Octopus Overlords

Posted: **Wed Mar 13, 2024 7:27 pm**

Getting? Yes.

Asking for? Hell no.

Posted: **Wed Mar 13, 2024 7:28 pm**

gilraen wrote:
LordMortis wrote: ↑Wed Mar 13, 2024 6:04 am Who gives a senior discount at 53? Even 55 seems "young" but I guess I'll have to start paying attention in 2025.
AARP starts sending you stuff once you turn 50 AARP membership is cheap, and loads of businesses have AARP discounts.

I'm only 45, not officially eligible, and the AARP has already started bombarding me with mail. I can't imagine it being worse as a member...

Posted: **Wed Mar 13, 2024 7:29 pm**

In thirty years I went from being checked for ID (ludicrously) to clerks assuming I get a senior discount.

Posted: **Wed Mar 13, 2024 7:36 pm**

When i was young even like 16 I could get beer uncarded even in a bar id been taken to lol. It wasn't until iwas in my late 20s early 30s that the law changed and iwas carded every time. Im STILL carded and I have a white beard...its a DUMB law. I hate it so much I have to pretend they ask me because I still look so young hahah..or I get mad.

Posted: **Wed Mar 13, 2024 9:15 pm**

disarm wrote: ↑Wed Mar 13, 2024 7:28 pm
gilraen wrote:
LordMortis wrote: ↑Wed Mar 13, 2024 6:04 am Who gives a senior discount at 53? Even 55 seems "young" but I guess I'll have to start paying attention in 2025.
AARP starts sending you stuff once you turn 50 AARP membership is cheap, and loads of businesses have AARP discounts.
I'm only 45, not officially eligible, and the AARP has already started bombarding me with mail. I can't imagine it being worse as a member...

I buy three years at a time, since it's only $12/year, and they only nag me once every three years. When you're in your 60s subscribing to anything for more than a year is an act of faith. I don't methodically seek out discounts but often get one when I remember to ask, usually for things like museum or theater admissions.

Posted: **Wed Mar 13, 2024 10:27 pm**

Toronto Police: Just Let the Thieves Steal Your Car

The city of Toronto has a car theft problem, and it doesn't sound like police have much of a clue as to how to combat it. In a recent safety meeting, one officer even gave advice that basically boiled down to: If thieves come knocking to steal your car, just let 'em have it.

As reported by blogTO, Toronto Police Service Constable Marco Ricciardi said, "To prevent the possibility of being attacked in your home, leave your [key] fobs at your front door because they're breaking into your home to steal your car. They don't want anything else."

On the one hand, I totally understand the very rational, self-preserving stance of not risking life or injury over what is, at the end of the day, an insured, inanimate object. It is, however, the sort of advice you'd expect from a well-meaning parent or spouse. Hearing it come out of the mouths of the very people whose taxpayer-funded, gun-toting job it is to prevent this sort of thing from happening in the first place, however, is arguably less OK and frankly kind of crazy.

Spoken or not, though, some Torontonians have evidently taken the advice to heart like one person who—after having their vehicle broken into three times—opted to leave their car unlocked (along with a big, handwritten note indicating this) so that would-be thieves don't break the window again.

Others, however, have gone to opposite extremes to try and deter thieves. Profiled in a New York Times story on Toronto's car theft epidemic (the existence of which illustrates just how bad things have gotten), one Honda CR-V owner has installed two alarm systems, a tracking device, four (4) Apple AirTags, keeps the key fob in a signal-jamming Faraday bag, and has two motion-sensitive floodlights pointed at his modest suburban driveway. When parked, there are also parking boot-style wheel locks on every wheel, a steering wheel club, and even a bollard in the driveway to keep it from being driven away. All this just to park your own damn car in front of your own damn house.

Where there's a problem, though, there are those out there capitalizing on ways to solve it. Vehicle tracking devices are apparently doing real well, with Montreal-based Tag Tracking reportedly doubling sales over the past two years. There are now entire businesses dedicated to installing bollards at the ends of driveways—often small, suburban driveways that, in most other cities, would never have bollards.

Ideally, none of these things would have to exist, but you've got to hand it to them for acting to curb a problem instead of sitting idly by—which is more than Toronto Police can say.

Me, I live in a neighborhood with a lot of pickup trucks displaying various ways of describing their support for the Second Amendment. That, plus a lot of retirees, dogs and homes where police live and park their cruisers when off duty. And I have a garage too, so I'm good. Unless someone wants to steal an eight year old or an eleven year old minivan. Actually, if they would take the eleven year old one...

Posted: **Thu Mar 14, 2024 12:06 am**

I never lock my Miata because a determined thief could just slice open the cloth top. Fortunately it's not a target for pros because the parts aren't in demand, and joyriders aren't interested because it's not anonymous-looking and it's a stick. Nobody's bothered it in the 20 years I've been driving one. 'Course, I don't live in a high-crime area. The mall parking lot 3 miles from here is an auto theft smorgasbord but I never go there.

Posted: **Thu Mar 14, 2024 12:43 am**

This is the south. They just shoot thieves here. Problem solved for good.

Posted: **Thu Mar 14, 2024 12:47 am**

Yup, safe paradise Chattanooga is.

Posted: **Thu Mar 14, 2024 3:12 am**

A lot of that is confined to downtown area.

Posted: **Thu Mar 14, 2024 3:15 am**

I finally found one of two dates Ive been looking for forever.

me and my wife went to a airshow in the early 90s in Chattanooga but I could never remember the year. Just tonight I stumbled across it. Airshow 92. It even had the dates days and times listed. Awesome.

But still nothing on that star trek convention around the same time. its like it never existed. The star that was there isn't listed as being at a convention that year. It was Q himself John de Lancie. I asked him about it and even he doesn't remember it. So damn I dont know how Ill ever know that one.

Posted: **Thu Mar 14, 2024 4:41 am**

Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2024 12:43 am This is the south. They just shoot thieves here. Problem solved for good.

Actually you only get the first two for free then on the third one they get a little pissed.

Posted: **Thu Mar 14, 2024 6:03 am**

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2024 4:41 am
Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2024 12:43 am This is the south. They just shoot thieves here. Problem solved for good.
Actually you only get the first two for free then on the third one they get a little pissed.

It's handy to keep a gift card for Dunkin on hand.

Posted: **Thu Mar 14, 2024 10:18 am**

I've only had my vehicle burglarized once, and that was when I was a teenager (they stole my case of cassette tapes - low blow, asshole.)

Since then I've had a car shot full of holes, but never burglarized (and it's burglarized, not robbed. It's impossible to rob a car, at least until AI gets a lot better.)

Posted: **Thu Mar 14, 2024 10:18 am**

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2024 12:47 am Yup, safe paradise Chattanooga is.

Check the one for Memphis.

Do you happen to have a similar chart for Chicago?

Almost all cities are seeing higher rates of crime.

Posted: **Thu Mar 14, 2024 10:24 am**

Hrdina wrote: ↑Wed Mar 13, 2024 5:56 pm I honestly don't think I am emotionally ready to start getting senior discounts.

I'm not ready either.

On the other hand my eye doctor just refereed me for evaluation for state services for low vision. My vision is no worse than it has ever been. Maybe I should just accept things.

Posted: **Thu Mar 14, 2024 10:30 am**

Fardaza wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2024 10:18 am Check the one for Memphis.

Do you happen to have a similar chart for Chicago?

Almost all cities are seeing higher rates of crime.

Posted: **Thu Mar 14, 2024 2:36 pm**

Heres a car getting rummaged through. The worst part is its the 2nd time on the SAME car and the owner both left it unlocked and left a fucking gun in it. They should arrest the car's owner for stupidity too.

Also nothing like teaching a kid to steal stuff while they're young...piece of shit.

https://www.local3news.com/local-news/c ... ef93d.html

Posted: **Thu Mar 14, 2024 5:01 pm**

from the other thread, about dishwashers - my dad is super convinced that washing the dishes by hand is the only way to do it. he gets angry if you actually put dirty dishes in the dishwasher. he spends half an hour to an hour every day hand washing them (with waaaaaaaay too much dish soap, i might add - it foams up a lot and you can smell the soap scent all the way up on the second floor of the house). it wouldn't be so terrible if he just took up the entire chore himself, but since mom also can't load the dishwasher, she's made to do the handwashing as well. i sent my dad info that using the dishwasher actually uses less water than handwashing, and he _refuses to believe it_ ! he has some sort of obstinate 'old people' block in his brain that's deranging his thought processes on this topic.

Posted: **Thu Mar 14, 2024 5:50 pm**

Could he be getting senile? old folk latch on to one thing and its gospel when the mind is going.

My late mother in law had a big cavity on a front toot hand no matter what you tried to tell her she swore it was something in or on her tooth. She'd pick at it with a toothpick incessantly trying to remove the cavity.

I wish I had a dishwasher. Why does he even have one if he refuses to use it? Did he used to use it before getting old?

Posted: **Thu Mar 14, 2024 5:56 pm**

Fardaza wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2024 10:18 am Almost all cities are seeing higher rates of crime.

Are they, though?

A certain candidate keeps claiming that crime is skyrocketing under the present administration, but the actual stats show that both violent crime and property crime are somewhat down compared to a few years ago.

Posted: **Thu Mar 14, 2024 6:01 pm**

We (residential neighborhood in Philly) have only been the victim of crime once.

I stupidly lift the kitchen window ajar went we went away for five days. On our return, it was clear that someone had tried to rob us: drawers were upside down on the floor, every box was open, etc etc.

In the end, we couldn't actually find that anything was stolen. (Thieves love electronics, but only if they're portable. Desktop PCs are safe.) Apparently we owned nothing of value.

The police came and did a report. They concluded that it was a professional job, and that they'd probably been in and out in fifteen minutes. (Teens would have trashed the place, and junkies would at least have taken the untouched bottles of wine on the kitchen counter.)

Posted: **Thu Mar 14, 2024 8:41 pm**

Holman wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2024 6:01 pm We (residential neighborhood in Philly) have only been the victim of crime once.

They concluded that it was a professional job, and that they'd probably been in and out in fifteen minutes

I'd have been most worried about my personal data. Would have probably done fraud alerts and a credit freeze.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2024 5:50 pm Why does he even have one if he refuses to use it?

I use mine as a drying rack.

Posted: **Fri Mar 15, 2024 5:53 pm**

I got my first statement from the new mortgage company. Nothing on them but I realized while looking at it I have 4 payments left not the 3 I thought I had...I think.

See my payments come due on the 27th and I pay them when my check comes the next 3rd. So say bill is die March 27th I pay April 3rd. I have a grace period luckily for that so no late fee until the 10th or so.

Anyways that means I have a payment due to March, April, May, and June....Im guessing I have one in June as it matures in June. Shrug. So close now. Much closer than I was 6 years ago when my wife passed and even much much closer than the 15 years ago when we took it out. Wish she could see I was able to handle it and keep the home and be here to celebrate it all.

After June I figure 3 months or 4 to pay off the credit card debt then one more for the well pump. Then Im out of debt. then its time to get a washing machine and fix the car and do a lot of repairs to it. THEEeeeeeeeeen its time to build a new pc...so say by the time Im 105

Posted: **Fri Mar 15, 2024 11:24 pm**

Anyone else looking like they're going to have to mow sooner than later this spring? The weather has been so nice here with warm temps and rain that stuff is blooming and grass is growing.

Posted: **Fri Mar 15, 2024 11:44 pm**

Daehawk wrote: ↑Fri Mar 15, 2024 5:53 pm Anyways that means I have a payment due to March, April, May, and June....Im guessing I have one in June as it matures in June. Shrug. So close now. Much closer than I was 6 years ago when my wife passed and even much much closer than the 15 years ago when we took it out. Wish she could see I was able to handle it and keep the home and be here to celebrate it all.

You've kicked some ass. Be proud of that.

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2024 12:15 am**

Daughter-in-laws crazy son who lives with us threatened to kill me a little while ago. Somebody called the cops and I filled out a complaint against him. Guess I'll have to call the VA this weekend or Monday and see about getting somewhere else to live. Crap.

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2024 1:02 am**

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 16, 2024 12:15 am Daughter-in-laws crazy son who lives with us threatened to kill me a little while ago. Somebody called the cops and I filled out a complaint against him. Guess I'll have to call the VA this weekend or Monday and see about getting somewhere else to live. Crap.

It saddens me to learn that you were faced with such objectionable behaviour. But your security is non-negotiable. Reporting the threat was prudent and necessary. It also seems wise to explore alternative -- and hopefully safer -- living options through the VA. Take care and stay frosty.

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2024 2:47 am**

Now I have to worry if I still have a place to live.

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2024 6:08 am**

here in my town they built a home for vets. Took them years to finally get around to doing it but they finally did.

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2024 1:56 pm**

Daughter in law is still mad at me and won't talk to me. Step son says I can still stay here.
Meanwhile her child languishes in jail.

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2024 2:39 pm**

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2024 3:27 pm**

Why is she mad at you? It was her squat and squeeze that got himself in trouble.

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2024 3:29 pm**

Speaking of crime, 16-year old accused of pulling a gun on spring breakers in New Smyrna Beach

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. — Investigators in New Smyrna Beach say a 16-year-old was arrested Thursday after deputies accused him of pointing a gun at crowds on the beach.

New Smyrna Beach law enforcement leaders are now warning about the consequences of this type of behavior, particularly on a weekend that combines St. Patrick's Day and spring break.

On Thursday, five minutes of panic were all captured on a Volusia County Sheriff’s deputy body camera video, which showed deputies chasing the 16-year-old toward the water at around 3:45 p.m.

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said his office and police from different agencies are working toward a mission to keep everyone safe during Spring Break.

“The goal, though, is to stop us from becoming Miami Beach," he said. "That's the ultimate goal. We do not want to become like Miami Beach.”

Check out the embedded video (not YouTube, sorry) for how scary it was. Also for you people stuck in winter, people in bathing suits

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2024 3:58 pm**

Tired of helping those who can't be helped. So my cousin acquired a bookcase, and I just helped her move the heavy yet delicate "thing" into her new "additional" storage unit. The center board came apart in my hands which she clearly didn't like while I moved it. Not my fault it's a piece of $hit. Only way it would be worthwhile is if you broke the thing apart and ran the boards thru a planer. You'd have to cut off the ends which looked like they might have had some termites at one time(hopefully).

She is such a hoarder, but at least she doesn't hoard food waste type garbage (yet). Now she has $300 per month worth of storage units, a house you can't walk thru, garage you can't get into. and a carport that's about the same way. I'm starting to see I'm going to get hurt if I keep helping her. There's just too much to trip over, or hurt yourself because you have to lift something so awkwardly just to clear the rest of the junk. I should really walk(run) away.

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2024 4:02 pm**

Daehawk wrote: ↑Sat Mar 16, 2024 3:27 pm Why is she mad at you? It was her squat and squeeze that got himself in trouble.

Because her little boy needs to be forgiven or else. My stepson found this out the hardway. So much for me being "family".

Posted: **Sat Mar 16, 2024 4:27 pm**

Daehawk wrote: ↑Sat Mar 16, 2024 3:27 pm Why is she mad at you? It was her squat and squeeze that got himself in trouble.

Parents are, by their nature, protective of their kids, and it often takes a while for reason to replace the instinctive response that results when someone does something that hurts their kids (even if it was necessary and justified.)

Family dynamics are more complicated than just who was to blame.

Posted: **Sun Mar 17, 2024 6:19 pm**

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 16, 2024 12:15 am Daughter-in-laws crazy son who lives with us threatened to kill me a little while ago. Somebody called the cops and I filled out a complaint against him. Guess I'll have to call the VA this weekend or Monday and see about getting somewhere else to live. Crap.

The somebody was you - but you didn't want to say that?

How old is the 'crazy son' ?

Posted: **Sun Mar 17, 2024 7:54 pm**

I think about 32.
No, I don't know who called the cops. It might have been the neighbor where the girls went after escaping their dad.

Posted: **Sun Mar 17, 2024 8:21 pm**

Ahh, ok - I thought that was just your way of saying you had done it and not told everyone you had.

Gotcha. Sounds like it wasn't just an ugly 'at home' argument and spilled into the outside world.

Octopus Overlords

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