Octopus Overlords

Sudy wrote: Thu Jul 22, 2021 4:13 pm I really hate when I receive a voicemail/text/email from someone with a request to call them back, but they don't even give me a hint as to why. Maybe this bothers introverted and anxious people more than others (though not by much I'm sure), but I like to prepare before calling someone. Especially in a work environment. You're robbing me of the ability to help you best/most efficiently.

I know it can be a control move, but it doesn't strike me as this with most people. I don't know if they're just oblivious, lazy, or what. The only strategic use I can think of is that it doesn't allow me to judge how important their request is and potentially deprioritize it. But if I'm the kind of person who doesn't give a crap, I doubt that tactic's going to help.

It seems more common with age. Perhaps thinking back to a time when phone/voicemail brevity was important. (It's still appreciated, but it's not costing most people money having to listen to a 01:01 recording versus a 0:59 one anymore.)

Yeah, but think about how much fun it is from my perspective. "Hi, this is ImLawBoy in legal. I need you to give me a call at your earliest convenience."

Well, good point. I don't think I'd react the same if the request came from my company's legal department. But developers? Support reps? Product? Boooooo!

TheMix wrote: Thu Jul 22, 2021 5:27 pm People ping me in Teams with "hi".

Oh, do I hate that.

ImLawBoy wrote: Thu Jul 22, 2021 5:35 pm
Yeah, but think about how much fun it is from my perspective. "Hi, this is ImLawBoy in legal. I need you to give me a call at your earliest convenience."

“Bob, it’s Tom over in accounts receivable. Yeah, some guy calling himself ‘Lawnboy the Lawyer’ just called me. What the hell, man?”

“It’s fine, he’s just a bit off. Last week he was ‘Conan the Clerk’”.

Sudy wrote: Thu Jul 22, 2021 4:13 pmI really hate when I receive a voicemail/text/email from someone with a request to call them back, but they don't even give me a hint as to why.

As someone who prioritizes my workload based on input from users and systems, when there's zero input there's zero priority.

I think it's been years since I've ever returned a call that didn't have any details aside from a name and number - unless it belonged to someone higher in the local food chain than me. You can't tell me what you need, I can't tell you when I'll call back.

Fun from this week at work:
To MSP we use for AV & Backup licensing: I was in our AV console and found whitelist entries to permit a couple Cryptominers that are common targets for trojan spoofing. Why are these here?

MSP: We've taken those off the whitelist.

Me: Yeah, but ... <starts looking for a new MSP/licensing partner>

I wonder if cola makers could add more holes and loops in their plastic bottle ring holders for 8 packs. I just dont spend enough time cutting them up before throwing away to help keep animals safe from them as it is. Bah...they seem to add more all the time.

Daehawk wrote: Fri Jul 23, 2021 11:16 am I wonder if cola makers could add more holes and loops in their plastic bottle ring holders for 8 packs. I just dont spend enough time cutting them up before throwing away to help keep animals safe from them as it is. Bah...they seem to add more all the time.

You could always save two birds with one stone, so to speak, by simply not purchasing carbonated sugar water. That way you'd no longer need to cut up any plastic pack rings, while also improving your overall health and perhaps reducing the decay of your teeth from drinking empty calories full of sugary acidic grot.

Switching to cans or 2l bottles or a Sodasteam might also work. Most people who have unhealthy habits aren't ignorant of the fact they're unhealthy. And some people who do unhealthy things do so in moderation.

Ive cut my cola way down. Along with meat, salt, chips and candy...Ive lost 10lbs in a few weeks.

I dont usually buy bottles but they were on sale. I buy 12 pack cans. Then I drink a bottle and use it to refill from a can when I want one. I do that a couple times and toss the bottle then do it again. Keeps canned cokes fresh that way.

Im at a crossroads where the old cutdown "Ive forgotten more than you've ever learned" is no longer as useful. Im old.

I've forgotten more than I've learned. Heck, there are books I could read for the fourth time as if I had never read them once. The Dune thread has me tempted to pick it up for a third time and it's fairly safe to assume it'll mostly be like I've never read it before. The bright side is media is consumption is cheap for me.

LordMortis wrote:I've forgotten more than I've learned. Heck, there are books I could read for the fourth time as if I had never read them once. The Dune thread has me tempted to pick it up for a third time and it's fairly safe to assume it'll mostly be like I've never read it before. The bright side is media is consumption is cheap for me.

Spoiler:

Dune is a book that stands up really well to multiple readings. There are so many awesome touches it's easy to miss on the first read. E. G. Irulan's chapter intros, the Bene Gesserit check for humans + the Mentats. The ecology of Dune, etc.

Can't speak for the rest tho.

That same power pole transformer that tripped a few months back tripped again this morning with another loud ass BANG. 8am woke me right up to everything spinning down. Got stuffy fast in this heat and humidity. I was able to doze back off and an hour later stuff came back up. Wish they'd find why its doing that or replace it.

For a bit of WTFness I bought an otoscope, to see how dirty my ears are. Turns out, one side is clean as a whistle, the other side has wax all the way down due to excessive use of q-tips. Not that I've ever had them professionally cleaned in decades.

And I'd advise you NOT to buy the cheap stuff. This is to satisfy my curiosity, nothing else. Let's just say the one I bought for $25 gets a little warm in the ear, and it's very... distracting. And if they claim you can also use it to clean the ear? Lies. All lies. You can't use the camera view to also dig stuff, even if you use your PC monitor and get a huge view (rather than being on a phone or tablet). Go to a real audiologist or whoever does this professionally.

People don't realize just how raunchy Chaucer was.

Blackhawk wrote: Sun Jan 10, 2021 11:44 pm https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/07/europe/d ... index.html

Um...

Spoiler:

Welp today was a busy day.

I renewed my home insurance. My agent couldn't find me a better deal and my current home insurance place had dropped them as a agency so I was forced to drop them as well and deal directly with the insurance place. They gave me the agent I can use for them in my town. Its a Nationwide place. Im not bothering unless I have to. If theres a claim then I may be forced to seek them out. But for now Im good to go another year.

I also put a reduced hold on my life insurance. Which means I make no more payments. If I die it pays out almost what Ive paid in...which is about $2500 instead of the 10,000 the policy is for. Which is fine. Im just paying money into it and its money Ill never see anyways. Thats enough to cover all the stuff for me when I die so Im ok with it. In fact I may simply buy everything I want over time before I die. If so Ill just get the cash value from it all.

I also plan to cut out my $6 a month amazon prime after I order some stuff next month.

My po0wer bill is $105 so saved some there by about melting in the heat with stuff off. Today though its HOT even with 2 ac on. These months and the ones from dec - feb are expensive no matter what.

it's weird that so many people seem to automatically assume the cause of their night-time insect bites are 'spiders'. spiders will rarely bite, and those that do, most can't break the skin.

mosquitos, fleas, chiggers, scabies and yes the dreaded bedbug are all waaaaay more likely

I usually just assume Armie Hammer broke in again.

Daehawk wrote: Tue Jul 27, 2021 3:04 pm
My po0wer bill is $105 so saved some there by about melting in the heat with stuff off. Today though its HOT even with 2 ac on. These months and the ones from dec - feb are expensive no matter what.

For me, too. The smart thing is that when the mild (cheap) months come, put back the money you aren't spending on heating/cooling and use that to offset the costs during the more expensive months. Or average your monthly cost for the last couple of years and put that much aside to pay that bill every month. If it's lower, you keep the excess back. If it's higher, you take some of the excess from the cheap months.

But whatever you do, don't fall for the 'no more surprises' offers that I get once a week from my power company. Those are a thinly veiled trick to get you to volunteer to pay extra on your bill each month. They average your monthly cost and just charge you that - plus a meaningful processing fee on top of it. A processing fee for what three lines of code probably does in a nanosecond.

#ProgrammersArePeopleToo

Well, it’s taken me nearly a year and a half, but I’m finally starting to feel the frustration (tedium? boredom? anxiousness?) of simply sitting in front of my computer in my basement for 10-12 hours every damn day.

I’ve been mostly fine with it this whole time because of my hermit nature, but the past couple weeks have been brutal. I’m antsy as hell, can’t concentrate, easily distracted, etc. Feel like I need to get up every 5 minutes because I’m gonna scream if I stare at this goddamn screen for another minute.

That’s all normal…right?

Yup. Time for some time off.

You made it a lot longer than I did. But then I had no one. As empty as the office is (I'm the only one here right now) returning in hybrid fashion was a welcome change after 10 months, I think it was. Gaming after 15+ months was heaven. 10 months of near complete isolation, with only a few trips to the grocer and two visits from my parents was about all I could stands. I was cracking at that point and I am very much a hermit who relishes copious amount of time alone and experiences anxiety when around people especially with commitments to be around people. I'm a finicky bitch.

This hits multiple nostalgia points

Isgrimnur wrote:Yup. Time for some time off.

Yeah, I'm a bit desperate for it, but too many projects to finish if possible before the start of semester IT Freeze. Soonest I can take some time is at least mid to late Sept.

Problem is that I keep hitting the wall faster and faster and eventually need a sick day.

That was last Thursday for me.

Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jul 27, 2021 4:07 pm

Daehawk wrote: Tue Jul 27, 2021 3:04 pm
My po0wer bill is $105 so saved some there by about melting in the heat with stuff off. Today though its HOT even with 2 ac on. These months and the ones from dec - feb are expensive no matter what.

For me, too. The smart thing is that when the mild (cheap) months come, put back the money you aren't spending on heating/cooling and use that to offset the costs during the more expensive months. Or average your monthly cost for the last couple of years and put that much aside to pay that bill every month. If it's lower, you keep the excess back. If it's higher, you take some of the excess from the cheap months.

I escrow almost all of my predictable bills. My gas bill ranges from up to $400/mo in the winter to as little as $15/mo in the summer. Last year it averaged $178/mo, so I budget $180. During the summer the excess goes into savings, and in the winter the shortfall comes out. I do the same thing with taxes, insurance, and a few other variable-but-predictable bills, including medical, home repairs, and even luxuries like vacations.

All of my buckets are just entries in a notebook. There's really only one savings account. But I treat it as if it's a dozen accounts.

We are in the middle of a two week quarantine after flying to the US to visit family this summer. On Sunday we retreated into our apartment not to come out until Sat. Aug 7th. We have plenty of good food, the ability to order take out or grocery deliveries, books, the Olympics on TV, the Internet, friends bringing us ice cream treats, and multiple craft/maker projects each. We don't have a lot of space but plenty of the two of us including a way to at least be in different rooms if we want or need it. It's even bloody hot outside so staying in the AC is nice.

Yesterday morning my wife started crying. The fact that she can't go out is eating at her. I can retreat into games or prepping for the semester but she doesn't really have either of those outlets. Perhaps worse of all is that part of the reason to visit family is that my mother is not doing well. There is a chance we will want to go back to the US in Dec. and it seems likely that Korea will still require quarantine on the return in Jan.

Kraken wrote: Tue Jul 27, 2021 11:06 pm My gas bill ranges from up to $400/mo in the winter to as little as $15/mo in the summer.

Holy crap. The largest bill that we’ve ever paid - gas or electric - in our 17 years here is $190 (one super-cold winter month). That’s to heat/cool a 3k sq ft house.

I’ve never really compared utility bills in different areas of the country. Am I just lucky to be really low, or are you unlucky to be crazy high?

We're all electric and in the winter time it can pass $400 a month.

Quick review of the Wyze Floor Lamp -- why is this a Wyze product?

Wyze is known for its cheap but good products and integration within its own ecosystem. So why did they dump an almost UNRELATED product on us with its label?

The Wyze floor lamp has good specs: flexible gooseneck top, up to 800 lumens dimmable LED, with a remote and still be controlled within the Wyze app. For under $50 in early ordering. Has a tight 23 degree light cone.

But the remote is Bluetooth only, and so is the app connection. That means it CANNOT connect with any hub, and thus, NO integration with Wifi such as Alexa and Google Home. Thus, it does NOT coordinate with the rest of Wyze products such as Wyze Cam, Wyze Bulb, and even the Wyze Watch.

Makes one wonder, who put this on the lineup?

Skinypupy wrote: Wed Jul 28, 2021 8:29 pm

Kraken wrote: Tue Jul 27, 2021 11:06 pm My gas bill ranges from up to $400/mo in the winter to as little as $15/mo in the summer.

Holy crap. The largest bill that we’ve ever paid - gas or electric - in our 17 years here is $190 (one super-cold winter month). That’s to heat/cool a 3k sq ft house.

I’ve never really compared utility bills in different areas of the country. Am I just lucky to be really low, or are you unlucky to be crazy high?

Leaky 100-year-old house. When winter winds howl, the boiler runs pretty continuously. And because I'm always home, there's no dialing down the temperature for hours at a time. The gas bills for Jan and Feb are always over $300. Before we upgraded from oil heat and replaced the windows, we once hit $450.

FDA

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first interchangeable biosimilar insulin product, indicated to improve glycemic control in adults and pediatric patients with Type 1 diabetes mellitus and in adults with Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Semglee (insulin glargine-yfgn) is both biosimilar to, and interchangeable with (can be substituted for), its reference product Lantus (insulin glargine), a long-acting insulin analog. Semglee (insulin glargine-yfgn) is the first interchangeable biosimilar product approved in the U.S. for the treatment of diabetes. Approval of these insulin products can provide patients with additional safe, high-quality and potentially cost-effective options for treating diabetes.

My inner George Carlin is screaming "Potentially cost effective. You know what that means? Not fucking cost effective!"

I work with a Product Called OnBase for document management and am running a kickoff meeting this afternoon.

I'm starting with this classic bit!

Technically, any arrangement is edible if you can fit its components in your mouth.

castorbeans?

Just because you can eat castor beans doesn't mean you should.