Random randomness

[Kraken]

Lunch for two at a food truck came to $19.01. Handed the kid $20. He counted out 99 cents in change.

I'm confused at the rolley eyes.

Most cashiers would ignore the penny and give you a dollar back. Isn't that customary everywhere?

How old was the kid? Maybe he deserves respect for doing the transaction accurately.

My early bosses would yell at us if the till didn't balance exactly. I assume "penny amnesty" is customary where there's a corporation on top, but a food truck is a pretty marginal enterprise.

I honestly can't remember the last time somebody didn't spot me the penny, but I don't use cash very often anymore...hence I never carry change...hence giving me 99 cents instead of a dollar bill basically takes that dollar out of circulation. The quarters will eventually find their way into a parking meter, but the dimes and pennies will sit in a jar forever.

He was a 20-something with the obligatory hipster beard and tattoos. Maybe he thought I'd put the change in his tips cup. Or maybe it was micro-aggressive ageism; I was wearing my "1957 - All Original Parts" cap and my Sputnik T-shirt. He probably mistook me for a Trump voter.

[Holman]

I know places like Starbucks are required to give exact change--or at least that's what they tell me while I wait for them to laboriously count it out.

[Daehawk]

Ive never had anyone give me more than expected except by accident.

Ive spent a couple hours tonight watching old The Crocodile Hunter clips and reading info. Steve has been gone 12 years now. Hard to comprehend it. I watched the part of the pilot ep I remember vividly. Made me so nervous back then I quit watching the rest and didn't watch for show for a few if not many eps. But then fell in love with it. Years later when it was more about the zoo I quit watching much. Still miss his CRIKEY! hhehe. Strange the things I think or or do when Im feeling lousy.

[Blackhawk]

I can't recall ever having had someone spot me the penny unless there was one of those penny trays sitting nearby. I know that when I was a cashier, such a thing would have gotten me bonked.

Maybe it is a regional thing.

[Daehawk]

Just watched the full episode of Star Trek Voyager season 7 ep 11 called Shattered. It was like it was just made. I didn't remember it AT ALL. Either I somehow missed that ep originally or I completely forgot it which is probably the correct answer. Which is a bit troubling but normal it seems for me. It really was like it just came out and I saw it for the first time.

It was about a temporal problem where different areas of the ship were in a different timeline and it was up to Chakotay from normal timeline and Captain Janeway from before they even left the Alpha quadrant to fix it all. Along the way they went into all kinds of time lines and it was really wonderful seeing them. Captain Proton black and white adventure on the holodeck, Seven still a Borg, Naomi Watts and Icheb grown ups and officers, B'Elanna still a Maquis, and some others scattered about.Even Seska was there . Really really fun to watch.

A bit sad and all that gone now but I laughed and loved it all so much. Even caught myself cheering once and clapping another lol.

Strange thing though that gnawed at me the entire ep.......I can under stand him telling her everything because they will all forget it on the time line reset........BUT why didn't they carry some dang phasers!????

[Daehawk]

I feel like Im doing a blog.

I just watched Star Trek Voyager ep Drone. Man that ending just tears me up. Very well acted. I miss One already

1998. Wow 20 years ago. Feels like perhaps 6 or 7 years have passed.

[MonkeyFinger]

I feel like Im doing a blog.

Hmmm... perhaps a dedicated thread for you like Kasey Chang has is in order?

[Carpet_pissr]

He probably mistook me for a Trump voter.

Do those even exist in your area?

[Kraken]

He probably mistook me for a Trump voter.

Do those even exist in your area?

You might be surprised. The town I live in reliably breaks Republican (overwhelmingly white and comprised of families and seniors, with very few single young people), and four houses on my daily walking route are festooned with aggressively pro-Trump regalia. Granted, that's hardly a majority of the 300 houses I walk past...but there are none with in-your-face lefty propaganda. I would guess that 35% of my neighbors are Trumpsters, give or take 5% -- not exactly MAGA country, but it ain't Cambridge, either.

As a white almost-senior living in a conservative town, I fit the profile.

[Daehawk]

And now Im watching Game of Thrones clips. Ive never seen the show at all but just watching clips of season 7 and knowing some other stuff I feel I have seen the series haha.

[Smoove_B]

With the heat index, it's 102 degrees outside right now and it's been miserable since Friday in NJ, continuing through Wednesday or Thursday. Who the F likes this nonsense? Where's the winter storm thread?

[Isgrimnur]

Best I can do is the hurricane thread.

[Zarathud]

We are trying to convince the 9 year old that it's too hot to watch Kidz Bop concert in 90+ about to rain weather. Sigh.

[Smoove_B]

I knew Gremlins was the reason, but I didn't realize the first movie released with the PG-13 rating was Red Dawn. Happened on 7/1/1984. Ask your parents! From Wiki:

In the early 1980s complaints about violence and gore in films such as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Gremlins, both of which received PG ratings, refocused attention on films seen by small children and pre-teens. According to author Filipa Antunes, this revealed the conundrum of a film which "could not be recommended for all children but also could not be repudiated for all children uniformly," leading to speculation that the rating system’s scope, in particular its PG classification, "no longer matched a notion of childhood most parents in America could agree on." Steven Spielberg, director of Temple of Doom and executive producer of Gremlins, suggested a new intermediate rating between "PG" and "R". The "PG-13" rating was introduced on July 1, 1984, with the advisory "Parents Are Strongly Cautioned to Give Special Guidance for Attendance of Children Under 13 – Some Material May Be Inappropriate for Young Children". The first film to be released with this rating was the 1984 John Milius war film Red Dawn.

[GreenGoo]

With the heat index, it's 102 degrees outside right now and it's been miserable since Friday in NJ, continuing through Wednesday or Thursday. Who the F likes this nonsense? Where's the winter storm thread?

We've got a full week of heatwave ahead of us and no air conditioning.

I'm not a fan of being conscious right now.

[Default]

With the heat index, it's 102 degrees outside right now and it's been miserable since Friday in NJ, continuing through Wednesday or Thursday. Who the F likes this nonsense? Where's the winter storm thread?

We've got a full week of heatwave ahead of us and no air conditioning.

I'm not a fan of being conscious right now.

I have my gatorade, 2 gallon jug of water and I'm looking down both barrels of a 12 hour day. Chances are that I'll be in bed by 830 tonight.

Good thing I like being outside.

[Paingod]

With the heat index, it's 102 degrees outside right now and it's been miserable since Friday in NJ, continuing through Wednesday or Thursday. Who the F likes this nonsense? Where's the winter storm thread?

We've got a full week of heatwave ahead of us and no air conditioning.

I'm not a fan of being conscious right now.

I have my gatorade, 2 gallon jug of water and I'm looking down both barrels of a 12 hour day. Chances are that I'll be in bed by 830 tonight.

My wife kept refusing to let me buy AC units until I told her about the heat wave hitting Maine last weekend. She relented and we now have a tiny unit in the office window. Because the rest of the house was so sticky and hot, the kids ended up sleeping in the office and we slept in our sticky bedroom. A second AC unit is on the way now.

We're looking at 90 today with high humidity. I l've summer in Maine. I'd prefer a dry heat - or a moist heat in a place where Central AC was a basic install on every home. Instead we shlep around window units and huddle in one or two rooms all summer.

[stessier]

Has anyone else been following the kids' Thai soccer team that went hiking in a cave 10 days ago and disappeared? It's the rainy season and that cave floods but amazingly they were found alive. They are now trying to figure out how to get them out and they may have to dive them out. It'll be interesting to hear the full story once they are safe.

[Kraken]

I've been following that story; surprised and delighted that they were found alive. I really expected it to turn into a body recovery operation, and I imagine most of the rescuers were starting to think along the same lines. Now getting them out in their weakened condition is going to be a challenge.

[Daehawk]

Followed it. Im very surprised they survived. I figured them for goners really. So happy they are ok.

[Daehawk]

Anyone ever start to post something or want to and then think naaahh I dont want to jinx something cosmically? I do it and then sit and worry about the thing I wanted to talk about.

[Daehawk]

Anyways..nothing to do with the previous post.....

Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys. I dont know of anyone who doesn't seem to like the guy. From all Ive seen he is a really gentle and kind hearted soul. I know he has had mental issues over the years. But we those caused by drugs like psychedelic ones? He says in interviews they ruined his mind. But did they change him as in harm his cells and thinking or was it just a phase? Also did he have a stroke or something because of them. I'll post the interviews below but in the first oldest one from the 60s he seems quick and natural and normal but in others he seems slower and such.

Im not trying to belittle him. I like him , admire him, and love his music and wish him the best. Im just curious about what happened and what caused it.

1964 and all seems well


1976 and life has changed


Not sure this date but it seems pretty recent

[tjg_marantz]

I've been following that story; surprised and delighted that they were found alive. I really expected it to turn into a body recovery operation, and I imagine most of the rescuers were starting to think along the same lines. Now getting them out in their weakened condition is going to be a challenge.

Heard they were going to have wait to leave until waters recede (months) or learn to dive. Jesus. Not out of the woods yet.

[Smoove_B]

Here's a link to the Thai soccer team story:

Rescuers found the 12 boys and their soccer coach alive and relatively healthy on an elevated rock about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the mouth of the cave on Monday evening after 9 days of searches.

However, the boys will have to learn how to dive or wait months until the flooding subsides before they can get out safely, the BBC said, citing the military.

Food may need to be sent in for at least the next four months, the military added. Thailand's rainy season usually persists through October.

Wow.

[stessier]

That's crazy. Why doesn't someone just drill a hole and get them out that way? We can do it for miners but not in this case?

[wonderpug]

Or if learning how to dive would get them out, why couldn't you send in an experienced scuba diver to put masks on them and guide them out one at a time?

[gilraen]

Apparently they are almost a mile from the entrance, none of the kids can swim, and some places are so narrow, you can only squeeze one body at a time. It's still one of the options being considered, but it's dangerous.

[wonderpug]

That's nuts. I'm feeling claustrophobic just talking about it.

[Smoove_B]

Open-ocean SCUBA is one thing. Cave diving is a whole different breed of people. I don't mind being underwater with gear. I don't mind being in caves. Mix the two? Hell no.

[ImLawBoy]

That's crazy. Why doesn't someone just drill a hole and get them out that way? We can do it for miners but not in this case?

That's one of the options they're looking at. From what I read, they first need to be able to pinpoint them exactly (there may be some equipment coming from the UK to help with that). After that, I suppose they need to be careful that drilling doesn't cause cave collapses or the like. Frankly, I think they should send Sting in.

Apparently they are almost a mile from the entrance, none of the kids can swim, and some places are so narrow, you can only squeeze one body at a time. It's still one of the options being considered, but it's dangerous.

Plus the water is muddy and fast moving, so you're going blind potentially against a current. Plus the kids have barely eaten in over a week, so it's not like they're at optimum strength for this type of escape.

[Paingod]

We're also talking about 2.5 miles of tunnels, mostly flooded with water and mud. Go for a 2 mile walk tonight. Now imagine it's pitch black, muddy water, and you don't even know how to swim (not a one of them does), let alone SCUBA. Might as well ask the kids to climb a ladder to the moon.

It's amazing the divers found them to begin with, but I suppose there was always hope as long as they didn't find them not alive. It's awesome that they made it to safety. I was completely expecting this to go horribly wrong, and was very happy to discover I was wrong.

[Rip]

Where is Aquaman when you need him?

[Isgrimnur]

This Is Insider

The boys, who are ages 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach were found alive on an elevated dry rock about 2 1/2 miles from the mouth of the cave after nine days of searches.

It was particularly difficult for the rescuers to locate them because the cave system consists of dark, narrow bends that sometimes fit only one person, Ben Reymenants, one of the divers involved in the search, told Sky News.

It took the divers at least four hours to swim to the point in the cave system where the team was located, he said.

"This is one of the more extreme cave dives that I have done," Reymenants added. "It is very far, and very complex. There is current. The visibility can be zero at times."
...
Divers are supplying the group with food and medicine, Thailand's Navy SEALs said on Facebook.

Two Thai medical workers have also joined the cave's occupants to keep them company and monitor their health, the SEALs added.

[Kraken]

This could be a golden publicity opportunity for The Boring Company. (Unless the mountain is too crumbly for tunneling...an extensive cave system indicates that we aren't dealing with solid bedrock here.)

[Isgrimnur]

CBS News

Along with the search efforts inside the cave, rescuers have searched on the mountainside for possible ways into the caverns below. Authorities said those efforts will continue. Backhoes and drilling equipment were sent to the mountain, but creating a shaft large enough to extract the boys would be extremely complicated and could take a long time.

The British Cave Rescue Council said the boys are "located in a relatively small space and this would make any potential drilling attempt as a means of rescue very difficult."

[stessier]

I mean, they've got 4 months. Might as well try.

[Isgrimnur]

I mean, they've got 4 months. Might as well try.

More monsoon rains are on the way. After a break in the weather in recent days, the Thai Meteorological Department forecast for Chiang Rai calls for light rain through Friday followed by heavy rain starting Saturday and continuing through July 10. Such storms could raise water levels in the cave again and complicate the supply missions or any potential extrication, if one was needed.

[Scuzz]

Not to victim blame here but who thought these kids and their coach going in there during the rainy season was a good idea?

[Isgrimnur]

News.com.au

The youth soccer players trapped inside a flooded network of caves in northern Thailand went into the subterranean system as part of an “initiation” ritual, according to one of the divers who found them.

“They left their backpacks and their shoes before wading in there, trying to go the end of the tunnel like an initiation for local young boys to go to the end of the tunnel and write your name on the wall and then make it back,” Dutch diver Ben Reymenants, who runs a diving school in Phuket, told Sky News.

[Daehawk]

I was able to finally get one of these today! A 2 lb carton of Xtra Cheddar Goldfish. Yum. Hard to hold but tasty!!