Random Thoughts That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread Go Here

[Ksyrup]

It took me years before I got the weeds under control. We lived near empty lots for the first 6-7 years and I think that was the biggest problem. But the last 2-3 years, our lawn has been great. I think the biggest thing besides the professional weed spray was aeration and seeding. Our lawn has completely thickened up and choked out most of the weeds. It is expensive but I've found it to be worth it.

[sterlingice]

My goal is to for it to just not die. And I really don't want to dump a bunch of chemicals or tons of water into my yard. There are still some seasonal brown patches and I've got a couple of places where clover have taken hold a bit more than I like. But the Houston sun and St. Augustine take care of most everything else for most of the year.

SI

[CrimsonFox]

#nottheonion

Pete Rose will make the first bet at Cincinnati casino reopening

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I'm at Ft. Walton Beach in Florida for our spite vacation and I am going to guess Myrtle Beach is pretty much the same - packed. It's fall break. The drive down through Alabama was so bad, about 4 hours of driving mainly 20-30mph with no accidents and very little construction. Just a lot of cars and bad drivers. My wife's foot doctor is in Myrtle Beach this week. It's Florida panhandle or Myrtle Beach for most people in KY, it appears.

Eeks. We are not going to middle of next week. I didn't want it to be dead, but I definitely don't want it to be crowded.

[miami_fan]

I had no idea until today that people were getting cheaper auto insurance by putting tracking devices in their vehicles.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

I had no idea until today that people were getting cheaper auto insurance by putting tracking devices in their vehicles.

Tracking them like GPS or tracking habits like hard braking, speeding, etc...?

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Tracking them like GPS or tracking habits like hard braking, speeding, etc...?

I would say both. I was helping a neighbor with their device today. The device is connected with the electrical system of the car and linked with an app on their phone. When I pulled up the app on the phone, it showed that they had two hard braking incidents over the last week and provided the specific location, day and time that each incident happened.

[Ksyrup]

Yeah, they don't exactly spell it out in plain terms on the commercials, but that's what those "get lower rates" ads are all about. You agree to have your driving habits monitored, and in exchange for demonstrating you don't do things that could cause accidents, they'll give you a discount on your insurance. I don't know how deep a discount you get, but I can't imagine it's worth them tracking your every move.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I'm at Ft. Walton Beach in Florida for our spite vacation and I am going to guess Myrtle Beach is pretty much the same - packed. It's fall break. The drive down through Alabama was so bad, about 4 hours of driving mainly 20-30mph with no accidents and very little construction. Just a lot of cars and bad drivers. My wife's foot doctor is in Myrtle Beach this week. It's Florida panhandle or Myrtle Beach for most people in KY, it appears.

Have you done Hilton Head yet?

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Yeah, they don't exactly spell it out in plain terms on the commercials, but that's what those "get lower rates" ads are all about. You agree to have your driving habits monitored, and in exchange for demonstrating you don't do things that could cause accidents, they'll give you a discount on your insurance. I don't know how deep a discount you get, but I can't imagine it's worth them tracking your every move.

My boys and I laugh about this. There's no way a 10% discount is worth the insurance company getting a real time tracker of my driving style and events. It's not even worth a 50% discount. It's an incredible ask I can't believe people actually allow.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

My boys and I laugh about this. There's no way a 10% discount is worth the insurance company getting a real time tracker of my driving style and events. It's not even worth a 50% discount. It's an incredible ask I can't believe people actually allow.

Progressive had this years ago when I worked for them. In my 7 years there I think I came across one customer who had it. The reason we did was there car was being repaired and the shop had to test drive it. They got all these reports of hard braking, speeding etc...and freak out because their rates went up. Thankfully not my department but man, they were pissed.

[AlexB]

My life post-Nevermind is nearly twice longer than my life pre-Nevermind

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Have you done Hilton Head yet?

I did Hilton Head for years when I lived in GA. My parents have two timeshares there and are headed to HH after they leave here. I haven't been in quite awhile. Honestly, I'm not a beach person at all and am only here this week because we had this week for my daughter's spring break softball trip in 2020 that got canceled because of Covid and they would only refund 50% of what we paid so we came this week out of spite. My wife is 3 weeks out of foot surgery so she didn't get within 100 feet of the beach and I only went down to the shore twice, both times to run.

[Edward64]

Highly recommend the Pilot Metropolitan rollerball pens. It's "thick" enough where I can hold it comfortably. $20-$25, well worth it IMO.

I've also bought a Metropolitan fountain pen just to try it out. Got the fine nib but think it's too fine and want to try the medium nib sometime.

Sorry! Something went wrong!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Ventured into Walmart for the first time since late May -- was looking for something specific, knew they were my best chance -- and made an interesting discovery: cashiers

My last trip I was told that there'd no longer be manned registers after 5p (6p at the latest) anymore Lo & behold, there were two tonight still working at nearly 8p.

The phrase "lemme know how that works out for ya" comes to mind.

I neither plan to forgive nor forget but I did find that discovery interesting.

[Ksyrup]

I'm flying for the first time since before Covid. Spending extra time in the public bathroom to be maskless for a little while has to be one of the most clear cut risk/reward decisions we face. I mean, I'm 100% pro-mask, but after spending 30 minutes in my mask going through check-in and security, I swear my body temp is up about 10 degrees. Not to mention, I'm about to spend 4 hours on the plane.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Ventured into Walmart for the first time since late May -- was looking for something specific, knew they were my best chance -- and made an interesting discovery: cashiers

My last trip I was told that there'd no longer be manned registers after 5p (6p at the latest) anymore Lo & behold, there were two tonight still working at nearly 8p.

The phrase "lemme know how that works out for ya" comes to mind.

I neither plan to forgive nor forget but I did find that discovery interesting.

I don't want to see anyone lose their jobs but I must admit I love a functioning self checkout, an order kiosk or any technology I can take care of something myself. It is not just avoiding inane small talk and commentary on what I am buying either. It is stuff like the ability to just punch in the SKU code (yes, I do that) or lookup the item after one or two scans where nothing happens than the 10-12 times that the cashier sometimes do. I'm not blaming the cashiers as I know some stores have strict rules against cashiers not scanning an item.

If I can cash myself out in a establishment, I will choose that option most of the time. The one consistent exception is beginning of the month food shopping. I do wonder if I will be as resistant to the technology in this area as I get older.

[Ksyrup]

Same here. The full cart is the only exception where I prefer a cashier. Our Meijer used to have self-checkouts for bigger orders (conveyor belts with a way to wall off the next person's order), but got rid of them within a year before Covid hit. That was probably a bad idea, but I assume they weren't being used as expected at the time.

I was wondering the other day what a new grocery store configuration would look like if you removed a dozen standard cashier checkouts and replaced them with a few more self-checkouts. Seems Iike there'd be a lot of fillable space for...something.

[cuervo72]

Our Food Lion bafflingly got rid of its self checkouts when it redesigned (a redesign which overall made it look like a lower-grade store, IMO). Of course they were non-functioning half the time as it was.

Agreed on full cart. If I have like 50 items, I need a conveyor because there's just not enough room to put the bagged items while I still have half a cart to go. And I've seen very few self checkouts that have them.

[Lathum]

I was thinking I bet the people who make the decorative magazine holders that go next to toilets their business is really hurting since the invention of smart phones

[AlexB]

I always use the scan as you go option, so I'm bagging as I'm shopping, and all I do at the checkout is scan a QR code and pay. Much quicker, I know exactly what I'm spending as I'm going, and hasn't not worked once

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by AlexB

I always use the scan as you go option, so I'm bagging as I'm shopping, and all I do at the checkout is scan a QR code and pay. Much quicker, I know exactly what I'm spending as I'm going, and hasn't not worked once

Only a few major grocery stores have that option here. Stop and shop is the biggest that comes to mind.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I'm flying for the first time since before Covid. Spending extra time in the public bathroom to be maskless for a little while has to be one of the most clear cut risk/reward decisions we face. I mean, I'm 100% pro-mask, but after spending 30 minutes in my mask going through check-in and security, I swear my body temp is up about 10 degrees. Not to mention, I'm about to spend 4 hours on the plane.

I flew a while ago, and there was a weather delay that made me spend the night in the airport.

So from the point where I took the Uber to the airport to the point where I finally walked out at my destination, I wore a mask for ~24 hours except for one meal.

It was . . . rough.

[Edward64]

Congrats Kirk.

There are others just as deserving and others more so, but you do deserve this regardless of your intergalactic sexism and chauvinism.

Ninety-year-old William Shatner, who gained fame portraying Captain Kirk on the original "Star Trek," just hitched a ride aboard a suborbital spacecraft that grazed the edge of outer space before parachuting to a landing, making Shatner the oldest person ever to travel to space.

"That was unlike anything they described," Shatner could be heard saying on the flight livestream just before landing.

Shatner blasted off onboard a New Shepard spacecraft — the one developed by Jeff Bezos' rocket company, Blue Origin, and the same vehicle that took Bezos himself to space this summer. Bezos, a lifelong "Star Trek" fan, flew Shatner as a comped guest. With him were three crewmates: Chris Boshuizen, a co-founder of satellite company Planet Labs, and software executive Glen de Vries, who're both paying customers, and Audrey Powers, Blue Origin's vice president of mission and flight operations.

[NobodyHere]

I just got sportsdigged by a video game.

[Edward64]

Could have sworn we were at 20+ films now. I guess enough people watch it to make it worthwhile. Anyone watched recent Halloween movies?

This weekend, millions of people will head to a movie theater to watch a film about an escaped inmate wearing a washed out William Shatner mask, who terrorizes a small Illinois town with a giant butcher knife.

Or they'll just stay home and watch it on Peacock.

Either way, killer Michael Myers returns this weekend. Wherever he does that will ultimately be up to audiences.

Universal Pictures' "Halloween Kills" — the sequel to the 2018 "Halloween" reboot and the 12th film in the "Halloween" franchise — hits theaters and NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock this weekend. The film — which stars Jamie Lee Curtis in her fifth appearance in the franchise as she once again takes on the prolific murderer — is expected to bring in roughly $35 million to $40 million this weekend. The film got off to a solid start on Thursday night, with roughly $4.8 million.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Could have sworn we were at 20+ films now. I guess enough people watch it to make it worthwhile. Anyone watched recent Halloween movies?

Halloween Multiverse

[tarcone]

I cant wait to g to bed and dream, that reality is much more fun than the waking world.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by tarcone

I cant wait to g to bed and dream, that reality is much more fun than the waking world.

I know I dream because I'm told everyone dreams. But I don't remember my dreams. Maybe 1-2 times a year at most.

I would like to remember my dreams, I have to research if there is a way to do that.

[Lathum]

I have gotten pretty good at controlling my dreams where I an think of something right before falling asleep and 9/10 times I will dream about it in some way. Usually I think about anna Kendrick.

[cuervo72]

Just realized that my Samsung remote can control my Genie. I never programmed the remote to work with the Genie. I programmed the DirecTV remote to work with the TV, but not the other way around. In doing so did the Genie configure itself to accept input from the Samsung remote? I'm somewhat taken aback by this development.

[Ksyrup]

I don't know who the new Verizon spokesperson is, but I will switch back to a rotary phone before Verizon if they continue to subject me to her.

[spleen1015]

She’s from SNL I think

[cuervo72]

Yeah, it's Kate McKinnon.

I'm REALLY sick of the schlub in the "please marry my cell phone" spot. His little baby teeth, stubby fingernails, poor attempt at a beard...great deal of irrational dislike burning there.

[cuervo72]

Oh and now that the commercial comes on, wife (me too, really) has had enough Serena Williams as well.

[Ksyrup]

Yes that phone marriage commercial is terrible too.

[Ksyrup]

I'm in a hotel flipping between the MNF game and the MLB game and every other time I flip channels, it switches between English and Spanish language. I can't find an SAP function in the menu, much less a button. What kind of voodoo is going on here?

[JonInMiddleGA]

I dunno how much parenting stuff I got right BUT as my offspring enjoys his first concert (3 Doors Down, with Seether basically co-headlining) since last February, I do know I got one thing right at least:

He noted that it was his longest stretch without a show since he was 3 years old.

I did ... okay.

[Ksyrup]

My.kids don't like much of my music, but considering I've got 2 girls, I've got them listening to way more metal than they probably ought to. It's amazing the life lesson I taught my oldest courtesy of Caught in a Mosh, which became her unofficial anthem in dealing with a terrible softball coach in high school. She and I are going to see Amigo the Devil on the 29th. It'll be my first live in-person show since we saw him in December of 2019.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

My.kids don't like much of my music, but considering I've got 2 girls, I've got them listening to way more metal than they probably ought to. It's amazing the life lesson I taught my oldest courtesy of Caught in a Mosh, which became her unofficial anthem in dealing with a terrible softball coach in high school. She and I are going to see Amigo the Devil on the 29th. It'll be my first live in-person show since we saw him in December of 2019.

Perhaps the best thing about starting him out so young -- and progressing through just about every venue type possible by the time he was 14 or 15 -- is that he's pretty much at ease in any situation. Whether it's a dive bar or a festival, it's almost a second home to him in a way, he's seen pretty much everything.

And that provided him the confidence so many people sadly lack: he'll fly solo for a show in a heartbeat. Hell, aside from me, he's maybe had one other person go see anybody with him twice at most. An hour away, 2 hours, 3 hours, if he decides it's worth it then he just ... goes.

I'm damned proud of that.

[Lathum]

I love taking my kids to live music.

In the last 2 months my 11 year old has seen the helle maga tour, Green Day, Fall out Boy, and weezer, Dropkick Murphys, and Bowling for soup. The 8 year old came to the last two. Hella Mega would have been too much for her.

Fall Out Boy was surprisingly awesome.

[NobodyHere]

If my last 2 recent visit to Krogers are any indication, we are in the middle of a store-brand tortilla chip shortages.

Lots of Tostitos bags available, but I am not paying twice as much for a name-brand.

[cuervo72]

I see that every now and then. But I'm with you -- not paying $4 or whatever rather than a buck fitty.

[NobodyHere]

So as a novice cook one question has always perplexed me:

When do I use salted butter and when do I use unsalted butter?

[cartman]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

So as a novice cook one question has always perplexed me:

When do I use salted butter and when do I use unsalted butter?

A general rule of thumb is unsalted is used in recipes (where salt is usually specified), and salted is what is used as a condiment (to butter toast/rolls. etc)

[thesloppy]

In practice I think it's easier to adjust to using salted butter exclusively, rather than buying & cooking with both salted and unsalted butters. Practically all cooking recipes are going to require more salt than what is in salted OR unsalted butter, so you might as well buy the stuff you can put on toast and pancakes.

Baking is a more exact science...but you can subtract 1/4 tsp of the added salt from any recipe that specifically calls for unsalted butter when you are using salted. You can do the same with cooking recipes, but it's more important to salt to your taste (and to taste regularly) than it is to stick to the exact measurements of any particular recipe.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by cartman

A general rule of thumb is unsalted is used in recipes (where salt is usually specified), and salted is what is used as a condiment (to butter toast/rolls. etc)

Thanks cartman! You're a life saver.

[tarcone]

In my school district in the 7-12 buildings there is a couple group of students that are called "furries", they wear dog collars and tails and bark at other students. A teacher in my district from Iowa has a friend who is a teacher in Iowa and they have a group of students that are "cats", and they pee on the bathroom floors. Their parents have requested that the school put litter boxes in the bathrooms.

Yeah, teacher do not get paid enough.

[Lathum]

Wait. What? Parents request liter boxes?

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Wait. What? Parents request liter boxes?

Yes. Litter boxes. I wonder why shit is jacked up in our world.