Random randomness

[A nonny mouse]

I'm back to one of those times that I want something that I know exists, but I have no idea what it is normally used for.

I need somewhere to hang dice bags. Like a dozen or more. I'm envisioning something like a set of towel hooks on a board that I can mount on the back of my closet door, but I don't need huge, 2" hooks. Something maybe two feet or so long with eight or ten hooks would be ideal.

What is that used for in normal life?

What about a tie rack or belt rack, like for hanging on a closet hanger bar?


Or

Or

I have different looking one but use it for the few ties and dress belts i have.

[Isgrimnur]

Accordion peg rack

[Blackhawk]

Like a key rack? Just do a search on Amazon.

Keys! Thanks. I was looking for coat hooks, hat hooks, towel hooks. Key hangers is giving great results, thanks.

I've always had those obscure pastimes where you know that something is made that is perfect for your needs, but the challenge is figuring out what it's made for. For instance, there aren't that many specialized tools for the miniatures hobby (although there are more today than in the past.) Instead, I have a collection of things designed for jewelers, canvas painters, model painters, and surgeons, makeup supplies, hair supplies, science supplies, and any number of other things. A good example might be finding a rack for miniature paints. I always knew that there was something out there that was cheap, easy to find, and perfect, but never knew what it was. Discovering what that thing was (fingernail polish racks) was where the effort was, not in actually getting one once I figured it out.

Of course, miniature painters today have a number of commercial products, but in years past?

It seems like every hobby I've had is like that. It's why I enjoy wandering various stores - hobby shops, electronics shops, hardware stores, farm stores, whatever. I'm just keeping myself aware of what sort of 'stuff' is where so I'll know where to look when I need something and just have a mental image or description.

[Blackhawk]

That's a good option, too. I'd need one that could support quite a bit more weight than a tie, though. Some of the dice bags have dice (D&D dice, FFG Star Wars dice, Torg dice, extra d6s, Gaslands dice, giant dice, Fate dice), and others have sets of gaming coins.

[Unagi]

I pictured a hanging potato chip display rack

[ImLawBoy]

anyone have any good border crossing stories?

This was back in the '90s, so pre-passport requirement to travel to Canada. My college roommate and I were heading into Windsor for an evening of debauchery (lower drinking age, ya know). We were in his old VW Beetle. They asked us if we were bringing any alcohol across the border. We said no while thinking to ourselves that we were coming across the border to get the alcohol. They asked us to pull to the side and get out of the car. We did and saw the problem. We had a couple of cases of empties that we hadn't gotten around to getting the $0.10 per can refund on yet plainly visible in the back window. They took a close look at the car but spent most of the time asking my roommate about his tricked out sound system. We made sure the empties were not visible for the ride back.

[gilraen]

Some time around 2000 or 2001 I filled out one of those online questionnaires that let you see how many points you'd get in the Canadian visa program if you wanted to apply for a work visa. It seems like a weird coincidence, but I got flagged in some database around the same time, and every time for at least 10 years after that, they would give me a hard time at the border. When everyone else's car was just waived through as little more than a formality, I'd be told to pull over, park, go into the building and answer questions like "what do you do for a living?" and "does your work know that you are taking time off?" Apparently they were afraid I was going to stay and not go back to the US??

[Isgrimnur]

CNN

Family members had hoped to build a contraption for a fun gender reveal party in Iowa, but they instead built an explosive device that killed a grandmother, police said Monday.
...
Pamela Kreimeyer, 56, was killed when a piece of shrapnel from the device struck her in the head at the Saturday soiree in rural Knoxville, about 40 miles southeast of Des Moines.
...
"On Saturday afternoon five family members and the expectant mother gathered and placed gunpowder in the bottom of a homemade stand that was welded to a metal base plate," the sheriff's statement said.

They drilled a hole in the side of the stand to install a fuse and placed a piece of wood on top of the gunpowder, before adding colored powder indicating the baby's gender, the statement said. The idea was that once the gunpowder ignited, it would launch the powder into the air -- typically blue for a boy or pink for a girl.

But when the family members placed tape over the top of the metal tubing, they inadvertently created a pipe bomb, authorities said.

Once the device was lit, the metal tubing exploded, sending shrapnel flying, the sheriff's office said.

A piece of metal hit Kreimeyer, who was standing with family members about 45 feet from the device, killing her, the statement said.

The chunk of metal moved with such velocity that after slamming into Kreimeyer, it continued to travel more than 400 feet through the air, landing in a field.
...
In Louisiana last year, an expectant father wedged a melon containing blue goo into an alligator's jaws.

Other celebrations have gone awry. A 2017 gender reveal in Arizona sparked a wildfire that burned 47,000 acres, while a July shindig in Australia ended prematurely when a car outfitted to belch blue smoke erupted in flames, forcing the driver and guests to flee.

[Daehawk]

Maybe this will help end a stupid ass fad.

[Blackhawk]

I just got a form from the high school today about an upcoming 'senior project' day, set up because seniors won't be in class due to underclassmen having PSATs that day.

The form states that the student is expected to do one of several activities that day:

Visit a college campus
Attend a meeting at a skills training service
Job shadowing
a few other, similar activities.

Every activity on the list would require advance arrangement, as they require signatures from officials at the location, so we can't just go wander a college campus if they don't happen to have an orientation/tour going on that day, or require an appointment. Most of them would require travel. And this is on a school day when his brother is still in school and has to be picked up. OH, and my son has special needs, so I can't just drop him off with a stranger.

How long do I have to arrange all of this? One business day. I received it this afternoon, and it is for Wednesday. And if it doesn't get signed by an official, the day will count as an unexcused absence.

This school has seriously been pissing me off lately.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Ugh...kombucha is disgusting.

Amen.

For those looking for a healthier alternative to soda, I'd suggest Black Cherry-flavoured Zevia instead:



Zero calories, zero sodium, no artificial sweeteners or even colouring, and only four ingredients. Granted, it's nowhere near as sweet as a regular soda, but the flavour is surprisingly good and it makes for a pleasantly refreshing soft drink when served nice and cold.

[Blackhawk]

My non-tea drinking is mostly Bubly or La Croix, which is the same thing. Water, bubbles, and a little natural flavor.

[hitbyambulance]

My non-tea drinking is mostly Bubly or La Croix, which is the same thing. Water, bubbles, and a little natural flavor.

+1, tho my carbonated water intake is mostly the generic Kroger kind ($2.99 for a 12 pack - not just lemon, lime and lemon-lime, but also including the soda flavors of 'Coke', 'Dr. Pepper' and 'Root Beer').

if you can find Waterloo brand, try that. it's pricier but very good.

[Blackhawk]

I'm about 75% Bubly grapefruit. For the other 25% I switch between Bubly blackberry, orange, cranberry, and La Croix tangerine. I really do need to try to find some of those other flavors, especially since price is starting to become an issue. I'm already limiting myself to two cans per day.

[Anonymous Bosch]

My non-tea drinking is mostly Bubly or La Croix, which is the same thing. Water, bubbles, and a little natural flavor.

Not really.

There's literally no sweetness whatsoever in La Croix sparkling water. Whereas Zevia is sweetened with Stevia, which does help provide some sweetness (though nowhere near as much as an ordinary soda) without adding any calories. This makes it much more palatable in comparison to a La Croix sparkling water. I can't speak for the other flavours of Zevia as I've not tried them all, but the Black Cherry is definitely one of the best-tasting zero calorie sodas I've tried.

[Blackhawk]

Ah. Well, to be honest, the complete lack of any extra sweetness is what makes the others so appealing to me. There are flavors that I find more appealing than 'sweet', and prior to the current trend it has been tough to find anything that wasn't sweet other than plain iced tea (and most commercial bottled tea is overbrewed and bitter.)

[Kraken]

Ugh...kombucha is disgusting.

Amen.

For those looking for a healthier alternative to soda, I'd suggest Black Cherry-flavoured Zevia instead:



Zero calories, zero sodium, no artificial sweeteners or even colouring, and only four ingredients. Granted, it's nowhere near as sweet as a regular soda, but the flavour is surprisingly good and it makes for a pleasantly refreshing soft drink when served nice and cold.

Both of my local grocers apparently carry that. I will try their cream soda. I am always looking for something delicious to drink in the evenings that has no alcohol, sugar, or caffeine, and that isn't seltzer (which I drink all day). I'm no fan of sweets, so it's harder than you would think to find something that checks those boxes.

[Daehawk]

Anything sweetened without just plain sugar is fake to me even Stevia. It all tastes nasty to me, leaves a horrible after taste, and sometimes makes me sick at my stomach. I can instantly tell if its not sugar and its awful. I bought some Mountain Dew Cherry Ice thinking it would be good. Should have read the label better. Usually I read the first sweetener to see if its sugar but for some stupid reasons companies now use sugar but then toss in later in the list some lower amount of fake awful tasting ones..yeech barf.

[Daehawk]

Strangely my online banking says my name pass is wrong when I try to log in. So I checked its right but it still says wrong. I click to reset the pass and it will only send the reset if I type in my login name, bank card number and pin. RED FLAG anyone?

WTF kinda bank does it that way?? I said fuck that and Im waiting a day to see what happens and then call them if its still asking that crap.

[Kasey Chang]

Maybe this will help end a stupid ass fad.

Using gunpowder for peaceful purposes?

[ImLawBoy]

I just got a form from the high school today about an upcoming 'senior project' day, set up because seniors won't be in class due to underclassmen having PSATs that day.

The form states that the student is expected to do one of several activities that day:

Visit a college campus
Attend a meeting at a skills training service
Job shadowing
a few other, similar activities.

Every activity on the list would require advance arrangement, as they require signatures from officials at the location, so we can't just go wander a college campus if they don't happen to have an orientation/tour going on that day, or require an appointment. Most of them would require travel. And this is on a school day when his brother is still in school and has to be picked up. OH, and my son has special needs, so I can't just drop him off with a stranger.

How long do I have to arrange all of this? One business day. I received it this afternoon, and it is for Wednesday. And if it doesn't get signed by an official, the day will count as an unexcused absence.

This school has seriously been pissing me off lately.

Assuming your son has an IEP, can you argue that he needs a reasonable accommodation to do something like this?

[Blackhawk]

Maybe (and I won't be letting this stand, regardless), but I'd also argue that when making an appointment for out-of-town job shadowing, a few days notice is 'reasonable accommodation' for pretty much anybody.

[The Meal]

I had my first kombucha on June 29, 2019. I'm already a tea drinker (mostly green teas for me, but I basically like all varieties). Our daughter had been brewing her own kombucha for about a year previous but couldn't ever convince me to try it (didn't seem like the sort of thing you jump into with the home made variety, TBH). But since I already liked tea and since I do have frequent troubles with my digestion, MHS convinced me to try a few bottles.

I know the date very well because I had brought my first bottle to a poker game (poker nights being a frequent concurrent event with my stomach troubles—I figure there's some stress component to my issue, though the times I'm most stressed is when MHS and I host poker games at our own home and I don't tend to have that same issue on those evenings so...it's complicated). This was a poker game at a friend's house that only goes off a couple times a year and is for the largest stakes of any the games we play (outside of casinos). With about 30 people each starting with about $100 on the table to start (and many folks digging into their wallets a handful of times as the evening goes on), there's many thousands of dollars at play. I cashed out from that game as the big winner at +$943. I gave credit to the kombucha (because the alternative¹ is just plain ridiculous).

From that point forward, I've incorporated 2-3 bottles of kombucha into my poker night routines. I discovered it goes well with gin. Since the end of June, my biggest profitable poker nights have been: $943, $903, $526, $102, and $99. My lesser profitable nights basically even out the nights I wasn't profitable. +$2500 in four months of home game play... well I hope the opposition doesn't buying the local stores out of the 'booch.

—————

¹ To that point, my home game results had been pretty stabilized. I'm a decent-size winner in tournaments, but my cash game play had been roughly break-even. In any given month we play 1-2 tournaments and 3-6 cash games. I think a reasonable expectation would have been for me to increase my poker bank roll by $20-50 per month. And its fair to say that I've made some adjustments in my cash game play (four of those five top winning numbers were in cash games), but I wouldn't think any of them would account for the significant uptick I've seen in my most recent 20 poker events. So, it's the kombucha.

[Daehawk]

On the news there was an update on Kevin Hart. Glad to see he is doing well as I used to like the guy. But I lost all respect for him when he has a horrible car wreck and simply walks away and goes home when his two friends are still trapped in the wrecked car. What if there'd been a fire or something? Who the hell does that??

[Isgrimnur]

Someone who is injured and in shock.

[Daehawk]

Well shit stupid damn bank. I needed food to get me to the beginning of next month and had $12 in the bank. Theres supposed to be a fee for my checking account so I look through my last 3 months closely...no fee at all. Good I can use my money I think. I used down to $2 and left that in there. Today theres a $5 fee so now Im overdrawn. Its as if they watch for this. I bet Ill have to pay a fee which will put me in the hole for this next month and leave me worse off. Im going by Friday and complain and see what is going on. Damn world.

[wonderpug]

If you get charged for the overdraw, a polite phone call to the bank explaining the circumstances can usually get you the fee waived.

[LordMortis]

Nearly 25 years later "Behind you" is still said reflexively though it only makes sense to a few people further illustrating a lack shared past.

[Jaymann]

What, a caution against people backing into you?

[Daehawk]

If you get charged for the overdraw, a polite phone call to the bank explaining the circumstances can usually get you the fee waived.

I hope so....its a dirty way to do business. Scan user accounts until they find one that doesn't have enough to cover the fee so they can then charge them a $30 penalty Im guessing. My other bank does a fee check of $7 then puts it right back in but it does it each month out in the open and on the same day. This one hides and pounces.
If they fail to wave it then I do without some food or medicine or some other item I need.

[stessier]

If you get charged for the overdraw, a polite phone call to the bank explaining the circumstances can usually get you the fee waived.

I hope so....its a dirty way to do business. Scan user accounts until they find one that doesn't have enough to cover the fee so they can then charge them a $30 penalty Im guessing. ... This one hides and pounces.

That seems exceedingly unlikely.

[Daehawk]

If you get charged for the overdraw, a polite phone call to the bank explaining the circumstances can usually get you the fee waived.

I hope so....its a dirty way to do business. Scan user accounts until they find one that doesn't have enough to cover the fee so they can then charge them a $30 penalty Im guessing. ... This one hides and pounces.

That seems exceedingly unlikely.

How would you explain 3 months since opening the account of no fee when I had $12 each month then a fee for the first time ever when I dropped it to $2?

[Isgrimnur]

I would call them and ask.

[stessier]

If you get charged for the overdraw, a polite phone call to the bank explaining the circumstances can usually get you the fee waived.

I hope so....its a dirty way to do business. Scan user accounts until they find one that doesn't have enough to cover the fee so they can then charge them a $30 penalty Im guessing. ... This one hides and pounces.

That seems exceedingly unlikely.

How would you explain 3 months since opening the account of no fee when I had $12 each month then a fee for the first time ever when I dropped it to $2?

Have you read the terms of the account? Is there a minimum balance required? My Credit Union has a $5 one.

Was there a 3 month promotional introductory period before a regular fee was to be assessed?

Easiest is to just call and ask. But to think a bank has someone scanning accounts for which ones can't handle an overage fee and then charging them is a bit paranoid.

[Daehawk]

I would call them and ask.

Ive gotta go by Friday anyways so will ask to speak to someone.

[Rumpy]

anyone have any good border crossing stories?

Oh hell yeah. Got a doozy. First, my Dad is what you'd call an Amateur Telescope Maker. In the 80's, he built himself a trailer-mounted 22-Inch Telescope (This one in particular actually: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_part ... ler_22.jpg). It was one of the largest home-made telescopes anyone had built at that point and many got to see Halley's Comet through it. There is a telescope makers convention in Vermont which had been started in the 1920's, and my Dad had longed to eventually go there. So, in 1981, it got towed by our big Chrysler across the border to Vermont. Surprisingly, it wasn't the first time it went through that it happened, but the second time in 1984 when my Dad went through Buffalo. The border guards were deeply curious and wondered what the heck was that thing? They had thought it was possibly a circus canon or a cruise missile and my Dad had been held up for several hours while the guards were making their decision before letting him go.

[LordMortis]

Oh hell yeah. Got a doozy. First, my Dad is what you'd call an Amateur Telescope Maker. In the 80's, he built himself a trailer-mounted 22-Inch Telescope (This one in particular actually: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_part ... ler_22.jpg). It was one of the largest home-made telescopes anyone had built at that point and many got to see Halley's Comet through it. There is a telescope makers convention in Vermont which had been started in the 1920's, and my Dad had longed to eventually go there. So, in 1981, it got towed by our big Chrysler across the border to Vermont. Surprisingly, it wasn't the first time it went through that it happened, but the second time in 1984 when my Dad went through Buffalo. The border guards were deeply curious and wondered what the heck was that thing? They had thought it was possibly a circus canon or a cruise missile and my Dad had been held up for several hours while the guards were making their decision before letting him go.

Heeey, I have an association with a guy who makes money on the side making telescopes. I guess that technically makes him professional telescope maker. I've never asked him. Is that a thing? I mean is there a community of telescope makers that aren't part of companies that make telescopes? I assumed he was virtually unique in a niche existence.

[Rumpy]

Oh hell yeah. Got a doozy. First, my Dad is what you'd call an Amateur Telescope Maker. In the 80's, he built himself a trailer-mounted 22-Inch Telescope (This one in particular actually: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_part ... ler_22.jpg). It was one of the largest home-made telescopes anyone had built at that point and many got to see Halley's Comet through it. There is a telescope makers convention in Vermont which had been started in the 1920's, and my Dad had longed to eventually go there. So, in 1981, it got towed by our big Chrysler across the border to Vermont. Surprisingly, it wasn't the first time it went through that it happened, but the second time in 1984 when my Dad went through Buffalo. The border guards were deeply curious and wondered what the heck was that thing? They had thought it was possibly a circus canon or a cruise missile and my Dad had been held up for several hours while the guards were making their decision before letting him go.

Heeey, I have an association with a guy who makes money on the side making telescopes. I guess that technically makes him professional telescope maker. I've never asked him. Is that a thing? I mean is there a community of telescope makers that aren't part of companies that make telescopes? I assumed he was virtually unique in a niche existence.

Yes, it is quite a thing. There's quite a big community surrounding it. Some have started just doing it as a hobby and turned it into a business. There's one guy in Montreal who's become quite reknown for that. Lots of the innovations you see in professional scopes are often made first by amateur builders. I like to say it's been one of the first Maker movements. Still going strong, though the methods are changing, as there are some now 3D-Printing their scopes.

[Z-Corn]

Nearly 25 years later "Behind you" is still said reflexively though it only makes sense to a few people further illustrating a lack shared past.

I still say, "Oven door!" when I open it even though only my wife and I live in our home.

[LordMortis]

Nearly 25 years later "Behind you" is still said reflexively though it only makes sense to a few people further illustrating a lack shared past.

I still say, "Oven door!" when I open it even though only my wife and I live in our home.

I wasn't ever a cook or on the line, so that is as foreign to me as saying "behind you" compulsively to most people when I walk behind them, even those I don't know.