Octopus Overlords

Max Peck wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2024 2:00 pm If this was happening in a Twitch chat, this is the point where I'd pipe up to ask "How much to ship the entire lot off to Daehawk?"

Heh, I'd do it for the price of shipping, which might run a couple hundred bucks.

LordMortis wrote:I'm even debating dropping all my DVDs and CDs off to good will. With the 1000's and 1000's $ of past money put in to them, it's hard to let them go

I've thought about getting rid of my CD/DVD collections as well, but haven't been able to pull the trigger yet. Part of that is because they're packed in bins in an out of the way corner of my basement, but another part is a strange attachment to something into which I invested so much (money, time, interest). There was a time when someone's CD collection was practically a representation of their personality...look at the music I was listening to, and you could get a pretty good idea of the kind of person I was at the time. They're just pieces of plastic with music that I can easily listen to elsewhere (Spotify), but it feels like giving up a part of myself in a weird way. One of these days...

disarm wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2024 3:20 pm

LordMortis wrote:I'm even debating dropping all my DVDs and CDs off to good will. With the 1000's and 1000's $ of past money put in to them, it's hard to let them go

I've thought about getting rid of my CD/DVD collections as well, but haven't been able to pull the trigger yet. Part of that is because they're packed in bins in an out of the way corner of my basement, but another part is a strange attachment to something into which I invested so much (money, time, interest). There was a time when someone's CD collection was practically a representation of their personality...look at the music I was listening to, and you could get a pretty good idea of the kind of person I was at the time. They're just pieces of plastic with music that I can easily listen to elsewhere (Spotify), but it feels like giving up a part of myself in a weird way. One of these days...

Yeah, and I often bought CDs at shows. Those I would probably still hang on to as part of the memory. But then I think if I keep those memories why aren't I keeping all the memories of all of the music.

I don't have nearly as much attachment to the movies.

It should absolutely be illegal to make it so freaking difficult to cancel free trials. I'm trying to cancel the NFL Sunday Ticket subscription that I got free for the season when I switched to Verizon and getting increasingly frustrated. Good thing I have until March 19, because if I get billed $400 for this because they make it so flipping hard, I'm going to lose my mind.

I still like actually 'owning' my media. I won't sell until I've gone back to digitizing it w/o DRM. Just see Amazon and Sony revoking licenses to stuff you actually bought and allegedly owned.

Mrs. Kub certainly wants me to get rid of some of the 40+ boxes of books tho.

I sold all my CDs when I got into vinyl collecting. And yes, I realize the idiocy of replacing a compact disc with a more inconvenient, more expensive uncompact disc. But any record collector will tell you their hobby makes no sense.

In general I don't have much attachment to physical things, though. My "collections" are libraries of things I actually use. I play my board games, I listen to my records, I watch my DVDs. If there's any of those items I no longer enjoy, I have no problem getting rid of them. The only reason I haven't gotten rid of more board games is the hassle of trying to ship them to people.

Most of the time, if you see something I own that I DON'T want anymore but haven't gotten rid of, it's because the time it would take to sell it/ship it far exceeds the space it's currently taking up.

MHS wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2024 3:41 pm It should absolutely be illegal to make it so freaking difficult to cancel free trials. I'm trying to cancel the NFL Sunday Ticket subscription that I got free for the season when I switched to Verizon and getting increasingly frustrated. Good thing I have until March 19, because if I get billed $400 for this because they make it so flipping hard, I'm going to lose my mind.

Believe it or not, Congress has been looking in to bad actors. The odds they do anything? eh...

I generally opt out of free trials and advise against them for the way they bite you in the ass. I also shy away from any automatically renewing subscription I can avoid. The ones I can't I put a reminder in my calendar to cancel super early.

I threw away ALL my cassettes and their boxes about 25 years ago. I still miss them. Never again! Ill keep all my CDs and DVDs until I die then they will be someone elses problem. Most likely to sell and make a fortune on by then as vintage antiques. May they not find a player! mwahahahh.

Random thought: WOOOOOOOOOOO!! Winter time cold toilet seats. make the poo jump back up into ya. I dont know how women stand winter toilet seats seeing as they use them everytime. HATE that part of winter.

If I wo na lotto and built my own house it would have one of those Star Trek like Japanese toilets with lights heater auto lid and bidet ..probably has a massager too . man.

Pyperkub wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2024 3:42 pm I still like actually 'owning' my media. I won't sell until I've gone back to digitizing it w/o DRM. Just see Amazon and Sony revoking licenses to stuff you actually bought and allegedly owned.

Very much this. And even for DRM-free files that I got from, um, alternate sources, physical backup is still sometimes preferable.

I did throw away my cassette tapes and most of my VHS tapes. Really no point in keeping something where the quality will, by definition, degrade with use.

MHS wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2024 3:41 pm It should absolutely be illegal to make it so freaking difficult to cancel free trials. I'm trying to cancel the NFL Sunday Ticket subscription that I got free for the season when I switched to Verizon and getting increasingly frustrated. Good thing I have until March 19, because if I get billed $400 for this because they make it so flipping hard, I'm going to lose my mind.

Apparently it's legendary in terms of being user-unfriendly. It's supposed to be buried somewhere in their chatbot.
Someone on Reddit with suggestions
Older thread but with screenshots

gilraen wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2024 4:12 pm

MHS wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2024 3:41 pm It should absolutely be illegal to make it so freaking difficult to cancel free trials. I'm trying to cancel the NFL Sunday Ticket subscription that I got free for the season when I switched to Verizon and getting increasingly frustrated. Good thing I have until March 19, because if I get billed $400 for this because they make it so flipping hard, I'm going to lose my mind.

Apparently it's legendary in terms of being user-unfriendly. It's supposed to be buried somewhere in their chatbot.
Someone on Reddit with suggestions
Older thread but with screenshots

Thank you. I'll try these if they aren't already crossed off my list of things I've tried that haven't worked so far.

Looks like in my area a new'ish Deputy arrested someone and was headed to their jail last night and got lost on the wrong road and drove into the river. They recovered the patrol car with the female in the backseat still in the car. Dead of course. Had to drag the car out of the river and mud. Haven't found the deputy yet.

Sorry and sad to say it seems he just stupidly f'd up. What a horrible way to die. Get arrested then cuffed in the backseat of a car and gets driven into a river and drown still cuffed. Dumbass cop.

https://www.local3news.com/local-news/u ... 85256.html



These places should be lighted up bright and stuff. Geez. People are dumb.

I keep seeing this app advertised that's supposed to be able to cancel all your unwanted subscriptions for you I believe. I have no experience with it myself, but thought I'd post the link anyway. Maybe someone else has some input on rocketmoney. https://www.rocketmoney.com/

Time review of Rocket Money

Rocket Money was founded as Truebill back in 2015 by Yahya Mokhtarzada. The company was acquired by Rocket Companies in 2021 and its name changed in August of the following year.

Rocket Companies owns Rocket Loan, Homes, Mortgage, etc. And Amrock, which, surprisingly, doesn't appear to be a pyramid scheme like Primerica,

em2nought wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2024 8:15 pm I keep seeing this app advertised that's supposed to be able to cancel all your unwanted subscriptions for you I believe. I have no experience with it myself, but thought I'd post the link anyway. Maybe someone else has some input on rocketmoney. https://www.rocketmoney.com/

I've been paying for Rocket Money for about a year now (it's basically pay what you want for premium service). They can renegotiate some contracts on your behalf or cancel subscriptions but there are limits. For renegotiating they take a cut of the savings, which is fine by me since I am way too lazy to do it myself. They aren't able to cancel some stuff (screw you ADT, longest support call I have ever experience cancelling that). I like that they remind me about upcoming sub renewals because again I am way too lazy to keep track and often do annual subs where renewing on accident can hurt. Dammit Disney+!

So my kid applied to 2 colleges. I tried to get him to apply to more, but time flew as it does. Now he has been accepted at both schools. He was accepted in Computer Science at one school and Computer Information Systems at the other school. Of course he really wants to do CS at the school that accepted him for CIS (he applied for CS with CIS as an alternate and sadly got the alternate). Is there any chance that an email expressing his position would see any potential change.

Something like:
At this time I am leaning towards other school because they will let me into the Comp Sci program. I would rather go to your school, but I really want Comp Sci. Pretty please, can you let me into Comp Sci at your school? I will accept immediately if you do! Don't make me go to Lubbock!

Can't he just change his major once he finishes the first semester or the first year or something?

gilraen wrote: Tue Feb 20, 2024 4:29 pm Can't he just change his major once he finishes the first semester or the first year or something?

It depends on how impacted the new major is. The Dept may only have room for X amount of students.

gilraen wrote: Tue Feb 20, 2024 4:29 pm Can't he just change his major once he finishes the first semester or the first year or something?

Would likely also put him a semester, or more likely, a year behind as he didn't take the right foundational courses. I'd rather deal with Lubbock than a 5 year BS.

coopasonic wrote: Tue Feb 20, 2024 5:12 pm I'd rather deal with Lubbock than a 5 year BS.

As someone that had those combined ... Yeah, Lubbock is the lesser of two evils.

for those of you thinking of 'throwing' your CDs away... please don't do that. you can always check the value of the rarer stuff on discogs and sell there. and for the stuff that's value-less, place them into local Little Free Libraries!

it should be noted that a number of cassette tapes have gone UP in value. there's even one record store in Seattle that took out their CD bin and replaced it with used cassette tapes! in Capitol Hill, there are _no_ record stores that sell CDs - they're all vinyl and cassette. to buy CDs you have to visit the vintage and thrift stores...

meanwhile: https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/a452 ... l-is-real/

The thing about old 8 tracks and cassettes is the foam dry rots away making them not play and the tape becomes more brittle with age. I threw all mine away due to that foam issue. I should have kept them and repaired them. Cassettes were the main tech of my teenage days and I had a LOT of them. Miss them now.

I threw away my last cassettes when I cleaned out the basement room in 2018. The iron oxide was falling off of the tapes so there was no issue of possibly repairing them or giving them away.

hitbyambulance wrote: Tue Feb 20, 2024 6:07 pm it should be noted that a number of cassette tapes have gone UP in value. there's even one record store in Seattle that took out their CD bin and replaced it with used cassette tapes! in Capitol Hill, there are _no_ record stores that sell CDs - they're all vinyl and cassette. to buy CDs you have to visit the vintage and thrift stores...

I can sort of understand the hipster appeal of vinyl - records are cool and album art is better on a larger surface. But cassettes? They're shit. They've always been shit. Using them to make homemade mix tapes was fun before digital media but now? Is it just nostalgia?

Exodor wrote: Tue Feb 20, 2024 9:15 pm

hitbyambulance wrote: Tue Feb 20, 2024 6:07 pm it should be noted that a number of cassette tapes have gone UP in value. there's even one record store in Seattle that took out their CD bin and replaced it with used cassette tapes! in Capitol Hill, there are _no_ record stores that sell CDs - they're all vinyl and cassette. to buy CDs you have to visit the vintage and thrift stores...

I can sort of understand the hipster appeal of vinyl - records are cool and album art is better on a larger surface. But cassettes? They're shit. They've always been shit. Using them to make homemade mix tapes was fun before digital media but now? Is it just nostalgia?

The only tapes I miss were the mixtapes and Dr. Demento shows. I’ve found many old tunes on YouTube but not all of them.

Zarathud wrote: Tue Feb 20, 2024 10:04 pm The only tapes I miss were the mixtapes and Dr. Demento shows. I’ve found many old tunes on YouTube but not all of them.

Oh man, I forgot about Dr. Demento shows. In KC it was on super late at night (I want to say 11 PM on Sunday night?) and my brother used to tape them for me. He's a packrat so I wouldn't be shocked if he still has those tapes somewhere...

Exodor wrote: Tue Feb 20, 2024 9:15 pm

hitbyambulance wrote: Tue Feb 20, 2024 6:07 pm it should be noted that a number of cassette tapes have gone UP in value. there's even one record store in Seattle that took out their CD bin and replaced it with used cassette tapes! in Capitol Hill, there are _no_ record stores that sell CDs - they're all vinyl and cassette. to buy CDs you have to visit the vintage and thrift stores...

I can sort of understand the hipster appeal of vinyl - records are cool and album art is better on a larger surface. But cassettes? They're shit. They've always been shit. Using them to make homemade mix tapes was fun before digital media but now? Is it just nostalgia?

The blanks cassettes were always much higher quality than the actual labeled tapes. I always used TDK to record my vinyl way back when for use in the car. Tried not to buy too many original cassettes because they were such shitty quality.

This is the lightsaber Id buy if in the near future I had some free cash to play with. It would just be for me. I dont go to conventions and dammit Im 55 this year so Im aging out of fun stuff like this. But if the power goes out I'd have coolest flashlight in my area.

I like the techno sound and the one that looks like a flaming sword. The Protector blue mode looks like Luke's lightsaber color from the original trilogy. Its cool that you can buy one hilt and it have all these styles and colors from the movies and shows in it. And its under $200.

God! They sold my loan again! I mean they just sold it a few months ago. This is like the 5th or 6th time in 5 years. No telling how many before that when my wife was handling it.

They must be getting something out of it from each other within their circles and it smells fishy. Big old circle jerk. Something should be illegal here I just dont know what it is or what they profiting is of it all.

But now I yet AGAIN have to contact my home insurance agent and tell them who owns it now. Fucking shit. God Ill be glad when Im done with all this bullshit hoop jumping.

I just found I can make my tablets google assistant voice have an Aussie accent. Ive been having lots of fun talking with my new sexy virtual assistant girlfriend in there.

She tells me jokes, tells me what time it is, the temp and weather. She even plays music for me and if its too loud she'll turn it down if I ask nicely. What a babe. Its the tech of the future!

I really am having too much fun with this thing now that it has that lovely accent. hubba hubba.

I gave our Amazon echo an Aussie female voice and it's actually kinda awful.

"For Brine. A pickidge has riiived."

Ugh.

I gave Waze a female British voice. Wife calls her "Fiona" and argues with her every time I use the app.

Kraken wrote:I gave Waze a female British voice. Wife calls her "Fiona" and argues with her every time I use the app.

I used to use that one, but the 80's aerobic instructor voice is hilarious and has taken over for months.

Daehawk wrote: Wed Feb 21, 2024 5:42 pm I just found I can make my tablets google assistant voice have an Aussie accent. Ive been having lots of fun talking with my new sexy virtual assistant girlfriend in there.

She tells me jokes, tells me what time it is, the temp and weather. She even plays music for me and if its too loud she'll turn it down if I ask nicely. What a babe. Its the tech of the future!

I really am having too much fun with this thing now that it has that lovely accent. hubba hubba.

Pretty soon she'll probably be able to guess all your passwords. Several years ago I tried an Indian accent that sounded like Rajesh's sister Priya on Big Bang Theory. I was pretty happy with that voice.

there are several reasons why the default voice for 'AI assistants' is female

My sister uses the male British one