Octopus Overlords

Amazon has a pet home robot dog named Astro. Im guessing they stole the name from The Jetsons cartoon of the future.



Its getting to sorta be the future people 100 years ago dreamed of.

Today I decided it was time to rearrange the bedroom. We board game in there, and I occasionally VR in there (mostly older games or games run directly off of the Quest 2, as my gaming PC isn't in there.) It's really crowded, though. There's barely room for the 3x3 table when we play a board game, and even then Caiden can't fit a chair in - he has to sit on a stool to fit.

But Michelle moved out a year ago, so nobody ever needs to get out of bed on the left side. There is about 2 1/2 feet of wasted space there, space that I can reclaim by simply pushing the bed over to the wall. The fun comes from the fact that I use the space under the bed for storage - something that's at a premium for me. The bed's on an 18" platform framework, not a box springs, so it's 18" x the length and width of a queen mattress - that's a lot of space. Once I push it to the wall, the stuff under the left side will be inaccessible unless I move the entire bed again to get to it. That means that I need to figure out what I have that can go into long-term storage. I also have to figure out what to do with the extra nightstand. Oh, and actually drag the bed and headboard over. And that means moving everything in half of the room to make space, then everything in the other half of the room into said space, then move everything back.

Why I decided to do this on the busiest week of the year (for me) is a mystery.

Blackhawk wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2023 2:23 pm Why I decided to do this on the busiest week of the year (for me) is a mystery.

Because that's we all tend to do!

OMG I got more free food from Walmart! Yesterday I ordered some eggnog because I forgot to get me any for this season. Today I go out and theres my eggnog...and 4 or 5 more bags of high quality frozen dinners....pot pies, meatloafs, assorted others. a half gal of icecream, and a giant 2 pound tub of deli sliced chicken...my God! I didn't have room in the freezer!

I dropped a giant bag of fries in my excitement that burst open all over the kitchen floor I had to throw out. After arranging stuff in my freezer like a giant puzzle box its PACKED and I have a giant box of sausage egg english muffin sandwiches left out...Ill have to open each one and toss them out to the little animals..got nowhere for them...cant chew them anyways.

And get this...I dont make this up.....the deliver driver's name was Jesus....no shit.

Daehawk wrote: Sat Dec 16, 2023 11:51 am I ordered some eggnog because I forgot to get me any for this season. Today I go out and theres my me eggnog...

FTFY

I think I accidentally deleted something..something big....but I dont know what it was lol. I was trying to make room for a game by deleting some stuff and seeing what I could puzzle around and such...and I thought I deleted something by accident. I wasn't sure...but looking at free space I know I had to lol. I didn't have room for a game I wanted to install..not I got room for it and another full game.

Whatever it was I must not need it as I cant find what it was and I dont see something missing lol. Weirdest shit.

Daehawk wrote: Sun Dec 17, 2023 4:28 pm I think I accidentally deleted something..something big....but I dont know what it was lol. I was trying to make room for a game by deleting some stuff and seeing what I could puzzle around and such...and I thought I deleted something by accident. I wasn't sure...but looking at free space I know I had to lol. I didn't have room for a game I wanted to install..not I got room for it and another full game.

Whatever it was I must not need it as I cant find what it was and I dont see something missing lol. Weirdest shit.

Did you check your waste basket?

Nothing. Usually when its a big giant thing you are deleting there are multiple steeps to jump through like agreeing to it then it saying its too big for the trash bin and yada yada...but I dont recall any of that.

Yet I have this big free space now I didn't have before and I cant explain where I got it. Even working hard and deleting all I could I was only freeing up like 145gig...but I now had over 200gig free...shrug. Glad to have it as Ive refilled it with games I wanted to have installed...but where I got it I dont know lol.

Its yet another Christmas miracle lol.

Not too long ago I deleted Steam and all the games on it. (On purpose) Talk about free space!

I think I may have remembered and found what the chunk of space is from.

Fenyx. I had it installed and was trying it out but got stuck in a room with a puzzle to leave that room I couldn't solve. So deleted it to come back to at a later date. It must be where all the space was taken up. Bigger game than I thought it was.

dbt1949 wrote: Sun Dec 17, 2023 5:59 pm Not too long ago I deleted Steam and all the games on it. (On purpose) Talk about free space!

What other use could a computer possible have‽

Is Santa Claus bipolar?

dbt1949 wrote: Mon Dec 18, 2023 3:46 am Is Santa Claus bipolar?

Not sure, but he is definitely obsessive/compulsive.

My boss tried to have a lighthearted "Ugly Sweater Contest" during our team Zoom meeting yesterday. We have about 25 people on the team who are all grown-ass adults with professional jobs and everything:

1. One person showed up wearing a sweater that said "Fuck Joe Biden" across the front in huge festive letters,
2. Another person had a "Christmas Poo" which played a fairly vulgar song...that she played multiple times during the meeting because it was "so funny" (I guess it's a South Park thing...I've never watched it),
3. A third person was wearing a Chippendales-ish sweater that made him look like he was topless with just a bow tie and Christmas ornament tassels hanging from the nipples.

I felt really bad for my boss, as his silly attempt at doing something fun turned into an HR violation because people are morons.

That sounds like Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo. Looks like he's been a thing for... 26 years. I've never seen the appeal (I'm not a fan of bodily fluids as entertainment), but he's been an established thing for quite a while, and is a favorite of an excessive number of people.

Skinypupy wrote: Tue Dec 19, 2023 9:39 am I felt really bad for my boss, as his silly attempt at doing something fun turned into an HR violation because people are morons.

"It's a holiday themed morale-boosting event. What could possibly go wrong?"

Blackhawk wrote: Tue Dec 19, 2023 12:00 pm That sounds like Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo. Looks like he's been a thing for... 26 years. I've never seen the appeal (I'm not a fan of bodily fluids as entertainment), but he's been an established thing for quite a while, and is a favorite of an excessive number of people.

Spoiler:

My BIL thinks that's hilarious and played it ad nauseum one year. It was at his house, so I had no recourse but a pained smile that got more pained with each repeat.

I guess my BIL isn't too bad. He has Dominick the Donkey on constant repeat but that's probably better.

First foray in to cooking a turkey. Didn't thaw in time, so brined a partially frozen turkey. Set the the roasting pan on a hot pad before putting it in the oven. Hot pad sticks to pan and I don't notice... Until my entire kitchen is smokey... This is why I never leave the house with any appliance running. Oven, coffee pot, dishwasher, washer and drier, even the slow cooker. I guess we'll find out in a couple of hours if hot pad fire ruins turkey meat and a couple of days if it's toxic.

ahhh the smell of Christmas.....National Lampoon would be proud.

My son has arrived from out of town so I suspect that I'll be mostly away from the keyboard until around the 27th busy with family stuff. Merry Christmas to all!

I love how delivery and ready estimates always give you a delivery window and then one minute after they miss it, it changes to something drastically different. One would think the 11 to 12 digit valued companies would have a "smarter" window for estimates when their business models are now founded on such things. Even better is when they say "signature required" for such things.

:grumpy old man who has the TV and radio turned off so he can hear the door:

I just came across this video and I learned something. Hopefully it hasn't been posted before

That's some fascinating stuff, I wondered about that.

LordMortis wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2023 2:38 pm I love how delivery and ready estimates always give you a delivery window and then one minute after they miss it, it changes to something drastically different. One would think the 11 to 12 digit valued companies would have a "smarter" window for estimates when their business models are now founded on such things. Even better is when they say "signature required" for such things.

What's even better is when they don't tell you that a signature is required, so you don't bother to listen for them.

I’m a big fan of a new game Amazon delivery plays with me. It consists of them designating something as a “loading dock” and then telling me that a package I had delivered to the office is now waiting for me at the “loading dock”. Which our building only has one of….and which has never been used by Amazon delivery.

So far they’ve designated a concrete waste bin found in the front of the building, a bench at the rear of the building, and the front door of the child development business on the far side of the building as “loading docks”. Sometimes they will include a photo of my package at one of these “loading docks” and the game takes on a new mechanic.

How about when you get delivery confirmation with a photo and it's clearly not your house. But after some sleuthing you determine it's your neighbor's house down the street. However, despite photographic evidence of said delivery, they deny ever receiving the package.

The shipper handled it (refund), but it's always nice to meet the people in your neighborhood and learn they're apparently degenerates.

You can do that? And here I've spent years hand-delivering other peoples' packages left at my house like a schmuck.

Good gosh, you folks have some real bad luck with deliveries. I guess it's a neighborhood thing. Except for the holidays we always have the same delivery folks so they are pretty familiar with who lives where.

Smoove_B wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2023 9:57 pm How about when you get delivery confirmation with a photo and it's clearly not your house. But after some sleuthing you determine it's your neighbor's house down the street. However, despite photographic evidence of said delivery, they deny ever receiving the package.

The shipper handled it (refund), but it's always nice to meet the people in your neighborhood and learn they're apparently degenerates.

If you spoke to them about it you could have said "Fine, we'll let the police handle it" and then call the police.

jztemple2 wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2023 10:25 pm Good gosh, you folks have some real bad luck with deliveries. I guess it's a neighborhood thing. Except for the holidays we always have the same delivery folks so they are pretty familiar with who lives where.

While things are routinely late (I've gotten used to seeing 'Arriving tomorrow' turn into 'On the way!'), and the average Amazon delivery now takes between four days to a week (often longer), I've never had a package go missing once it was supposed to be delivered.

Speaking of Hallmark movies, did anyone post this yet?



When I sent this to my wife, who is a big Hallmark fan, she did confirm that in the past Hallmark Christmas movies (we were talking about those specifically) had only about four plot lines. She says those that this year they have been doing much better with a greater variety of plots and settings.

Just in case anyone wanted to know

Daehawk wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2023 10:34 pm

Smoove_B wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2023 9:57 pm How about when you get delivery confirmation with a photo and it's clearly not your house. But after some sleuthing you determine it's your neighbor's house down the street. However, despite photographic evidence of said delivery, they deny ever receiving the package.

The shipper handled it (refund), but it's always nice to meet the people in your neighborhood and learn they're apparently degenerates.

If you spoke to them about it you could have said "Fine, we'll let the police handle it" and then call the police.

I remember when I was a child, there were ads on TV all the time that said if something delivered to your house you can keep it, implying no liability.

Blackhawk wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2023 11:02 pm

jztemple2 wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2023 10:25 pm Good gosh, you folks have some real bad luck with deliveries. I guess it's a neighborhood thing. Except for the holidays we always have the same delivery folks so they are pretty familiar with who lives where.

While things are routinely late (I've gotten used to seeing 'Arriving tomorrow' turn into 'On the way!'), and the average Amazon delivery now takes between four days to a week (often longer), I've never had a package go missing once it was supposed to be delivered.

I've had arriving at future date x turn in to delivered as well. Presumably there was a brief "on the way" change that I did not load and see and was never emailed.

LordMortis wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2023 11:30 pm I remember when I was a child, there were ads on TV all the time that said if something delivered to your house you can keep it, implying no liability.

That's only true in certain contexts.

If someone sends you something without your permission, it's yours (usually part of a scam, but not directed at you - like someone opening a new Amazon seller account, buying a handful of items from themselves, sending it random Amazon customer, then writing reviews for it to get 'established.')

If someone sends you something and then asks you to pay afterwards, like calling and asking for payment or sending a bill (a different kind of scam), it's still yours (for free.)

If something that someone else ordered ends up on your porch by mistake and you keep it, you've committed a crime, unless you genuinely didn't realize that it wasn't meant for you. In other words, if it's not addressed to you, you can't keep it.

LordMortis wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2023 11:31 pm

Blackhawk wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2023 11:02 pm

jztemple2 wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2023 10:25 pm Good gosh, you folks have some real bad luck with deliveries. I guess it's a neighborhood thing. Except for the holidays we always have the same delivery folks so they are pretty familiar with who lives where.

While things are routinely late (I've gotten used to seeing 'Arriving tomorrow' turn into 'On the way!'), and the average Amazon delivery now takes between four days to a week (often longer), I've never had a package go missing once it was supposed to be delivered.

I've had arriving at future date x turn in to delivered as well. Presumably there was a brief "on the way" change that I did not load and see and was never emailed.

I've also had items that were 'on the way', with tracking that showed they were four states away that were sitting on my porch.

Side note there: Amazon's tracking is useless. I'm not sure how they update it, but it's always way, way behind the official site.

And even the official sites have started pruning their tracking info, only showing you the most recent location in order to stop customer complaints when things go from LA to Denver to LA to Iowa. And I won't even get into questionable tracking from Chinese companies. Luckily, third party tracking usually works for any of them, and gives you the full info.

Lately Ive used amazon instead of a company to get the product I wanted. But then amazon would show 2 day but then be 2 days later than that. The same time I could get free shipping from the company. So ordered from the company last time. Should have taken 4 days...took 8. Once it left the company it got a big EXCEPTION with no update after that until a few days later it said it was running late but still on the way....where it was or anything wasn't showing. I just had to wait. The company said if it had taken another day or two they would have reshipped to me,

Its a big mess with USPS these days. Nothing is on time usually or moving where it says it is. Ive had it say out for delivery when it was already in my box. Ive had other orders say I didn't answer the door when I was here with the door open waiting all day one room away and never saw the lying assholes.

To top it off the UPS hub if it comes through them is just down the road from me..I can almost see it...but if they screw up and dont leave it they wont let me simply come over and pick it up in person and I have to wait for it the next day..

Stupid crap all around from all shippers.

Blackhawk wrote: Sat Dec 23, 2023 12:23 am

LordMortis wrote: Fri Dec 22, 2023 11:30 pm I remember when I was a child, there were ads on TV all the time that said if something delivered to your house you can keep it, implying no liability.

That's only true in certain contexts.

If someone sends you something without your permission, it's yours (usually part of a scam, but not directed at you - like someone opening a new Amazon seller account, buying a handful of items from themselves, sending it random Amazon customer, then writing reviews for it to get 'established.')

If someone sends you something and then asks you to pay afterwards, like calling and asking for payment or sending a bill (a different kind of scam), it's still yours (for free.)

If something that someone else ordered ends up on your porch by mistake and you keep it, you've committed a crime, unless you genuinely didn't realize that it wasn't meant for you. In other words, if it's not addressed to you, you can't keep it.

When I was a teenager I ordered a set of science encyclopedias. I got two sets. I was told that I could legally keep them both, but who needs two sets of science encyclopedias? I sent the duplicate shipment back. I'm pretty sure that gets me into Heaven.

I'm sorry, only conservatives go to heaven.