Octopus Overlords

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 2:28 pm Thanks, that's helpful. I'll suppress my annoyance.

I called them sub-accounts because the only way to create them is by logging into the primary, then creating a "new user". They're all tied directly to the main account, hence why I thought it would make sense to be able to use the same phone #.

That kind of changes it in my mind, though. The fact that these are users under a main account means you should be able to completely control these accounts from the main one - from how they authenticate to how they're recovered if breached. I'd be curious what Comcast has to say, honestly...

...so I checked, and I think your best choice may be to make these secondary accounts "Restricted" so the most they could possibly do is change their passwords if they were hacked. That doesn't protect your email from malicious logins, though. The way they have this structured and describe it in their FAQ's, they really seem to expect a different person to "own" each account or sub-account - not one person with 4 accounts.

If you're ever bored and want a laugh, maybe their support department can manually force your phone number into each account for authentication purposes. They sometimes have access regular users don't.

*Edit:

gilraen wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 3:05 pmIs this using the Xfinity Authenticator or something like a text message to your phone? You should be able to add multiple Comcast accounts to the authenticator app.

Interesting. I've never dealt with Comcast, but that sounds like it should do what's required.

Gilraen's mention of the Authenticator App makes me realize that I was doing this incorrectly. The phone number I was trying to add on their site was for account recovery purposes, not for authentication. Which, to me, actually makes it a little stranger that I couldn't use the same number.
Good idea on switching the sub-accounts to "restricted" though, will do that today...and will get the authenticator app set up.

Paingod wrote: ↑Tue May 12, 2020 3:15 pm The way they have this structured and describe it in their FAQ's, they really seem to expect a different person to "own" each account or sub-account - not one person with 4 accounts.

I'm guessing some of the challenge is that I've had this same account/sub-account structure in place for at least 15 years. The intent and structure when I originally set it up is likely quite bit different than what it is now.

I wonder why no one customizes their Big Mac burgers and have them use the Quarter Pounder patties instead of those thin Big Mac ones?

Did you try the Grand Mac when they had it? I was looking forward to it, but it never came to Canada.

No

Why do people get mad at yo if you won't do them a favor? The kids come over all the time to use our washer/dryer and they want us to change their clothes over. They have no reason to want us to do it other than they're lazy but if we don't do it they get mad.

Back in the 90s there was a local place that ran a tv commercial ALL the damn time where a guy dressed in a chicken suit would say over and over the entire commercial nearly "I got it! I got it! Come and see me brother! I got it!" while strutting back and forth in that suit holding a fan of money. Fuckin A we hated that place and ad. Wanted to smack him across the state. Some kinda car loan or title place I think. Its why to this day I always root for Peter Griffin to kick that damn chicken's ass on Family Guy.

So many celebs turn 70 this year that I grew up with. Stevie Wonder turned 70 just today.

Im going to buy some rubbing compound and try to get 4 year old brake fluid off the side of the car. Was going to get it today but have to wait until next month or the stimulus ...whichever comes first. It works sorta like a clay bar just better. I used it once on our white Trans Am. It made a clean spot and I ended up having to do the entire car. This seems to come off with a fingernail so Im hoping the paint survives it. The chrome plated wheels I wasn't sure on either. I was thinking Id need some strong chemicals to soak it off but the other day I got out and tested an old brilo steel wool pad on it. Scrubbed off the spot I tested. Any damage it does is so small as to not see at distance. So bought a 99 cent box of them today. Figure Ill try to do the wheels this weekend and give my busted knee a rest instead of trying to cut and drag brush.

My knee got to where I could barely walk on it. Felt like a tight bandage was wrapped around it and it swelled up. Been that way since a bad tackle in football as a teen.

Seems to me it'd be a cooler car if you lifted it, just a body lift so it's cheap, and then just drove it and never washed it again.

Also saw some lady at the meat department picking up and putting down all the packs of ground beef. Guess she was looking at price. But thats normal behavior for normal times . These are not normal times...STOP IT!

Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2020 10:05 pm Also saw some lady at the meat department picking up and putting down all the packs of ground beef. Guess she was looking at price. But thats normal behavior for normal times . These are not normal times...STOP IT!

I know you are not directing that comment at me but please think about being more considerate. It is very possible that she can't read the weight or the price without picking up the package. I know I can't. If you wash your hands after picking up the package prior to touching your mouth you are in no danger.

Yeah, I mean, I'm being as considerate as I can when I shop, but I'm not necessarily buying the first orange or loaf of bread I pick up.

In order to keep people out of the deli, the Wal-Marts around here have added a refrigerated case in which they put pre-cut one pound bags of all of their popular meats and cheeses. Which they then stack inside label down so that you can't tell what they are without picking up one in each section and turning it over.

Well the steel wool worked pretty good on my car wheels. Still needs cleaner used but I have none and dont have a water hose at the moment either. So unless my stimulus comes Ill have to wait till next month on that.

Discovered a completely unexpected benefit of having the kids play Animal Crossing this morning.

All three of them were terrified of bugs last year. As in, seeing a single ant on the sidewalk would reduce two of the three to tears. This morning as we were weeding the yard, they captured three box elder bugs, two pill bugs, a snail, and a caterpillar all by themselves. As they were doing it, they were talking about how they would “turn the bugs in to Blathers” and “make a museum display” (things that happen in AC when you capture bugs). They put all the bugs in a small jar with sticks, grass, etc, and were generally hugely proud of themselves.

It certainly makes our outdoor life much easier.

Time to order some insect pins and foam and help them set up a museum (with a chance to slip some science in on the side.)

At least, if they are able to handle it when their bugs die. I had that problem when the kids were little and started catching bugs. They just didn't grasp how short of a lifespan many of them had.

Especially in air tight jars.

Is this crap for real? Not sure how it displays stuff under other stuff as you twist the phone.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/813673857664461618/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/625437466988486028/

Why does Star Trek have transporter rooms? This came to me while looking at a cutaway of the new Enterprise and it having a transporter room below the bridge. I doubt they would make it there in an emergency. Anyways why have one? When they beam people down to a place theres no transporter room there. When you beam someone up to a ship and into medical or to the bridge there no pads there. So why have one at all? Why not just have a transporter system. Bridge could simply beam to the cafe. Medical emergencies could beam to sickbay. Hydroponics could beam to a planet. No point at all in having to beam to a transporter room with pads then run to your destination. Seems old fashioned.

Also photon torpedoes. They have always seemed to be in a dangerous place located in the neck of the ship. If they exploded for some reason the ship would be in two pieces.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Sat May 16, 2020 4:30 pm Is this crap for real? Not sure how it displays stuff under other stuff as you twist the phone.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/813673857664461618/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/625437466988486028/

I'm guessing that it uses the phones tilt sensor to move layers of the wallpaper. If you actually saw it in real life it wouldn't have any depth, just the illusion. The layers would move, but it would all be on a flat plane (like the way mountains seem to move in the 'distance' on a Super Nintendo.) Since we're seeing a 2d picture of it in your link, our fallible assume that the depth is actually there. It's literally an illusion of an illusion.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Sat May 16, 2020 4:51 pm Why does Star Trek have transporter rooms? This came to me while looking at a cutaway of the new Enterprise and it having a transporter room below the bridge. I doubt they would make it there in an emergency. Anyways why have one? When they beam people down to a place theres no transporter room there. When you beam someone up to a ship and into medical or to the bridge there no pads there. So why have one at all? Why not just have a transporter system. Bridge could simply beam to the cafe. Medical emergencies could beam to sickbay. Hydroponics could beam to a planet. No point at all in having to beam to a transporter room with pads then run to your destination. Seems old fashioned.

Also photon torpedoes. They have always seemed to be in a dangerous place located in the neck of the ship. If they exploded for some reason the ship would be in two pieces.

From what I recall, beaming people to and from the inside of a ship requires very precise coordinates, and any mistake puts people inside walls. It's why they don't do it often - it's risky. And even then they're using the transporter room - they beam them out of the bridge, into the transporter room, then to wherever they're going. They never rematerialize, but they're passed through the hardware.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Sat May 16, 2020 4:51 pm Why does Star Trek have transporter rooms? This came to me while looking at a cutaway of the new Enterprise and it having a transporter room below the bridge. I doubt they would make it there in an emergency. Anyways why have one? When they beam people down to a place theres no transporter room there. When you beam someone up to a ship and into medical or to the bridge there no pads there. So why have one at all? Why not just have a transporter system. Bridge could simply beam to the cafe. Medical emergencies could beam to sickbay. Hydroponics could beam to a planet. No point at all in having to beam to a transporter room with pads then run to your destination. Seems old fashioned.

Of course it seems old fashioned; TOS was created more than fifty years ago. Keep in mind, the entire concept of 'Star Trek Transporters' were originally a time and cost-saving kluge more than anything else:

Wikipedia.org wrote:According to The Making of Star Trek, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's original plan did not include transporters, instead calling for characters to land the starship itself. However, this would have required unfeasible and unaffordable sets and model filming, as well as episode running time spent while landing, taking off, etc. The shuttlecraft was the next idea, but when filming began, the full-sized shooting model was not ready. Transporters were devised as a less expensive alternative, achieved by a simple fade-out/fade-in of the subject.

And without Scotty iconically beaming crew members up to a transporter room, it also would've been much more difficult to illustrate and cement the concept back in the 1960s. After that, it became an established part of the show's lore, akin to Doctor Who's TARDIS.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Sat May 16, 2020 4:51 pm Why does Star Trek have transporter rooms? This came to me while looking at a cutaway of the new Enterprise and it having a transporter room below the bridge. I doubt they would make it there in an emergency. Anyways why have one? When they beam people down to a place theres no transporter room there. When you beam someone up to a ship and into medical or to the bridge there no pads there. So why have one at all? Why not just have a transporter system. Bridge could simply beam to the cafe. Medical emergencies could beam to sickbay. Hydroponics could beam to a planet. No point at all in having to beam to a transporter room with pads then run to your destination. Seems old fashioned.

It's possible to transport from point A to point B when neither is the transporter room, but transport still requires specialized equipment (including the sliding sliders we always see). That equipment has to be located somewhere.

It probably just makes industrial-safety sense to prefer transports to begin or end on the transporter pad in front of the
transporter operator, who can thus guarantee that the pad is clear of obstruction.

Also photon torpedoes. They have always seemed to be in a dangerous place located in the neck of the ship. If they exploded for some reason the ship would be in two pieces.

On TOS Enterprise, photons are on the superstructure atop the saucer, a couple levels below the bridge. The movies moved them to the neck.

I grew up with the Franz Joseph blueprints of the Enterprise pinned to my wall, so I know the precise location of the ship's bowling alley.

So, this has been a tough year. Money has been a big problem. The kids have been stuck in the house. All our summer plans that they look forward to every year have been cancelled. Ian's graduation was cancelled. Michelle's brother is being admitted to the Mayo clinic and is 'not doing well.'

It was a tough morning, too. This morning my last 'real life' friend turned on me because I refused to support Trump, eliminating my gaming group, and effectively removing tabletop gaming (at least with other people) as a hobby. My youngest was upset all day because he was also a member of the group and always looked forward to our D&D games.

Then tonight, right in the middle of dinner, our pet pigeon collapsed. I grabbed her, and she died in my hands seconds later with the kids watching. She'd been having some health problems lately, and we'd just made a drive to Indy to the nearest avian vet. My oldest has been inconsolable for two hours. He's autistic to the point of disability, and Barry had become central his life. She was all he'd talk about. Every time we left the house all he'd do would be look for pigeons. He read about them. He bought pigeon shirts. Everything. He's completely lost now. I'm not much better. People underestimate pigeons. They see them and just wave them off, but they're one of the more intelligent types of birds, are full of individual personalities, and are very, very social. Barry had bonded with me. I'd come into the room and she'd fly to my shoulder. She'd sit there while I watch TV or read, cuddled up to me, and would pur when I'd scratch her neck. If Michelle let her out in the morning, she'd fly in and land on me in bed, then walk up to my chest to cuddle. She has been the central feature of our lives since we rescued her, a wounded racing pigeon, almost a year ago. And now she's in a bag in the freezer while the entire family is in shock, and my oldest is completely, totally gone.

I'm not doing well right now. I can't take much more like this. I've about had my fill of 2020.

I’m sorry for your loss.

Very sorry about little Barry.

The older we get the more years like this we tend to have. I know Ive seen too many of them.

that's really too bad. that pigeon was cool.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Sat May 16, 2020 6:58 pmThen tonight, right in the middle of dinner, our pet pigeon collapsed. I grabbed her, and she died in my hands seconds later with the kids watching. She'd been having some health problems lately, and we'd just made a drive to Indy to the nearest avian vet. My oldest has been inconsolable for two hours. He's autistic to the point of disability, and Barry had become central his life. She was all he'd talk about. Every time we left the house all he'd do would be look for pigeons. He read about them. He bought pigeon shirts. Everything. He's completely lost now. I'm not much better. People underestimate pigeons. They see them and just wave them off, but they're one of the more intelligent types of birds, are full of individual personalities, and are very, very social. Barry had bonded with me. I'd come into the room and she'd fly to my shoulder. She'd sit there while I watch TV or read, cuddled up to me, and would pur when I'd scratch her neck. If Michelle let her out in the morning, she'd fly in and land on me in bed, then walk up to my chest to cuddle. She has been the central feature of our lives since we rescued her, a wounded racing pigeon, almost a year ago. And now she's in a bag in the freezer while the entire family is in shock, and my oldest is completely, totally gone.

Sorry for your loss, I know exactly what you mean; one of my very best friends was an avid and highly successful pigeon racer. Perhaps you ought to consider joining a local pigeon club, as they're typically very family-friendly and welcoming of newbies to the hobby.

No offense, but with what I've learned over the past year, I'm very, very against pigeon racing. Those pigeons are domestic birds, not wild. They lack the survival instincts of a wild bird, and the mortality rate is often upwards of 30-40% per release. Many of them get lost, and those that aren't picked off by predators end up starving to death because they don't know how to find food in the wild. Those that make it back late or injured are usually killed on the spot so that they don't 'spoil' the gene pool.

It's comparable to taking a hundred labrador retrievers out and releasing them in the woods 300 miles from home to see which ones survive, waiting until half starve, then killing the bottom 10% of survivors and doing it again, breeding them, and then doing it all again.

Holman wrote: ↑Sat May 16, 2020 5:49 pm I grew up with the Franz Joseph blueprints of the Enterprise pinned to my wall, so I know the precise location of the ship's bowling alley.

Tenpins or candlepins? I know, I know: both.

I just walked into my son's room and found him curled up on the floor with a stuffed pigeon he got for his birthday, still crying his eyes out three plus hours later. I don't think I've ever seen something so heartbreaking. Barry really was his life.

I'm so very done right now.

Very sorry for Barry's loss. After losing two cats and my BIL over the span of seven months, I've cried more in the past year than in my whole life, maybe. Set in context of what's happening to our country and the world, it's been a terrible year filled with loss and despair.

speaking as a 'bird' person myself, i get it.

Holman wrote: ↑Sat May 16, 2020 5:49 pm I grew up with the Franz Joseph blueprints of the Enterprise pinned to my wall, so I know the precise location of the ship's bowling alley.

I have this poster on my wall above the bed. Mines mint condition though. Had it since the late 80s or early 90s. Was one of if not the first poster my wife got me. Would never take anything for it.Love it.

I've been speaking with the founder of a large pigeon rescue center. It turns out that the medicine used to treat her specific problem in every other bird species in the world is the same. And that same medicine is toxic in pigeons and doves. The vet didn't know, and gave her the treatment they'd give any other bird. And I continued to syringe it down her throat every night, which is what probably killed her.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Sat May 16, 2020 8:20 pm I just walked into my son's room and found him curled up on the floor with a stuffed pigeon he got for his birthday, still crying his eyes out three plus hours later. I don't think I've ever seen something so heartbreaking. Barry really was his life.

I'm so very done right now.

So sorry for your loss, Blackhawk.

This is such a rough time for everyone, and not everything is Coronavirus.

Kraken wrote: ↑Sat May 16, 2020 8:20 pm

Holman wrote: ↑Sat May 16, 2020 5:49 pm I grew up with the Franz Joseph blueprints of the Enterprise pinned to my wall, so I know the precise location of the ship's bowling alley.

Tenpins or candlepins? I know, I know: both.

Whenever you see the tail of the TOS Enterprise, the bowling alley is right below the shuttle bay, and it seats 80+ spectators.

That's a fifth of the crew (not counting bowlers), yet we never had a single bowling episode.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Sat May 16, 2020 8:02 pm No offense, but with what I've learned over the past year, I'm very, very against pigeon racing. Those pigeons are domestic birds, not wild. They lack the survival instincts of a wild bird, and the mortality rate is often upwards of 30-40% per release. Many of them get lost, and those that aren't picked off by predators end up starving to death because they don't know how to find food in the wild. Those that make it back late or injured are usually killed on the spot so that they don't 'spoil' the gene pool.

It's comparable to taking a hundred labrador retrievers out and releasing them in the woods 300 miles from home to see which ones survive, waiting until half starve, then killing the bottom 10% of survivors and doing it again, breeding them, and then doing it all again.

If you say so, but there's more to the appreciation of pigeons than you may think -- check out the Indiana Pigeon Club and you'll see they cover other aspects.