Random Thoughts

[Rothman]

Maybe we should move on from the concept of making excuses for self-serving pieces of shit.

As soon as you agree to take a job that doesn't pay you anything at all.

I will as soon as everyone else does.

Maybe we should move on from the concept of things and services requiring compensation.

Maybe you should for once explain exactly how the hell this could ever work instead of just incessantly bitching about one of the most basic concepts of human history . . .

Sure. You'll have to pay my essay rate of $500/hour though.

I'll decline. The fact that you think this is a "gotcha" is hilarious.

The fact that you think I'm taking this conversation seriously is more hilarious.

So you're just refusing to explain your point.

Get that credit card ready, operators are standing by!

Still waiting.

Do you have your credit card standing by and are just on hold?

Our operators are experiencing higher than normal call volume. Please stay on the line! You are currently number

32,767

in the queue. We appreciate your business!

Your call is important to us.

Not as important as it is to you, but it is still important to us.

[wanderer2575]

Maybe we should move on from the concept of making excuses for self-serving pieces of shit.

As soon as you agree to take a job that doesn't pay you anything at all.

I will as soon as everyone else does.

Maybe we should move on from the concept of things and services requiring compensation.

Maybe you should for once explain exactly how the hell this could ever work instead of just incessantly bitching about one of the most basic concepts of human history . . .

Sure. You'll have to pay my essay rate of $500/hour though.

I'll decline. The fact that you think this is a "gotcha" is hilarious.

The fact that you think I'm taking this conversation seriously is more hilarious.

So you're just refusing to explain your point.

Get that credit card ready, operators are standing by!

Still waiting.

Do you have your credit card standing by and are just on hold?

Our operators are experiencing higher than normal call volume. Please stay on the line! You are currently number

32,767

in the queue. We appreciate your business!

Your call is important to us.

And it may be monitored for quality-control purposes.  Also, please listen carefully as our menu options have changed.

[jmacswimmer]

Maybe we should move on from the concept of making excuses for self-serving pieces of shit.

As soon as you agree to take a job that doesn't pay you anything at all.

I will as soon as everyone else does.

Maybe we should move on from the concept of things and services requiring compensation.

Maybe you should for once explain exactly how the hell this could ever work instead of just incessantly bitching about one of the most basic concepts of human history . . .

Sure. You'll have to pay my essay rate of $500/hour though.

I'll decline. The fact that you think this is a "gotcha" is hilarious.

The fact that you think I'm taking this conversation seriously is more hilarious.

So you're just refusing to explain your point.

Get that credit card ready, operators are standing by!

Still waiting.

Do you have your credit card standing by and are just on hold?

Our operators are experiencing higher than normal call volume. Please stay on the line! You are currently number

32,767

in the queue. We appreciate your business!

Your call is important to us.

And it may be monitored for quality-control purposes.  Also, please listen carefully as our menu options have changed.

If you'd like to receive a call back during normal business hours, please press 1 at any time. Otherwise, please remain on the line and a representative will be with you as soon as possible!

[webny99]

Maybe we should move on from the concept of things and services requiring compensation.

...

...

...

...

So you're just refusing to explain your point.

If you really want an explanation (to the extent that there is one), you'll have to find and respond to an instance when it was being said seriously.

[kphoger]

-Individuals would act as they do now.

Got it.

-Recycling centers would no longer send materials that can't be immediately used due to lack of cleaning, etc. to landfills.  Instead they would do what is needed to ensure that everything that can be made suitable for recycling, is.

Got it.

-Companies that make products would be required to use recycled materials first, not virgin material, even if virgin material is cheaper.

This is where you lose me still.  What does "first" mean?  They're only allowed to use virgin plastic if the entire world runs out of recycled plastic?

(Note that I've only ever been talking about plastic in this entire discussion.)  (And thank you for bearing with me and explaining your idea.  I appreciate it.)

[vdeane]

This is where you lose me still.  What does "first" mean?  They're only allowed to use virgin plastic if the entire world runs out of recycled plastic?

I'll admit that I don't have a detailed action plan on this.  Presumably some sort of government oversight would be required.

[Brandon]

This is where you lose me still.  What does "first" mean?  They're only allowed to use virgin plastic if the entire world runs out of recycled plastic?

I'll admit that I don't have a detailed action plan on this.  Presumably some sort of government oversight would be required.

Why?  If there's a market, let it sort itself out.

[vdeane]

This is where you lose me still.  What does "first" mean?  They're only allowed to use virgin plastic if the entire world runs out of recycled plastic?

I'll admit that I don't have a detailed action plan on this.  Presumably some sort of government oversight would be required.

Why?  If there's a market, let it sort itself out.

And how would the market do that?  This is the type of thing that requires some form of coordinated tracking of stuff that is put in recycle bins and how much is used, to verify that it's actually being done.  If left to the market, I could easily see businesses saying "there's no processed material to buy, therefore we're using virgin material like we do already" and recycling centers saying "there's nobody to take this stuff, so we're just sending it to the landfill like we do today, and also we're going bankrupt because the new cleaning mandates put us out of business without anyone buying anything" and nothing would meaningfully improve (and would in fact get worse) because of an exploited loophole.

Basically the entire premise of my line of thought is that, while the free market can be great at some things, it is absolutely atrocious at others, recycling among them.

[JayhawkCO]

This is where you lose me still.  What does "first" mean?  They're only allowed to use virgin plastic if the entire world runs out of recycled plastic?

I'll admit that I don't have a detailed action plan on this.  Presumably some sort of government oversight would be required.

Why?  If there's a market, let it sort itself out.

I'm assuming that you feel the same way about highways, yeah? No more public roads and the private sector will obviously fulfill needs for the masses?

[formulanone]

Super Bowl ads...

1) people always show off their phones in unnatural ways, as if they're the Statue of Liberty

2) families always have their heads buried in their phones

3) at least one ad will be too long and you'll honestly forget what they were selling

4) white guys are not hip to the latest of anything

5) bumping into famous people just sort of happens

6) at least one beer ad will be memorable, usually with an inverse proportion to its actual desirability

7) will probably make fun of AI at least twice

[TheCatalyst31]

7) will probably make fun of AI at least twice

It's still the pregame show, and I just saw two straight ads making fun of AI, so congrats on calling that one.

[7/8]

This is where you lose me still.  What does "first" mean?  They're only allowed to use virgin plastic if the entire world runs out of recycled plastic?

I'll admit that I don't have a detailed action plan on this.  Presumably some sort of government oversight would be required.

Why?  If there's a market, let it sort itself out.

I'm assuming that you feel the same way about highways, yeah? No more public roads and the private sector will obviously fulfill needs for the masses?

Our country needs a private-sidewalk voucher system, but, thanks to the incestuous interplay between our corrupt federal government and the public-sidewalk lobby, it will never happen.

[Scott5114]

Less than 24 hours after arriving in Las Vegas I saw a hobo try and fistfight a pickup truck. While it was moving.

The title "entertainment capital of the world" seems to be an understatement.

[ZLoth]

Do prople actually order checks with custom backgrounds anymore? I write so few checks that a book can easily last for two years, and I tend to order the cheapest checks that my financial institution offers. Out of curiosity, I looked around at some customer back grounds, and some Star Trek checks caught my eye.... only for the cost of a pack (100 checks) to cause me sticker shock. What's the point?

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm still on checkbooks which have my address from the home I owned in Scottsdale until 2010.

[kkt]

Do prople actually order checks with custom backgrounds anymore? I write so few checks that a book can easily last for two years, and I tend to order the cheapest checks that my financial institution offers. Out of curiosity, I looked around at some customer back grounds, and some Star Trek checks caught my eye.... only for the cost of a pack (100 checks) to cause me sticker shock. What's the point?

Star Trek checks will be more expensive than most.  I got National Parks.  That order should last me several years and considering how long they last it's not that much.

[Rothman]

People still order checks?  I haven't done so in years.

[zachary_amaryllis]

The fundamental problem with America is that nobody wants to do the right thing if the right thing isn't profitable.

You're not wrong.

I don't fundamentally 'object' to the whole recycling thing. It's just a pain in the rear.

Once every 3 months or so, Mom has me load up all the recyclables. She's, I'm guessing bored, so she actually washes the plastic containers. It's 24 miles to the recycling dropoff point, because they don't pick them up where I live. I figure I probably break about even, since at some polnt I've hauled all this stuff UP the hill, and I try to make sure I have more than one 'thing' to do when I go to town.

I'll meet everyone sorta halfway, for my own things. I recycle aluminum, since I drink a lot of canned soda. I sort my cardboard stuff and recycle that. Even the plastic bottles, that Mom has said just bring inside and she'll wash them. I get paid for the aluminum, and it's usually enough for lunch or something while I'm out.

It's not that stuff isn't biodegradable. It's just that it doesn't biodegrade, in a time frame convenient for us. If you're throwing stuff in the landfill, you're really just putting stuff back where you got it. And landfills don't have to be the world-ending things we think they are. Think Mount Trashmore in VA Beach. How cool is skating on top of 20 years of used diapers?

[JayhawkCO]

People still order checks?  I haven't done so in years.

I think I've done it twice in the last 15 years. And the only reason I had to do it the second time is because I couldn't find the ones I ordered the first time. (Later found them in a closet.)

The fundamental problem with America is that nobody wants to do the right thing if the right thing isn't profitable.

You're not wrong.

I don't fundamentally 'object' to the whole recycling thing. It's just a pain in the rear.

Once every 3 months or so, Mom has me load up all the recyclables. She's, I'm guessing bored, so she actually washes the plastic containers. It's 24 miles to the recycling dropoff point, because they don't pick them up where I live. I figure I probably break about even, since at some polnt I've hauled all this stuff UP the hill, and I try to make sure I have more than one 'thing' to do when I go to town.

I'll meet everyone sorta halfway, for my own things. I recycle aluminum, since I drink a lot of canned soda. I sort my cardboard stuff and recycle that. Even the plastic bottles, that Mom has said just bring inside and she'll wash them. I get paid for the aluminum, and it's usually enough for lunch or something while I'm out.

It's not that stuff isn't biodegradable. It's just that it doesn't biodegrade, in a time frame convenient for us. If you're throwing stuff in the landfill, you're really just putting stuff back where you got it. And landfills don't have to be the world-ending things we think they are. Think Mount Trashmore in VA Beach. How cool is skating on top of 20 years of used diapers?

My main annoyance with recycling here is that it's not every week same as the trash; it's only every other week. So I always have to remember if it's the right week or not. Obviously, if I can't remember, I just put both out and then bring it back full if it's not the right week.

[1995hoo]

People still order checks?  I haven't done so in years.

The most recent time we ordered checks, we used Walmartchecks.com. It was considerably cheaper than ordering them through the bank and they were both fast and reliable.

[kkt]

People still order checks?  I haven't done so in years.

I think I've done it twice in the last 15 years. And the only reason I had to do it the second time is because I couldn't find the ones I ordered the first time. (Later found them in a closet.)

The fundamental problem with America is that nobody wants to do the right thing if the right thing isn't profitable.

You're not wrong.

I don't fundamentally 'object' to the whole recycling thing. It's just a pain in the rear.

Once every 3 months or so, Mom has me load up all the recyclables. She's, I'm guessing bored, so she actually washes the plastic containers. It's 24 miles to the recycling dropoff point, because they don't pick them up where I live. I figure I probably break about even, since at some polnt I've hauled all this stuff UP the hill, and I try to make sure I have more than one 'thing' to do when I go to town.

I'll meet everyone sorta halfway, for my own things. I recycle aluminum, since I drink a lot of canned soda. I sort my cardboard stuff and recycle that. Even the plastic bottles, that Mom has said just bring inside and she'll wash them. I get paid for the aluminum, and it's usually enough for lunch or something while I'm out.

It's not that stuff isn't biodegradable. It's just that it doesn't biodegrade, in a time frame convenient for us. If you're throwing stuff in the landfill, you're really just putting stuff back where you got it. And landfills don't have to be the world-ending things we think they are. Think Mount Trashmore in VA Beach. How cool is skating on top of 20 years of used diapers?

My main annoyance with recycling here is that it's not every week same as the trash; it's only every other week. So I always have to remember if it's the right week or not. Obviously, if I can't remember, I just put both out and then bring it back full if it's not the right week.

Our city's solid waste department sends out a calendar once a year with all the recycling weeks shown.  Also which holidays they observe by making all the pickups a day later that week.

[kphoger]

Recycling service costs extra, so it's a non-starter for me.  Besides which, I'm not even in charge of my own trash service:  the landlords are.

For what it's worth, most of Wichita's recyclables end up at a plant in Hutchinson, and the plant manager of that facility has said that the requirement to clean items before tossing is out of date.

"We do not require any of that prep work to be done," Shaw said. "The mills are OK with it in an uncleaned condition."

[JayhawkCO]

Recycling service costs extra, so it's a non-starter for me.  Besides which, I'm not even in charge of my own trash service:  the landlords are.
[/quote

My brother-in-law gave me this line too. For me, it's an extra $4 a month.

[Rothman]

People still order checks?  I haven't done so in years.

The most recent time we ordered checks, we used Walmartchecks.com. It was considerably cheaper than ordering them through the bank and they were both fast and reliable.

That's all fine and dandy, but I don't have to order checks at all.  I've had an ample, hardly ever used supply for a decade now.

[ZLoth]

The most recent time we ordered checks, we used Walmartchecks.com. It was considerably cheaper than ordering them through the bank and they were both fast and reliable.

That's all fine and dandy, but I don't have to order checks at all.  I've had an ample, hardly ever used supply for a decade now.

Which goes back to some of my original questions:

• Does anyone really look at these custom check background even if has a Route 66 Background?
• Does anyone really care that your customer check background has a Boba Fett there?
• Whats the point? All that I care about when I receive a check is the amount and that it isn't made of rubber!

Thanks, I'll stick with the cheapest and most basic (and boring) checks my financial institution offers. At the rate I write checks, they will last me a few years.