The Purge - Off Topic

Beryl. Jake you good?

Sat, 13 Jul 2024 13:08:14 -0400

That was a fun week. Power out from Monday at 6AM until Friday at round 7PM.

Beryl was pretty bad for our area, one of the worst we've dealt with in a while when it comes to wind damage... but not much flooding. Weird how you can get multiple hurricanes/tropical storms etc, and they are completely different in how they damage the area.

We were good though, I had a generator that runs my whole house so other than having to head out into the world to find gas for the generator, we were good. Had AC and internet the entire time.

Forum Issues

Sat, 05 Feb 2022 11:36:07 -0500

Anyone else having issues where some posts are showing that there is a new post(Board is highlighted, black in my case), but there isn't anything new since the last time you visited?

Frozen : Texas Style

Fri, 19 Feb 2021 19:55:49 -0500

So that was a fun week. I'm just north east of Houston. The temperature got down to 13 degrees and my power was out from Monday at around 2 AM, until Tuesday at around 10AM and then after that it was sporadic until sometime Thursday morning. We've had power since then.

The coldest it ever got in my house was in the 50's, but many of my friends measured 40's inside their houses. Unfortunately I didn't have a backup generator so a lot of the time we were chilly and without power to do anything. We didn't have internet starting Monday morning at 2 until Friday evening around 4PM, which made being stuck at home not much fun. We played some board/card games.

Ultimately we got off pretty good, no busted pipes or anything in our house. We didn't get to enjoy the snow that we had because we didn't have power, and going outside when it's 20 degrees isn't fun when you can't go inside to get warm. We did get some legitimate snow which has only happened maybe 2-3 times in my 40+ years here...

We are definitely investing in a generator now... we are more than likely going to get a portable and hook it to our circuit box over doing the backup home generator or solar panels, mostly due to the cost. I can't really justify the cost of the whole home generator or solar panels for something that impacts us a couple times a year(Hurricanes usually).

I know there are a few other Texans here, how did y'all get by?

Categorizing Code

Thu, 04 Feb 2021 09:52:26 -0500

I am curious if we have any website design people. I need help properly categorizing my code so our clients can visit our website.

I read this article and understand what categorizing is and why companies use it. How the heck do I fix it? Is it easy or do I need to hire a pro?
https://www.observeit.com/blog/website-c...explained/

Thank in advance!

The Boys (Amazon show)

Thu, 10 Sep 2020 15:38:10 -0400

If you haven't tried this show, I recommend it. It's a lot better and different than I expected and they throw a lot of good twists into the story as it rolls along.

Setup:
Suppose super heroes were real. Like really real. Not like DC/Marvel where all the superheroes are basically good, wholesome people and even super villains mostly are there as foils for the heroes, but more like that guy you knew from high school who was kind of a jock but also kind of an asshole also turned into a super hero and was basically invulnerable and unstoppable. He's not a BAD guy, per se. He cares about his image and the perks that come with it. But he's not exactly a "good guy" either. Just kind of a casual douchebag with the abilities of a superhero.

That's the super heroes of this show.

The main character of the show is basically an average guy who finds himself thrust into something like the role of Lex Luthor. He's not a bad guy. Doesn't want to be a bad guy. He's trying to be a good guy but he's almost entirely helpless against the casual douchebaggery of the "supes" and the need to bring them to some justice for what they've been getting away with (aided by the corporation that makes tons of money selling their abilities and merchandise). "The Boys" are not the superheroes. "The Boys" are the resistance group that's trying to pull the wool off the eyes of the public and take down the corporation supporting the supes.

First few episodes only sorta-grabbed me and there were a few spots I fast forwarded through the "get on with it" sections but it gets really good as you go along. Season 2 has been rolling out and has been great so far.

Witcher series

Sun, 17 May 2020 02:04:04 -0400

Sort of assuming everyone else in the world already saw this anyway but figured I'd drop a note: if you haven't seen it, I'm greatly enjoying the Witcher series so far. Heard mixed reviews so I hadn't bothered watching it but what-else-ya-got-going-on-these-days. Actually curious if people-who-didn't-read-the-books would find it confusing or not. Like the books, it likes to jump around in the timeline with no announcement, which I find faintly annoying. Also, I find Geralt's "husky / just chain-smoked like 5 packs of cigarettes" voice gets on my nerves a bit but overall it's a good blend of action / adventure / story / humor.

Journey Quest

Thu, 29 Aug 2019 14:31:23 -0400

I saw this cheap show on Amazon/Youtube(?) called Journey Quest. It is a new show but it looks more like a show made in the 70's (low budget)

However it is a show obviously made by gamers. There is a group (tank, cleric, mage and ranger) out doing a quest while a bard follows them depicting the story. I am sure most people would think it is dumb but the show made me laugh quite a bit.

The group works very much like Purge does when they do their group things. The tank in the show is very much all Purge. I won't give too much away but for Purge members it is worth watching.

Trump Threat of Tariffs Pays Off?

Fri, 07 Jun 2019 21:46:01 -0400

This seems like a huge win to me.

Quote:Link
President Trump tweeted Friday night that a deal had been signed with Mexico to avoid tariffs that were set to start Monday. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo more formally announced the agreement shortly thereafter.

The announcement avoids what economists and Republicans feared would be damaging to the U.S. economy. According to Mexico's foreign minister, the agreement calls for Mexico to deploy its national guard throughout the country, as well as allow migrants to wait in Mexico while their asylum claims are adjudicated. The agreement also calls for Mexico to offer jobs, health care and education.

"I am pleased to inform you that The United States of America has reached a signed agreement with Mexico," the president tweeted Friday night. "The Tariffs scheduled to be implemented by the U.S. on Monday, against Mexico, are hereby indefinitely suspended. Mexico, in turn, has agreed to take strong measures to...stem the tide of Migration through Mexico, and to our Southern Border. This is being done to greatly reduce, or eliminate, Illegal Immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States. Details of the agreement will be released shortly by the State Department. Thank you!"

Wifi Troubleshooting

Fri, 28 Dec 2018 23:01:13 -0500

So, my issue is that my wifi is spotty at times in my house and I can't seem to figure out why. My internet connection is generally good(just tested my connection and getting 150+ mbps down, 6 up)

I've had comcast out and they say the connection is good. My computer connected directly to my router always has a good connection. The issue is my wifi.

I was using my own modem and router(Links to the hardware) and was having this issue, so I went to comcast and got their modem/router combo to see if it was a hardware issue. Well it doesn't appear to be hardware as I'm having the same issue with their hardware.

I do have a lot of devices connected to wifi(5 echo dots, 2 fire TV sticks, 3 smart light bulbs, 2 ring cameras, 1 ring doorbell, 3 cell phones, and at anytime 2-3 tablets/laptops, Xbox, 1 PC). Now granted, these aren't all actively connecting to the wifi to transfer data at any time. Hardwired I have 1 PC, 1 ooma phone which is daisy chained to my ring alarm, 1 laptop and then I have a Powerline Network adapter that is plugged into the wall that sends network connection up to my wife's computer which is upstairs, which means her PC is also hard wired.

The wifi sometimes works great and then a few minutes later, it will shit the bed.

Could this just be router placement? I don't really have a lot of room to move my router because of the outlet on the wall being right behind my , but it sits generally on my computer desk, which is relatively close to my PC and by my monitors, it is also located fairly close to an external brick wall and is down stairs in the south west corner of my house. The only way to really move it further away from my desk to a more centralized location, is to buy a lot of really long cables and either just run them along the wall, or do more serious construction and hide them behind Sheetrock...

Most of my connections have an RSSI level of between -50 and -91 which my understanding is fair to almost unusable. Even if I stick my phone 2 inches away from my router, the best connection it gets is -48 The two worst RSSI levels are my son's echo dot and lightbulb which are in the south east side of my house, upstairs.

Thoughts/Suggestions? Thanks for the help

Now this is bad customer support...

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 17:13:26 -0500

https://t.co/KaWY3gCyWb

This is part 3 of a multipart video series done by Linus Tech Tips where they had one of their non-tech savvy employees do a secret shopper and buy a $1500 pre-built PC from Alienware, HP Omen, iBuyPower, Origin and Maingear. They review the various stages of the process from ordering, tech support, what they actually got for the money, etc.

This episode was covering the tech support experience where they removed 1 of the 2 sticks of RAM so it only showed has having access to half the memory that was purchased.

The iBuyPower guy at the linked portion above just blew me away. The first episode was interesting as well.

Delivery Services Dropping Packages

Tue, 11 Sep 2018 21:29:44 -0400

Vlllllladd!

Is there any standard for what the delivery drivers are supposed to do when dropping off packages? We have a ring doorbell so we see anyone who comes to our door, and we also get a lot of packages(my wife is a huge Amazon shopper), so we have stuff coming almost daily...

A lot of the time, whoever is delivering the package just drops it from waist high onto the porch. Doesn't matter if it's UPS, Fed Ex, USPS, or Amazon's random people, it happens quite a lot.

I've never had anything broken, but still seems like that isn't the standard they are supposed to abide by when delivering packages. Just curious.

Car Insurance Question

Wed, 02 May 2018 12:35:02 -0400

My wife has a 2008 Saturn Outlooks with about 90K miles on it.

She was rear ended last week at no fault of her own.

The cost to repair her car is $7500. The person who hit her cars insurance company say that the car is totaled due to the cost if repair and value of the car.

They will only give us $8000 and they take the car or 5500 and we keep the car and get it repaired ourselves. To replace her car for the same model and everything is around $13000.

Is there anything we can do? We are fucked either way... If we take the $8000 we still have to pay the repair place $1500 for the work they did and the tow truck.

If we take the $5500 we have to dish out another $2000 to get her car fixed.

This seems like bullshit that we're getting fucked either way... I've never had to deal with anything like this before.

It's the small things in life...

Mon, 30 Apr 2018 09:45:16 -0400

So satisfying.

I got a robo-call from someone claiming they could save me up to 20% on my energy bills. That JCP&L (the electric company that covers 90% of the Northern New Jersey area -- except NOT MY AREA) has been overcharging me and based on a new congressional decree they have to offer this credit back to their customers, blah blah blah.

I provided all the appropriate queues to continue. How much did I overpay to JCP&L? Why hasn't JCP&L contacted me earlier about this? etc. etc.

So I let her run on for about 20 minutes until I had to get on a conference call before explaining to her how interesting it was that I was spending too much on my JCP&L bill when I'm not even a JCP&L customer.

"Why do you waste my time like that?" was her reply....'click'.

P.S. I get this 'offer' about 3 or 4 times a year. Congress seems to pass this bill quite often.

Shipping: Good bye UPS, hello Amazon?

Wed, 13 Dec 2017 18:02:42 -0500

In years past I have given a small Amazon gift certificate to my UPS driver because I do virtually all shopping online and my front door is the least convenient in the neighborhood. I get a lot of boxes up a long sidewalk. I figure I owe the guy a tip.

I was looking to see if the next package was going to be coming via UPS so I could leave the card out but noticed it was being delivered by Amazon shipping: AMZL US. I looked back over numerous other orders and actually almost all of them have been delivered by AMZL US. A few small ones come by USPS (probably all the ones that weigh under a pound, now that I think about it).

Not sure how widespread this service is. I wonder if UPS is feeling any squeeze from this. Amazon has to be a reasonable portion of their business.

I'm not actually sure I have an "Amazon Driver" though. UPS seems to do routes so you generally get the same dude delivering each time. My impression is Amazon is more like Uber: I don't think they do routes but it's more like here's some stuff, go drop it off, NEXT. Just my impression based on the fact that when I see their vehicles it's always something different. Could be a white van. Could be a suspicious looking character in a Toyota Corolla.

Service hasn't changed at all that I've noticed.

Looks like you can just step up and apply to deliver packages too. Again reminding me of Uber:
https://logistics.amazon.com/

Curious if Amazon is making a move on the delivery business. Doesn't seem like it would be a big step for them to compete directly with UPS/FedEx if they started doing pickups too. Apparently they're already working on the air freight portion:
https://www.recode.net/2017/1/31/144622 ... -prime-air