once answered an illusion!

Do you have an alternative forum ID? There is a ReneW posting in another thread with almost the same avatar as you. I do see a few subtle differences in the picture but it looks like the same cat

Sfariah D

Charlie Judge said:

Sfariah D said:

Maybe time is an illusion.  I asked Siri what is time?  I think she once answered an illusion!

Do you have an alternative forum ID? There is a ReneW posting in another thread with almost the same avatar as you. I do see a few subtle differences in the picture but it looks like the same cat

 nope not me.  I am pretty sure not me!

 

edit avatar kitty not same as mine.

Subtropic Pixel

LeatherGryphon said:

Non-complaint:  Yay, I finally signed my new Will.  The 40 year old, previous Will had so many dead people, and other complications listed that it was just better to throw all that away and get a completely new Will listing only living people. 

I need to do that too.

kyoto kid said:

 

LeatherGryphon said:

I HATE self-checkouts!  they are a plague upon humanity.  It took me years to train my local checkout clerks to balance the weight of my two grocery shopping bags while packing them.

It's not that self-checkouts are too hard, for me to use.  Remember, I had been designing computer device drivers, user interfaces, network protocols, graphic display systems, complex control systems, and real-time, multi-tasking, multi-processor operating systems, for 30 years, albeit 20 years ago.  It's just that I resent having to be responsible for detecting and resolving pricing errors, missing price tags, damaged products, and other questions that a clerk is prepared to deal with while I wait patiently while browsing magazines or drooling over forbidden candy.  Plus, that 5 minutes in a manned checkout queue gives me time to impulse buy that forbidden candy, and to reconsider my other purchases, or remember things I'd forgotten.  The self-checkout is almost always empty, but when it isn't empty you see someone hogging it because they can't read and had to call a clerk to explain how to use it.  Oy!

And perhaps a less educational reason, is that I have personally confirmed that old people see, hear, move, and think slower than most 19 year old clerks.  Getting old sucks!  Now, if I could just get the 19 year old clerk to halve her talking speed to match my 75 year old listening speed, life would be a little bit more perfect for a moment.

And besides, if we eliminate jobs for 19 year old clerks, we'll have a lot of unemployed 19 year olds.  Hmmm... bored teenagers with no money...that's got to be a recipe for something.

 

...I loathe them as well  as no matter what I do it always seems to "complain" that I did something wrong after which it locks up and I have to wait for the attendant to come an help.  I also don't care to deal with all the codes for produce and not as fast or accurate at entering them in as a cashier is.

About the only time I used them  is If I  have only a few easy to scan items when the lines at the checkout lanes are snaking back into the aisles with just about everyone in line having a trolley brimming full with groceries.

At the Safeway a few blocks away the lines for the self-check stations are often as long if not longer than at the checkout lanes as the place only has a few.  Of course they usually only have one traditional checkout lane (out of 5).

I've taken to bagging my own groceries as I have to balance the weight out since I have bad arthritis in my hands, wrists, and arms, and cannot have all the heavy items in one bag.  I also use a shoulder bag for large heavy items like jugs of milk and bottles of juice.

The only place I use self-checkouts is at Wawa, a combined gas station and convenience store here, and all I'm buying is a soda, a sandwich, and maybe a bag of chips.  My transaction is quite clear on the cameras, and would be very easy for me to defend myself in court.   Won't use them at Walmart, Sam's Club, or the grocery stores.  Read a story a couple years ago about Walmart's attorney sending people a letter on their letterhead accusing them of shoplifting at the self-checkout.  "We'll make it all go away if you pay us $250", the letter said.  No no, it WAS a legitimate letter, from Walmart's hired gun attorney in that location.  A lot of people paid the protection racket money.  But many did not.  One in particular had his own attorney write back, basically saying "Bring it, Walmart's Lawyers!" 

Subtropic Pixel

McGyver said:

Then again there are so many different Spider-men in the Spiderverse, for all I know this guy could be the meth addicted one where everyone has a signpost sticking out their butt... it's hard to say... but it's still rather depressing to see him like that.

They ruined the Marvel Universe.  "Spiderverse?"  Hard pass.

Subtropic Pixel

kyoto kid said:

PerttiA said:

LeatherGryphon said:

Complaint:  Driving in Boston. (*shiver*) 

Even with not having experienced that, I would guess it's childs play compared to driving in Moscow... In practice, there are no rules. 

...I've seen enough of those dash cam videos to back that up.  Even waiting for a bus or crossing the street to board a tram there is dangerous. 

One of the common habits from there I'm seeing more and more where I live is people making turns out of the wrong lane often without using their turn indicator or engaging it after already initiating the change of vector.

I see the same thing in the same dash cam videos.  But I also think that it takes 2 to have a crash.  1 to do the illegal turn, and the other to not be paying attention and step on the brake.  Or gas, as the case may be.

Subtropic Pixel

I just made a salmon and bacon sandwich.  It was delicious!  Also had Gouda, tomato, onion, yellow pepper, a bit of mayo, and some sweet onion sauce on it.

But a question.  When does a "salmon and bacon" sandwich become a "bacon and salmon" sandwich?

kyoto kid

Subtropic Pixel said:

 

LeatherGryphon said:

I HATE self-checkouts!  they are a plague upon humanity.  It took me years to train my local checkout clerks to balance the weight of my two grocery shopping bags while packing them.

It's not that self-checkouts are too hard, for me to use.  Remember, I had been designing computer device drivers, user interfaces, network protocols, graphic display systems, complex control systems, and real-time, multi-tasking, multi-processor operating systems, for 30 years, albeit 20 years ago.  It's just that I resent having to be responsible for detecting and resolving pricing errors, missing price tags, damaged products, and other questions that a clerk is prepared to deal with while I wait patiently while browsing magazines or drooling over forbidden candy.  Plus, that 5 minutes in a manned checkout queue gives me time to impulse buy that forbidden candy, and to reconsider my other purchases, or remember things I'd forgotten.  The self-checkout is almost always empty, but when it isn't empty you see someone hogging it because they can't read and had to call a clerk to explain how to use it.  Oy!

And perhaps a less educational reason, is that I have personally confirmed that old people see, hear, move, and think slower than most 19 year old clerks.  Getting old sucks!  Now, if I could just get the 19 year old clerk to halve her talking speed to match my 75 year old listening speed, life would be a little bit more perfect for a moment.

And besides, if we eliminate jobs for 19 year old clerks, we'll have a lot of unemployed 19 year olds.  Hmmm... bored teenagers with no money...that's got to be a recipe for something.

 

...I loathe them as well  as no matter what I do it always seems to "complain" that I did something wrong after which it locks up and I have to wait for the attendant to come an help.  I also don't care to deal with all the codes for produce and not as fast or accurate at entering them in as a cashier is.

About the only time I used them  is If I  have only a few easy to scan items when the lines at the checkout lanes are snaking back into the aisles with just about everyone in line having a trolley brimming full with groceries.

At the Safeway a few blocks away the lines for the self-check stations are often as long if not longer than at the checkout lanes as the place only has a few.  Of course they usually only have one traditional checkout lane (out of 5).

I've taken to bagging my own groceries as I have to balance the weight out since I have bad arthritis in my hands, wrists, and arms, and cannot have all the heavy items in one bag.  I also use a shoulder bag for large heavy items like jugs of milk and bottles of juice.

The only place I use self-checkouts is at Wawa, a combined gas station and convenience store here, and all I'm buying is a soda, a sandwich, and maybe a bag of chips.  My transaction is quite clear on the cameras, and would be very easy for me to defend myself in court.   Won't use them at Walmart, Sam's Club, or the grocery stores.  Read a story a couple years ago about Walmart's attorney sending people a letter on their letterhead accusing them of shoplifting at the self-checkout.  "We'll make it all go away if you pay us $250", the letter said.  No no, it WAS a legitimate letter, from Walmart's hired gun attorney in that location.  A lot of people paid the protection racket money.  But many did not.  One in particular had his own attorney write back, basically saying "Bring it, Walmart's Lawyers!" 

...made visits to Cape May for kite festivals and remember stopping at Wawa for snacks & such.  Had one of their old 20 oz travel mugs for years. Lost it in all my subsequent moving around

Loved the name.

Subtropic Pixel

I have that exact same mug, except that mine is black and pink and says "Dunkin' Donuts".  But I haven't seen that mug for years, so I don't know if I still have it.  I remember the lid, which made it possible to drink without spilling.  Unfortunately, with that flat bottom and the handle's low attachment point, it was impossible to fit into most car cup holders.  That handle, it's half-hollow and never gets hot.  I think mine was 20 ounces too.  I'd fill it up, mix my creamer and sweet-n-lo, then slip 2 thin ice cubes into it so that I could drink it sooner.  Otherwise the thermal mug would hold the heat too long and it would be an hour before I could drink it.

LeatherGryphon

Welcome back Subtropic Pixel.  You been lurking, or just trying to survive?

LeatherGryphon

<14 hours of crickets>

TJohn

Yep, it's a quiet night...a little too quiet.