Octopus Overlords

A separate truck makes the pickups. Your carrier is probably marking where it should stop for collections.

Or, if it's like it is around here, your carrier simply skips your house if they don't have something to deliver.

Well fudge

Daehawk wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2024 6:44 pmWell fudge

That's probably what ruined your pump.

hahaha the beer I ordered from Walmart arrived and I couldn't get the pack opened. I made a boo boo and used a ink pen to stab it to get it started at the opening. Punctured one of the cans. Wimpy thin aluminum they use on those cans these days. Anyways had to shotgun that can...feeling good.

Interesting. Slash from Guns & Roses is in town. Apparently he has a film production company and his company has been filming a movie here. Rumours to be Deathstalker II.

Today I learned that, until very recently, all the U.S. military Purple Heart medals awarded since 1945 have come from the massive stockpile produced in expectation of the invasion of Japan.

Holman wrote: ↑Wed May 15, 2024 6:37 pm Today I learned that, until very recently, all the U.S. military Purple Heart medals awarded since 1945 have come from the massive stockpile produced in expectation of the invasion of Japan.

I imagine I wouldn't exist if we'd had to invade Japan. My dad didn't have the greatest sense of direction in the air.

It's 2024. I was just thinking about how weird it is that one of my grandfathers was in the *first* World War.

My mother's dad was born in 1901. He didn't father my mother until 1940, as she was the youngest of his several children.

Meanwhile, he'd lied about his age and joined the US Navy in 1917. Apparently they weren't particular about checking records, and he spent 1917 and 1918 floating up and down the East Coast looking for German U-boats. They didn't find any.

So, yeah: my maternal grandfather was a WW1 veteran. (Paternal grandfather was WW2 and saw Tunisia, France, Belgium, and Germany, including the Nuremberg trials.) Seems weirdly ahistoric, but it's true.

good morning good morning its a new day

Is it just me or do others seem to get deliveries where they send you a tracker with a map that shows you nothing but your house and then have variable delivery window which inevitably will change sometime before they window closes? Why bother? It would be one thing if they showed the driver on the map somewhere tracking them with their GPS and publishing it for my eyes but I've yet to see that implemented after of this. I'm not even angry about it. I just don't understand all the resources that dumped into something so useless.

LordMortis wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2024 5:03 pm Is it just me or do others seem to get deliveries where they send you a tracker with a map that shows you nothing but your house and then have variable delivery window which inevitably will change sometime before they window closes? Why bother? It would be one thing if they showed the driver on the map somewhere tracking them with their GPS and publishing it for my eyes but I've yet to see that implemented after of this. I'm not even angry about it. I just don't understand all the resources that dumped into something so useless.

It's like the Windows progress bar that doesn't tie to anything.

LordMortis wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2024 5:03 pm Is it just me or do others seem to get deliveries where they send you a tracker with a map that shows you nothing but your house and then have variable delivery window which inevitably will change sometime before they window closes? Why bother? It would be one thing if they showed the driver on the map somewhere tracking them with their GPS and publishing it for my eyes but I've yet to see that implemented after of this. I'm not even angry about it. I just don't understand all the resources that dumped into something so useless.

Either FedEx or UPS used to have that level of GPS tracking. They used to give you regular updates, and the tracking page had lots of details.

All of that disappeared with COVID. They realized that the precise data was just leading to misplaced complaints, so they started generalizing everything and hid the details. Now people don't complain about the package going from A to C to B (when C is the hub), or about when the driver goes past your house (because there was a more efficient route assigned to him.)

Fewer complaints = reduced support costs. And, in the end, they can afford to annoy you. The recipient isn't the customer. The shipper is. The shipper decides which service to use.

Like I said, I'm not angry, just confused at the implementation effort (and cost) to tell me not much. I can only assume there is a much detailed internal tracking system and then they throw on text and emails with zero details to look good to an internal manager somewhere who was sold on visibility to the customer without actually caring what it is. What is strange to me is that so many delivery services do the exact same thing.

That said, I now have a new out of a box mattress (cheap as it was, Renovo?, I probably should gone for something better)! It reeks of chemicals. I have all the ventilation in my house open while this thing breathes. I hope that smell goes away quickly. I may have to go back to the showroom and ask what they do to their floor models to keep them from smelling like a chemical factory. I may go buy a wrap for it. I am legit concerned about my schnoz and mouth being up against something so letting off so much chemistry for 7-10 hours a day or longer when I'm laid up or watching TV in bed.

LordMortis wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2024 5:53 pm Like I said, I'm not angry, just confused at the implementation effort (and cost) to tell me not much. I can only assume there is a much detailed internal tracking system and then they throw on text and emails with zero details to look good to an internal manager somewhere who was sold on visibility to the customer without actually caring what it is. What is strange to me is that so many delivery services do the exact same thing.

The cost and effort were either from before these changes started, or they are mostly for internal review (I understand that most delivery places monitor practically everything the driver does, and expect near-ideal performance all the time.) And yeah, the text details of the tracking are stop-by-stop, every time the package changes hands. They just don't show it to the recipient anymore. At least not without a premium subscription. You can sometimes see more detail at third party tracking sites.

I remember when they all started changing, and it was mentioned, a little here, a little there, that the reasoning was just what I said: The person getting the package isn't the customer, and they got tired of the vast quantity of complaints: "My package started 50 miles to me, went to the next state, then came back!", or "Why hasn't my package moved in two days?" Or the hundreds of times per day that a package ends up on the wrong truck, then gets sent back to where it came from. So they just made the tracking vague. Nobody can complain when they don't understand how shipping works, or if they don't see the mistakes. And yet they still offer the tracking in some form, as that is something that people would complain about en-masse to their actual customers if they took it away.

LordMortis wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2024 5:53 pm That said, I now have a new out of a box mattress (cheap as it was, Renovo?, I probably should gone for something better)! It reeks of chemicals. I have all the ventilation in my house open while this thing breathes. I hope that smell goes away quickly. I may have to go back to the showroom and ask what they do to their floor models to keep them from smelling like a chemical factory. I may go buy a wrap for it. I am legit concerned about my schnoz and mouth being up against something so letting off so much chemistry for 7-10 hours a day or longer when I'm laid up or watching TV in bed.

To more quickly capture and neutralize the unpleasant chemical smells from a brand new mattress, try placing several bowls filled with a baking soda and water solution around the room where the mattress is located. Mix the solution using a ratio of 5 parts water to 1 part baking soda, and stir it well. Then position the bowls near the mattress, and the baking soda solution will help to better absorb and neutralize the unpleasant odours more rapidly. It will also help if you sprinkle baking soda liberally over the entire surface of the mattress, and let it sit for at least 30 minutes. Then vacuum thoroughly.

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2024 6:50 pm

LordMortis wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2024 5:53 pm That said, I now have a new out of a box mattress (cheap as it was, Renovo?, I probably should gone for something better)! It reeks of chemicals. I have all the ventilation in my house open while this thing breathes. I hope that smell goes away quickly. I may have to go back to the showroom and ask what they do to their floor models to keep them from smelling like a chemical factory. I may go buy a wrap for it. I am legit concerned about my schnoz and mouth being up against something so letting off so much chemistry for 7-10 hours a day or longer when I'm laid up or watching TV in bed.

To more quickly capture and neutralize the unpleasant chemical smells from a brand new mattress, try placing several bowls filled with a baking soda and water solution around the room where the mattress is located. Mix the solution using a ratio of 5 parts water to 1 part baking soda, and stir it well. Then position the bowls near the mattress, and the baking soda solution will help to better absorb and neutralize the unpleasant odours more rapidly.

Trying to unseat the Izzybot. I like it. I will probably give that a try. The internets tells me to let the mattress "breath" for 24 to 72 hours before using it anyway.

LordMortis wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2024 6:52 pm

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2024 6:50 pm

LordMortis wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2024 5:53 pm That said, I now have a new out of a box mattress (cheap as it was, Renovo?, I probably should gone for something better)! It reeks of chemicals. I have all the ventilation in my house open while this thing breathes. I hope that smell goes away quickly. I may have to go back to the showroom and ask what they do to their floor models to keep them from smelling like a chemical factory. I may go buy a wrap for it. I am legit concerned about my schnoz and mouth being up against something so letting off so much chemistry for 7-10 hours a day or longer when I'm laid up or watching TV in bed.

To more quickly capture and neutralize the unpleasant chemical smells from a brand new mattress, try placing several bowls filled with a baking soda and water solution around the room where the mattress is located. Mix the solution using a ratio of 5 parts water to 1 part baking soda, and stir it well. Then position the bowls near the mattress, and the baking soda solution will help to better absorb and neutralize the unpleasant odours more rapidly.

Trying to unseat the Izzybot. I like it. I will probably give that a try. The internets tells me to let the mattress "breath" for 24 to 72 hours before using it anyway.

based on what i have consistently read, the latex smell will dissipate within three days, but usually sooner. don't worry.

I have this urge to watch Madame Web now that it's on Netflix just to see how bad it is. Does anyone wanna talk me down from this ledge?

I was also thinking about watching it. Talk me down too.

I am 100% going to watch it; just need to find the time.

Christ, we three really must hate ourselves.

hepcat wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2024 4:58 pm I have this urge to watch Madame Web now that it's on Netflix just to see how bad it is. Does anyone wanna talk me down from this ledge?

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2024 5:46 pm I was also thinking about watching it. Talk me down too.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2024 5:49 pm I am 100% going to watch it; just need to find the time.

hepcat wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2024 7:19 pm Christ, we three really must hate ourselves.

30 minutes in and they introduce Emma Roberts. An actress I dislike almost as much as Dakota Johnson. It’s like a who’s who of Hollywood nepotism.

Also, the CGI makes The Flash look goo….no, I can’t say that. Nothing will ever make the CGI in The Flash look good. So I’ll just say this one sucks almost as much.

https://www.watchparty.me/

Watch videos together with friends anywhere.

I don’t see a payment option. I don’t see how you can get a group of people to watch Madame Web without some kind of cash incentive.

You alrready had two volunteers. An open call might have netted you several more.

I think we should save it for a Waterworld and The Postman double feature on Kevin Costner’s birthday.

A periodic OO watch party might actually be a fun thing. Nominate a slate of films, then have a vote each week.

I liked Waterworld enough to watch it twice.. Never seen The Postman

I thought it was free. That's what I get for thinking.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2024 8:57 pm I liked Waterworld enough to watch it twice.. Never seen The Postman

Did you really watch it? Or did you watch a reaction video of someone watching it?

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2024 8:57 pm A periodic OO watch party might actually be a fun thing. Nominate a slate of films, then have a vote each week.

It’s just going to be Con Air and Soldier every time if you give me the keys.

I actually remember liking The Postman. Of course, no telling if it would still hold up. I was a young and naive 23 year old back then, a mere babe in the woods.

I love the OO watch party idea.

It’s not horrible. It’s more or less a running joke at this point on my part to slam it. There are definitely far worse movies out there….

…I’m watching one now, as a matter of fact.

YellowKing wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2024 9:50 pm I actually remember liking The Postman. Of course, no telling if it would still hold up. I was a young and naive 23 year old back then, a mere babe in the woods.

Were you confusing it with The Postman Always Rings Twice?

hepcat wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2024 9:46 pm

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2024 8:57 pm A periodic OO watch party might actually be a fun thing. Nominate a slate of films, then have a vote each week.

It’s just going to be Con Air and Soldier every time if you give me the keys.

I just re-watched soldier the other night. It's probably been decades. I did think of you.

hepcat wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2024 9:46 pm
It’s just going to be Con Air and Soldier every time if you give me the keys.

I'm not sure why that would be a problem.

Okay, I just saw it.
AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Agreed. My thoughts on it are in the Madame Web thread.