Minor things that bother you

[Scott5114]

Another thing that makes finding a good jean fit difficult is that, in my experience, they relax as you wear them and shrink back up when they're washed. So a pair of jeans that fits well right out of the dryer is likely to be falling off after a couple of hours of wear.

Levi's advises you to freeze their jeans rather to wash them.  But it doesn't kill off the germs unlike what Levi's advises.

I also don't see how it would do anything against dirt or spilled food/drink. About the only thing that would do is reduce odors...maybe. (And that presupposes you have the freezer space to put a pair of jeans in, which I don't.)

[zachary_amaryllis]

Another thing that makes finding a good jean fit difficult is that, in my experience, they relax as you wear them and shrink back up when they're washed. So a pair of jeans that fits well right out of the dryer is likely to be falling off after a couple of hours of wear.

it doesn't help that i suffer from the same affliction that hank hill has : diminished glutes. apparently i'm really weirdly configured -- 300lbs and no rear end.

[formulanone]

Agreed to the jeans. It seems like no matter what, my waist decides it wants to settle on an odd number of inches, and jeans for men are almost always only available in even-numbered sizes. And then they are seldom roomy enough in the ass and thighs.

I have been wearing a belt for about 20 years now for that reason. I like loose-fitting clothing, but my hips aren't symmetrical and my left leg is about a quarter-inch longer than the right.

I've found Wrangler Relaxed Fit or Regular Fit jeans work quite well for me, the latter being a little less baggy below the knee, but both fit the same fit from beltway to the knees. They seem to not pinch during outdoor work, play, or just sitting. They're bargain-priced at $15-25 a pair (depending on sales), and last 5-10 years.

[Scott5114]

The fact that if I do a bank-to-bank transfer between my business account and my personal account, it takes a week for the money to show in my personal account, but if I write a paper check to myself and drive to the bank with it, I have the money in my personal account before I leave the branch.

[Lukeisroads]

The calamity of cali im meaning the jams in this state

[zachary_amaryllis]

The fact that if I do a bank-to-bank transfer between my business account and my personal account, it takes a week for the money to show in my personal account, but if I write a paper check to myself and drive to the bank with it, I have the money in my personal account before I leave the branch.

similar, but with different stuff:
transfer a huge file over slow satellite: forever
copy it to external drive, drive to town, like 40 min.

[hbelkins]

The fact that if I do a bank-to-bank transfer between my business account and my personal account, it takes a week for the money to show in my personal account, but if I write a paper check to myself and drive to the bank with it, I have the money in my personal account before I leave the branch.

I was in a situation a few years ago where I needed to move some money from one financial institution to another, as I was closing an account. Doing an electronic transfer was going to cost some unreasonable amount (and really, any amount is unreasonable for something that can be done so easily) but it was going to be free for them to cut a check, put it in an envelope, and affix postage and stick it in the mail. I opted for the latter.

[hotdogPi]

The calamity of cali im meaning the jams in this state

We have our jams, too. Both the kind you get stuck in and the kind you eat. In fact, Concord grapes are named after Concord, Massachusetts.

[ZLoth]

transfer a huge file over slow satellite: forever
copy it to external drive, drive to town, like 40 min.

Dare I ask what the upload speed is and what the size of the file is? Because satellite Internet, which is used on cruise ships, is terrible for VPNs and online meetings because of the latency and the bandwidth constraints.

[Scott5114]

The fact that if I do a bank-to-bank transfer between my business account and my personal account, it takes a week for the money to show in my personal account, but if I write a paper check to myself and drive to the bank with it, I have the money in my personal account before I leave the branch.

I was in a situation a few years ago where I needed to move some money from one financial institution to another, as I was closing an account. Doing an electronic transfer was going to cost some unreasonable amount (and really, any amount is unreasonable for something that can be done so easily) but it was going to be free for them to cut a check, put it in an envelope, and affix postage and stick it in the mail. I opted for the latter.

Yeah, transfer fees are exceedingly dumb, since I believe cashing a check is just scanning it in and putting through the same system that an electronic transfer is done through. You're paying them to do less work than the free option, and it's slower. (But then, I think that's probably because checks are more tightly regulated than electronic transfers.)

In a similar vein, it costs 45¢ to pay my water bill online, but mailing in a check is free. The only reason I go ahead and pay the fee is because it's cheaper than a stamp, so I still come out ahead.

[jeffandnicole]

The fact that if I do a bank-to-bank transfer between my business account and my personal account, it takes a week for the money to show in my personal account, but if I write a paper check to myself and drive to the bank with it, I have the money in my personal account before I leave the branch.

I was in a situation a few years ago where I needed to move some money from one financial institution to another, as I was closing an account. Doing an electronic transfer was going to cost some unreasonable amount (and really, any amount is unreasonable for something that can be done so easily) but it was going to be free for them to cut a check, put it in an envelope, and affix postage and stick it in the mail. I opted for the latter.

Yeah, transfer fees are exceedingly dumb, since I believe cashing a check is just scanning it in and putting through the same system that an electronic transfer is done through. You're paying them to do less work than the free option, and it's slower. (But then, I think that's probably because checks are more tightly regulated than electronic transfers.)

In a similar vein, it costs 45¢ to pay my water bill online, but mailing in a check is free. The only reason I go ahead and pay the fee is because it's cheaper than a stamp, so I still come out ahead.

That's a generous fee.  My water bill electronic payment fee via the bank was $1.05, and it recently went up to $1.95.  Paying via a CC is 2.95% of the bill.

[1995hoo]

The fact that if I do a bank-to-bank transfer between my business account and my personal account, it takes a week for the money to show in my personal account, but if I write a paper check to myself and drive to the bank with it, I have the money in my personal account before I leave the branch.

I was in a situation a few years ago where I needed to move some money from one financial institution to another, as I was closing an account. Doing an electronic transfer was going to cost some unreasonable amount (and really, any amount is unreasonable for something that can be done so easily) but it was going to be free for them to cut a check, put it in an envelope, and affix postage and stick it in the mail. I opted for the latter.

Yeah, transfer fees are exceedingly dumb, since I believe cashing a check is just scanning it in and putting through the same system that an electronic transfer is done through. You're paying them to do less work than the free option, and it's slower. (But then, I think that's probably because checks are more tightly regulated than electronic transfers.)

In a similar vein, it costs 45¢ to pay my water bill online, but mailing in a check is free. The only reason I go ahead and pay the fee is because it's cheaper than a stamp, so I still come out ahead.

I first tried online bill pay back in 2003 or so for two reasons: (1) The bank offered me $25 if I tried "e-bills" where the creditor sends the bill to my bank account electronically, the bank shoots me an e-mail, and then pay it through the bank's bill pay service. (2) Right around the same time, my car insurance carrier added a $3 a month fee if you wanted to receive a paper bill, so it seemed like the ideal one for which to try e-bills. Needless to say, it was so much easier that I've never looked back. I still receive a paper bill from the mortgage company. I've thought about changing it because I pay them electronically and ultimately I scan the paper bills and then shred them, but I just haven't done it yet. I don't pay a fee to the bank to pay bills electronically.

Certain creditors keep trying to get me to sign up for their automatic payments where they directly debit your bank account. I won't do it. The only time I ever did was one where I had no choice–I had an Obamacare health insurance policy for about 20 months at one point and I was given no choice in setting up payment. I don't have that insurance anymore. I never had a problem with the automatic debit, but that doesn't mean I like the idea. I prefer to be in control in case there are financial hiccups in any given month.

[zachary_amaryllis]

transfer a huge file over slow satellite: forever
copy it to external drive, drive to town, like 40 min.

Dare I ask what the upload speed is and what the size of the file is? Because satellite Internet, which is used on cruise ships, is terrible for VPNs and online meetings because of the latency and the bandwidth constraints.

i take online classes. from home i can download/upload most of the assignments in a reasonable time, but anything that requires 'real-time' access (zoom/webex/etc) i have to go to town for, for the very reason you mentioned. i tried it at home once, the video was stuttery, and people were hearing what i was saying, like 2 seconds after i said it.

for the record: (i'm not in estes, that was just the best ping out of everything it tried)

Code Select Expand

Retrieving speedtest.net server list...
Selecting best server based on ping...
Hosted by Trailblazer Broadband (Estes Park, CO) [16.23 km]: 574.494 ms
Testing download speed................................................................................
Download: 9.42 Mbit/s
Testing upload speed...
Upload: 1.96 Mbit/s


[hbelkins]

The fact that if I do a bank-to-bank transfer between my business account and my personal account, it takes a week for the money to show in my personal account, but if I write a paper check to myself and drive to the bank with it, I have the money in my personal account before I leave the branch.

I was in a situation a few years ago where I needed to move some money from one financial institution to another, as I was closing an account. Doing an electronic transfer was going to cost some unreasonable amount (and really, any amount is unreasonable for something that can be done so easily) but it was going to be free for them to cut a check, put it in an envelope, and affix postage and stick it in the mail. I opted for the latter.

Yeah, transfer fees are exceedingly dumb, since I believe cashing a check is just scanning it in and putting through the same system that an electronic transfer is done through. You're paying them to do less work than the free option, and it's slower. (But then, I think that's probably because checks are more tightly regulated than electronic transfers.)

In a similar vein, it costs 45¢ to pay my water bill online, but mailing in a check is free. The only reason I go ahead and pay the fee is because it's cheaper than a stamp, so I still come out ahead.

That's a generous fee.  My water bill electronic payment fee via the bank was $1.05, and it recently went up to $1.95.  Paying via a CC is 2.95% of the bill.

There's a flat fee of around $3 for my water bill if you pay online, but I just write a check, staple it to the card on which the bill is printed, and drop it in their payment box when I'm in town.

[ZLoth]

transfer a huge file over slow satellite: forever
copy it to external drive, drive to town, like 40 min.

Dare I ask what the upload speed is and what the size of the file is? Because satellite Internet, which is used on cruise ships, is terrible for VPNs and online meetings because of the latency and the bandwidth constraints.

i take online classes. from home i can download/upload most of the assignments in a reasonable time, but anything that requires 'real-time' access (zoom/webex/etc) i have to go to town for, for the very reason you mentioned. i tried it at home once, the video was stuttery, and people were hearing what i was saying, like 2 seconds after i said it.

In order to have a quality online experience, your Round-Trip Time between your computer and the meeting server has to be less than 250-300ms. Anything above 500ms, and you start having issues. In addition, the VoIP audio/webcam video utilize UDP packets to carry the data, and if there is a problem with packet, it's gets thrown away. Too much UDP packet loss (above 5%), and you start having audio/video dropouts. Not to mention that audio and video traffic is very bandwidth intensive. Satellite Internet is usually the "Internet of last resort", and when something better comes along, guess what gets dropped. While cellular Internet is much better, unless you are willing to pay for a premium package, you are also having issues.

[zachary_amaryllis]

transfer a huge file over slow satellite: forever
copy it to external drive, drive to town, like 40 min.

Dare I ask what the upload speed is and what the size of the file is? Because satellite Internet, which is used on cruise ships, is terrible for VPNs and online meetings because of the latency and the bandwidth constraints.

i take online classes. from home i can download/upload most of the assignments in a reasonable time, but anything that requires 'real-time' access (zoom/webex/etc) i have to go to town for, for the very reason you mentioned. i tried it at home once, the video was stuttery, and people were hearing what i was saying, like 2 seconds after i said it.

In order to have a quality online experience, your Round-Trip Time between your computer and the meeting server has to be less than 250-300ms. Anything above 500ms, and you start having issues. In addition, the VoIP audio/webcam video utilize UDP packets to carry the data, and if there is a problem with packet, it's gets thrown away. Too much UDP packet loss (above 5%), and you start having audio/video dropouts. Not to mention that audio and video traffic is very bandwidth intensive. Satellite Internet is usually the "Internet of last resort", and when something better comes along, guess what gets dropped. While cellular Internet is much better, unless you are willing to pay for a premium package, you are also having issues.

i can get spotty 4g around here, one of my neighbors runs a booster, and it is definitely less laggy than the satellite. funny part, is one goes 20 miles up the canyon (i.e. further from town), one can get some sort of dsl from the phone company.

[ZLoth]

New one, and this one resulted from a friend's posting....

The phrase "Hard work never killed anyone!". This one just drives me up the wall to no end! How many of our parents used that phrase to get off our lazy butts and do some lazy, mundane chore (like raking the leaves or cleaning the garage)? Yet, the glamorization of overworking, combined with the absence of sleep, good diet, exercise, relaxation, and time with family and friends, can lead to serious health issues. See How overwork is literally killing us. There is even a rebellian against the 996 work culture where you work from 9 AM to 9 PM six days a week.

[zachary_amaryllis]

"the truth will set you free"

not, says guy who told the truth and still did time. lots of time.

[Scott5114]

New one, and this one resulted from a friend's posting....

The phrase "Hard work never killed anyone!". This one just drives me up the wall to no end!

Notice how the people who use this phrase are always the ones who benefit from you doing the work in question?

[zachary_amaryllis]

New one, and this one resulted from a friend's posting....

The phrase "Hard work never killed anyone!". This one just drives me up the wall to no end!

Notice how the people who use this phrase are always the ones who benefit from you doing the work in question?

can i get an 'amen' up in here?

[7/8]

New one, and this one resulted from a friend's posting....

The phrase "Hard work never killed anyone!". This one just drives me up the wall to no end! How many of our parents used that phrase to get off our lazy butts and do some lazy, mundane chore (like raking the leaves or cleaning the garage)? Yet, the glamorization of overworking, combined with the absence of sleep, good diet, exercise, relaxation, and time with family and friends, can lead to serious health issues. See How overwork is literally killing us. There is even a rebellian against the 996 work culture where you work from 9 AM to 9 PM six days a week.

Yes, I definitely noticed this working with construction workers the past few years on a road reconstruction project. Their hours were 7am-6pm Mon-Thurs, and 7am-3pm on Fridays, with about an hour of break time for the whole day. A lot of them also commuted from London to Kitchener (about an hour each way) for the job. So Mon-Thurs, they basically work all day, go home to eat and then go straight to bed.

And then, on weekends, a lot of them would work a side job (ex: pouring concrete driveways). Most of them had families with kids, and when would they have time to see them? I felt like some did the side jobs because they needed the extra money, whereas others enjoyed keeping busy, but both reasons are still sad to me.

-------

On a lighter note, a minor thing that bothers me is that my car makes a "ding" sound when the temperature drops to 4 C (39 F) or lower. It still startles me for a split second until I look down and see the message .

[jakeroot]

^^
Interesting example. Construction workers generally do work longer hours, although I've been led to believe that the pay and benefits (always a union job here in WA) more than make up for it.

[J N Winkler]

And then, on weekends, a lot of them would work a side job (ex: pouring concrete driveways). Most of them had families with kids, and when would they have time to see them? I felt like some did the side jobs because they needed the extra money, whereas others enjoyed keeping busy, but both reasons are still sad to me.

In some cases, I wonder if not seeing the wife and kids is part of the point.

On a lighter note, a minor thing that bothers me is that my car makes a "ding" sound when the temperature drops to 4 C (39 F) or lower. It still startles me for a split second until I look down and see the message .

A related irritation is people suggesting to me that I turn on the A/C in my daily driver to dehumidify interior air and thus accelerate defrosting on cold days.  I don't dispute that as a general piece of advice, but it doesn't work in my specific model, which prohibits actuation of the A/C compressor clutch when the intake air temperature sensor tells the PCM ambient temperature is below 40° F.

[7/8]

^^
Interesting example. Construction workers generally do work longer hours, although I've been led to believe that the pay and benefits (always a union job here in WA) more than make up for it.

Yeah, construction workers are typically unionized here too (and they were on my site). I believe the pay is good for a job with no post-secondary, but I could imagine people still struggling to make ends meet with the insane cost of housing in Ontario. Also, particularly those who had multiple kids, I think their wives were stay-at-home, which at least saves the cost of daycare. But only having one income is tough.

Or they might simply value having extra spending money over having free time.

And then, on weekends, a lot of them would work a side job (ex: pouring concrete driveways). Most of them had families with kids, and when would they have time to see them? I felt like some did the side jobs because they needed the extra money, whereas others enjoyed keeping busy, but both reasons are still sad to me.

In some cases, I wonder if not seeing the wife and kids is part of the point.

Yeah, I remember one guy had a lot of kids (5 or 6?) and he jokingly said he was happy to be working on Saturday to get away from them (though I'm also sure he meant it ). I still think it sucks for the kids to never see their dad.

[zachary_amaryllis]

And then, on weekends, a lot of them would work a side job (ex: pouring concrete driveways). Most of them had families with kids, and when would they have time to see them? I felt like some did the side jobs because they needed the extra money, whereas others enjoyed keeping busy, but both reasons are still sad to me.

In some cases, I wonder if not seeing the wife and kids is part of the point.

On a lighter note, a minor thing that bothers me is that my car makes a "ding" sound when the temperature drops to 4 C (39 F) or lower. It still startles me for a split second until I look down and see the message .

A related irritation is people suggesting to me that I turn on the A/C in my daily driver to dehumidify interior air and thus accelerate defrosting on cold days.  I don't dispute that as a general piece of advice, but it doesn't work in my specific model, which prohibits actuation of the A/C compressor clutch when the intake air temperature sensor tells the PCM ambient temperature is below 40° F.

my car does this (99 camry) if you set the vents to 'defrost only'. the 'a/c' light doesn't turn on, but you can hear/feel the compressor kick on. if you set the vents to 'defrost and floor vents', it doesn't do this.

it seems to defrost fine with or without the compressor on, i prefer it off since it's just a litle 4-banger and loses some performance with the compressor on.