Random randomness

[Blackhawk]

Who's in your drinking water?

Adjusted.

[Blackhawk]

Ugh. And when things were already looking ugly, my long-term financial situation just took a nosedive. Today looks fine. A year from now looks Ok. But beyond that? Yikes.

[dbt1949]

I thought about applying for meals on wheels but in order to qualify you can't be able to fix your own meals.
Rats! I can still fix bacon and eggs, ramen noodles and pasta. And microwave stuff.

[AWS260]

This is pretty fascinating: how the IRS processes paper tax returns. It involves Windows XP, COBOL, and something called the "Tingle Table."

[Isgrimnur]

Does it have reporting of a Weekly Estimated Net Usage Statistics?

[Daehawk]

I want to try a pastrami cheeseburger.

[dbt1949]

Why?

[Daehawk]

Never had one. Why not?

Im hearing mowing going on. Im looking and looking. Dont see a thing. Sounds like it is right outside my window. Invisible Wonder Woman mower. Its my neighbor across the streets. Bushes were hiding him completely. Weird how sounds can sound so close yet be over there.

[Kraken]

This is pretty fascinating: how the IRS processes paper tax returns. It involves Windows XP, COBOL, and something called the "Tingle Table."

I mail the IRS a paper Form 941 every quarter because it won't let non-CPAs efile. I make my payment electronically, but the return has to be on paper.

[dbt1949]

Just sent a message to the VA about the fact that my feet have been swollen for months and won't go away. What are my odds of it being serious?

[hepcat]

I hope low! Get thee to a doctor!

[Pyperkub]

This is pretty fascinating: how the IRS processes paper tax returns. It involves Windows XP, COBOL, and something called the "Tingle Table."

It also notes that even if you e-file, if they want to examine it, they print it out.

[hitbyambulance]

Just sent a message to the VA about the fact that my feet have been swollen for months and won't go away. What are my odds of it being serious?

"why men have shorter lifespans than women, exhibit A"

[telcta]

Our smart thermostat is connected to the local utility company. For allowing them to adjust our cooling based on demand called “Rush Hour”, we get some money back per season.

Last year it worked out great, had about 12 events where our AC shuts down from 4 to 7pm. Usually if it’s over 90 I can expect notification of an event around 2:30. The system goes into a precooling state until 4pm. This season we are at 15 events with our first “Critical Rush Hour” today. That meant no warning and they just shut down the AC.

Anybody else participating with their utility company?

[Isgrimnur]

Used to through Honeywell, but wasn’t receiving any benefit, so I opted out.

[Daehawk]

Nope.

[LordMortis]

Our smart thermostat is connected to the local utility company. For allowing them to adjust our cooling based on demand called “Rush Hour”, we get some money back per season.

Last year it worked out great, had about 12 events where our AC shuts down from 4 to 7pm. Usually if it’s over 90 I can expect notification of an event around 2:30. The system goes into a precooling state until 4pm. This season we are at 15 events with our first “Critical Rush Hour” today. That meant no warning and they just shut down the AC.

Anybody else participating with their utility company?

Nope and three hours on the worst day isn't negotiable at this time. My electric bill topped $200 for the first time ever in July. I won't say I gladly paid it but it's not enough to change my habits.

[LordMortis]

Hello idiot.

So I hate lawn care and oh if I could do it again... So today, I am spraying the cracks in my driveway and the edges around the house, fence, and garage to kill all that is green there. I get to the end the end of the spray and to let of air pressure, I keep the the trigger pressed as I walk across my lawn.

I am the stupidest man alive and should not be allowed to have things, much less nice things.

[TheMix]

Hello idiot.

So I hate lawn care and oh if I could do it again... So today, I am spraying the cracks in my driveway and the edges around the house, fence, and garage to kill all that is green there. I get to the end the end of the spray and to let of air pressure, I keep the the trigger pressed as I walk across my lawn.

I am the stupidest man alive and should not be allowed to have things, much less nice things.

Hopefully there wasn't much in there...

[LordMortis]

Hello idiot.

So I hate lawn care and oh if I could do it again... So today, I am spraying the cracks in my driveway and the edges around the house, fence, and garage to kill all that is green there. I get to the end the end of the spray and to let of air pressure, I keep the the trigger pressed as I walk across my lawn.

I am the stupidest man alive and should not be allowed to have things, much less nice things.

Hopefully there wasn't much in there...

It was mostly just air pressure... Mostly... I'll see how much damage was done in about three days.

[dbt1949]

Went to the bank today to close my wife's account. Turns out I need a death certificate as the power of attorney is no longer valid.
She only had a few bucks left and I said I don't want to pay her fees and they said I won't. She kept urging me to get the death certificate. As it cost $10-12 in gas to get there I said no, I don't care as I'm not paying any thing. They didn't seem to understand my attitude. There really isn't enough money in her account to make it worth my while.
Then when I got home the mailman and I had a talk and it seems I have to change my street address number. <sigh>
And the VA says they want me to give them my vitals for a couple of months before they'll do anything about my swollen feet.
<sigh> <sigh>

AND WHAT'S UP WITH MY SLOW INTERNET?

[AWS260]

[Daehawk]

Geez DBT thats a buncha stuff. But ya you need a Death Certificate. Dont give away the original one you get. Usually they give you 4 or 5 real DCs. Make copies and hand those out to people who request them for legal reasons. I had to go through all this myself those years ago remember. OO was there for me and guided me on my way.

[Daehawk]

Brrrr its just 73 degrees today and rained. I just have a fan blowing on me and Im chilled. Big change from 95 days and humidity to roast in.

[coopasonic]

TIL...

What Does The Smiley Face Emoji Mean? Gen Z Say ... - Bustle

For the Gen Z generation and “cuspers” (young Millennials, or older Gen Zers), that smiley face popping up in a text or email is actually seen as patronising or passive-aggressive, as they tend to use the emoji to convey sarcasm or irony.Aug 12, 2021

What is the most passive-aggressive emoji?

thumbs up”
The “thumbs up” emoji may look like harmless enough, but rest assured it is the most passive-aggressive of all the emojis at your disposal. It's a dismissive kiss-off, meted out with a single flick of the finger. It's a close cousin of the middle-finger emoji, for people not brave enough to use the middle-finger emoji.Feb 1, 2021

[Isgrimnur]

Guess I need to stop using the thumbs up, then. Is OK still Verboten?

[Jaymann]

Guess I need to stop using the thumbs up, then. Is OK still Verboten?

Only allowed with Boomer.

[Daehawk]

All I can say is dumbass Millennials.

[dbt1949]

I'm so naive.

[Isgrimnur]

You should go hang out in the military reddits and see what all the kiddies are up these days.

[Daehawk]

I was watching pinball videos of machines I used to love and was wondering why my monitor wont pivot. Dangit. I have an early ultrawide that wont go vertical. Ill be sure my next one will for sure so I can pinball play it.

[dbt1949]

I just saw Zach Snyder’s Justice League. What a change from the original.
I'm not sure they used any footage from the original tho I suppose they had too. Was this left over footage from the first or did they hire the actors back to do it again?
I liked it better than the first but got a little put off by the ending when they got into Batman's dream world. What in the hell did that have to do with this movie?

[Holman]

TIL...

What Does The Smiley Face Emoji Mean? Gen Z Say ... - Bustle

For the Gen Z generation and “cuspers” (young Millennials, or older Gen Zers), that smiley face popping up in a text or email is actually seen as patronising or passive-aggressive, as they tend to use the emoji to convey sarcasm or irony.Aug 12, 2021

What is the most passive-aggressive emoji?

thumbs up”
The “thumbs up” emoji may look like harmless enough, but rest assured it is the most passive-aggressive of all the emojis at your disposal. It's a dismissive kiss-off, meted out with a single flick of the finger. It's a close cousin of the middle-finger emoji, for people not brave enough to use the middle-finger emoji.Feb 1, 2021

All of this is contextual.

I'm sure that a Gen Zer who receives a smiley face or a thumbs-up from their boss or their mom understands it differently from when they receive it from a snarky friend.

[Kraken]

[Sudy]

I read one of these articles recently and it pissed me off. It suggested that instead of the "sus" smiley face, kids were using the cowboy hat smiley for the smiley's original purpose. Why the hell would they do that? Also, is your penis the size of an eggplant? Because mine sure isn't.

On discord I use thumbs up unironically when there's no "+1"-type emoji available. Fuck 'em.

I'm also making a list of all the new slang and usage that pisses me off, so that when I want to be pissed off I have a text file at my fingertips. So far I have 25.

They'll get old too, and I hope they hate the generations that follow just as much.

[Isgrimnur]

Captain Haddock yells at cloud

[jztemple2]

Texas paid this company to mine bitcoin during an ongoing energy crisis

Riot Blockchain, a bitcoin mining company based in Texas, was able to completely offset the cost of a month's worth of electricity thanks to a state subsidy. It did so by voluntarily turning off some of its miners during the month of July, thus earning millions in power credits for "contributing to power grid stability in Texas."

The company was able to mine about 318 BTC during the month of July, down 30% from last year, and valued at around $6.88 million. This was in addition to the $9.5 million in power credits awarded to them for not drawing power away from an already strained ERCOT power grid. This means the company was able to mine almost $7 million in bitcoin for essentially free for an entire month.

In a press release, Riot Blockchain CEO Jason Les claims that "when applied to anticipated power costs for the month, the power credits and other benefits are expected to eliminate Riot’s power costs for July."

This means Riot was still able to mine millions in bitcoin and have the energy bill for July paid for by Texan tax dollars.

[Blackhawk]

I... actually get the thumbs-up criticism. In social media, it's the 'Yeah, I see you' alternative to actually responding. You make a thoughtful post, and you're looking for meaningful feedback, and someone just clicks 'thumbs up' and gets back to what they were doing. It's like stepping up in front of a room, making a huge pronouncement, and everyone just turns back to what they were doing before you got there.

Given how prevalent social media has become in communication, it's reasonable that it would be seen similarly (a lazy brush-off) in other contexts.

[Daehawk]

hehe Spectrum keeps trying to get me to bite on their TV Essentials for $19.99. They wouldn't give it to me 2 years ago when I asked for it. Said it wasn't even available. Tried to shaft me. Well I shafted them! I cut cable out completely. Im still shafting them everyday every way. Ride that shaft boys..up and down up and down.

Im not bitter Im just smart.

[dbt1949]

How do you cash in your bit coins for actual money?