In reply to NickD :
DD#1's bugeye Impreza had chronic issues with the LF caliper dragging. Even after a couple replacements. It took a few warranty returns to get one that didn't hang, but it cooked a lot of brake dust into that wheel.
In reply to NickD :
DD#1's bugeye Impreza had chronic issues with the LF caliper dragging. Even after a couple replacements. It took a few warranty returns to get one that didn't hang, but it cooked a lot of brake dust into that wheel.
In reply to Duke :
It seems like every Subaru I've been around needs calipers replaced as frequent wear items. But the Baja is just irksome. The Miata issue is much more problematic because the coolant leak appears to be on the driver's side. I almost think it is the lower radiator-to-engine hose that is now buried under a supercharger. Or, god forbid, a water pump.
Stupid tornadoes!
I just ordered flowers for my wife’s birthday which is a playful little basket of carnations arranged to look like a puppy with a red rose in its mouth for $54.99.
Great, I think ~55 clams is a reasonable price for what it is so I proceeded to the checkout…spend several minutes confirming that I don’t have to give them a bunch of unnecessary information that would obviously be used later to spam the berk out of her and click on the complete order button.
At the last, last, last moment, $17.98 gets tacked on for a “service charge” so now we’re at $72.97 before tax and $78.26 out the door.
I don’t appreciate the deceptive tactics, it’s an online florist service so the charge is a constant and as a result should be baked into the initial price.
Do you know that you can buy a brand new Porsche Cayman S in any color you want for just $51,000…of course, there will be a “propulsion charge” of $17,000 tacked on at the last, last, last moment when they discover that you want an engine in it.
I hate getting old. Yes, I realize that I'm not that old... but that doesn't mean that it's too early for my body to start failing me in frustrating and occasionally painful ways.
In reply to RX Reven' :
Yeah, quite the racket isn't it? My wife works at a Medical Clinic, so to send her flowers I get charged extra for that. Even though its actually easier to send things like that to the Hospital.
My company provides a discount for things like that, which helps remove the sting a bit, but it is still frustrating to say the least.
Ashyukun (Robert) said:I hate getting old. Yes, I realize that I'm not that old... but that doesn't mean that it's too early for my body to start failing me in frustrating and occasionally painful ways.
I'm 41 with a 2-year old and a 1-month old. My work is mostly sedentary computer work. The standing/treadmill desk helps, but I don't get nearly enough exercise and there's really not enough energy/time to add it in right now. I'm berkeleyed.
So keep on doing what you can, every little bit helps and you're doing more than most.
I hate my berkeleying job.
I hate my teammate.
Im grumpy as berkeley with trying to quit smoking.
And week old bodies are a thing you cant unsmell.
In reply to RX Reven' :
While I agree it's annoying, let me play devil's advocate here:
You say it's an online florist and "the service charge is a constant", but I bet it's not. The online florist site is taking the order for a standardized item at a standardized price, but it's getting handed off to a local affiliate who will actually make up the arrangement and deliver it. Each affiliate is likely allowed to set its own service charge (within an approved range), so that is added once the order is ready to be finalized.
In reply to Stefan :
I found a local florist close to the hospital my wife worked at and call them directly, tell them what I want to spend and they send something over. It works much better than any of the websites I’ve tried.
In reply to Stefan :
Thanks. I do try and get in exercise while I can- and for the time being at least I can be thankful that I've managed to stay ahead of the genetic time-bomb chasing me (both sides of the family- dad and maternal grandfather- have/had type 2 diabetus). I suppose I should be more thankful that I live in the era that I do, because several of my issues were not truly treatable/identified just a generation ago and I'd have been far more miserable and SOL on a few of them (and likely limping because my Achille's couldn't have been repaired so well too.)
Doesn't stop me from wishing we had Star Trek-level medical technology though where almost everything could be cured/fixed (and, if they were REALLY applying the technology properly, pretty much anything COULD be fixed using just the transporters...).
Duke said:In reply to RX Reven' :
While I agree it's annoying, let me play devil's advocate here:
You say it's an online florist and "the service charge is a constant", but I bet it's not. The online florist site is taking the order for a standardized item at a standardized price, but it's getting handed off to a local affiliate who will actually make up the arrangement and deliver it. Each affiliate is likely allowed to set its own service charge (within an approved range), so that is added once the order is ready to be finalized.
Hi Duke,
The way I see it, if you don’t know what the price is, don’t tell people what the price is.
Besides, I just went back to the 1-800-FLOWERS site and it asked me for the destination zip code and type of location the flowers were being delivered to before showing me the available arrangements or prices.
I’m sorry but this is nothing more than old school bait-n-switch bull E36 M3.
Besides, if they were honest but had some legitimate issue with determining prices, we’d expect to see them overestimate about as often as they underestimate and the magnitude of error should be about the same in either direction – sorry, statistician, I know what to look for.
I’m going to go waaaay out on a limb here and speculate that they have never, ever said “congratulations, we over-estimated, the price will actually be $17.98 less”
I feel like I go through this every so often.
I have a Samsung Galaxy S8+. Decent hardware. Great screen.
Effin confused about what it wants to be.
It has Bixby, which you trigger through a button on the side that only triggers Bixby. Bixby accepts long, multi-step commands, but produces different results for the same command. It has voice recognition that doesn't understand context. Bixby has created a reminder to tell me I'm not an Emperor Penguin. Bixby has, when asked to select photos taken in the last 30 minutes, told me it couldn't find any "thirty minute photos." Bixby has gleefully entered an alarm for 8:00PM the next day when asked (at 8:40PM) for an alarm in fifteen minutes. Bixby has told me "something went wrong" or complained about the internet connection when I've asked for the flashlight to be turned on.
It has Google Assistant. Google Assistant responds at the long press of the home button, and asks you to share your entire location and web browsing history for such complex pursuits as "set a 5 minute timer." Google Assistant can be replaced with another assistant, but not Bixby. If you do replace Google Assistant, it still retains sole dominion over your headset button and Android Auto, though it will refuse to function in the former case, pouting that it isn't the default assistant. Google Assistant has done such brilliant things as ask me if I want to reply to a message, then when I say yes, close out the conversation without taking a message with the rather helpful, "You do? Okay." Google Assistant has complained about my messaging apps needing to be updated to support replies, then five minutes later, handled the same reply with the same app just fine. Google Assistant has taken a reminder as I'm leaving for lunch, "when I get back to work remind me to calendar my 3PM meeting" and then immediately alerted on it with a five minute snooze.
I've installed Cortana. I've forgiven Cortana for misinterpreting "call my mom" as a Bing search (I am dead serious) for "hairy bear porn," during a particularly frustrating attempt to place a call while driving back in my Windows Phone days. Cortana is on a powerful, modern device, but she's dim on Android, being a second-rate citizen. These days, Cortana is best at figuring out what I'm after, but only kicks in when I unlock my phone and long-press my home button. I like Edge, and I'd like to get the Windows integration Cortana brings.
My Jabra wireless headphones claim to support either the default assistant or Alexa. As I said, they only support Google Assistant or Alexa. Alexa is the assistant who lives in my TV and does things like refuse to play Spotify tracks, but will gladly launch the Spotify app. I'm actually tempted to give it a further try.
There is more going on in my life than I can keep track of. I've never, ever succeeded in telling any assistant, "When I get to work, remind me to call the vet about a refill." and had it do anything remotely helpful.
I'm thinking about just selling it all off and going 100% Apple so I at least know which single assistant will ignore me across my devices.
Edit: And don't @ me about the cloud. I had a computer in 1980 that could talk. My cellphone has more performance than anything in existence when Short Circuit came out.
That sounds really frustrating, but you relayed it in such an entertaining manner I can't help but laugh. And hairy bear porn of all things.
He was a hairy bear, he was a scary bear. He beat a hasty retreat from the flare.
EastCoastMojo said:That sounds really frustrating, but you relayed it in such an entertaining manner I can't help but laugh. And hairy bear porn of all things.
He was a hairy bear, he was a scary bear. He beat a hasty retreat from the flare.
The truth is, I went with this phone almost a year ago because Apple seemed confused. They released a laptop with USB-C in 2015. "It's the future of connectors!" they said. "It's going to take over the world!" they said. I bought in.
They put it on all of their laptops, but none of their tablets and phones. Apple had said "I dare you to try it. Yes, I'll try it with you. Okay, we'll try it together! Yes, I'll try it. Okay, on 1... 3, 2, 1!... Syke! OMG, I can't believe you tried it! That was so gross! I'm totally putting this on my Insta." I kinda lost it when they redesigned their Magic Mouse, Trackpad and Keyboard. They added Lightning ports to a primarily Mac product! They also added this insanely great feature:
"There I fixed it." -Jony Ive
Stories like the above just reinforce my belief that being a semi computer literate Luddite is the right choice.
NickD said:In reply to Duke :
It seems like every Subaru I've been around needs calipers replaced as frequent wear items. But the Baja is just irksome. The Miata issue is much more problematic because the coolant leak appears to be on the driver's side. I almost think it is the lower radiator-to-engine hose that is now buried under a supercharger. Or, god forbid, a water pump.
So, I looked at the Miata and the leak appeared to be the upper lower radiator hose (from the engine to the pipe). Cool. Order a bunch of parts from Rock Auto. Decided to fix the Baja first so I had something to drive. Replace the caliper that seized up (really, 6000 miles, 12 months, and it's junk?) Then while I have that in, I notice some drips of coolant from the Baja. Terrific, water pump is leaking. So now I have to set aside a full day to replace an EJ water pump sometime.
My MX-5 is still at the shop due to my wiring harness issue. The RX-8 doesn't seem to want to run and I regret buying it. There is an autocross this weekend but without a car to drive I think I'd rather sleep in than go and bum a co-drive.
And finances are tight, as ever. But that's more of an ongoing/lifelong situation. Sigh.
Streetwiseguy said:Stories like the above just reinforce my belief that being a semi computer literate Luddite is the right choice.
The right choice is the middle path, abstaining from silly gimmicks and using technology you control with libre software which actually helps you rather than trying to sell you stuff. I don't have a lot of use for a voice assistant. I have one called P-Brain I fool around with from time to time for entertainment. The server runs on my VPS where the heavy lifting is done.
Anyway, its day...60-something, maybe 70, of the 45-day bank investigation. Still haven't got my money back. Might've had my credit card compromised for the second time this year in the big NewEgg hack. I'm seriously going to start keeping cash under a mattress after this. Not all, but some. Collects about the same interest as the banks pay here anyway.
In reply to GameboyRMH :
This is the right answer.
I have a Note 8. I bought it due to the screen size and RAM. I do not need a "digital assistant". I tried out Bixby for about a week. Nope. I have a "Bixby remapper" app that I can set to launch any app.
Now when I push the "Bixby button", the phone goes "ding" and the flashlight turns on.
The only way/shape/form I ever use Siri is to give basic commands to my Apple Watch, since that's the quickest way to get things done largely hands-free. Very convenient when driving or on my bike where it's not safe or convenient to either pull out my phone or try and navigate the menus on the watch itself. Oddly, speech-to-text seems to work MUCH better with the watch than on the phone itself, so I can have entire text conversations without ever actually touching the watch.
At home I dislike the idea of hardware assistants. I don't have an Echo, or a Dot, or whatever. I usually don't have the speech detection feature on on my phone. I don't like the idea of having the constant processing of all of the sound in my environment.
In the car, it's another matter.
I'd like to have an agent in the car. Regardless of how it feels, I'm not actually in my car all of the time. I'm generally driving, and I need to pay attention. I know everyone thinks they're an above average driver. I'd put forth that I'm more attentive than the average driver, but that I have a lower tolerance for distraction. Ever see people driving along, obviously texting? Not me. I'd be dead in under a mile.
Amazon announced the Echo Auto today. I'd have bought one already if it wasn't invite-only right now. I lost $50 in 2016 on the suspiciously similar Dashbot. The company behind that went under - I wonder if Amazon bought the IP.
In reply to Mike :
I understand your thoughts on the automobile situation, but I think the change in safety between handheld and bluetooth or Alexa is less than it would seem at first glance. My thoughts are based off telephone conversations, but the distraction of holding a conversation while driving is changed very little by whether I have to hold the phone to my ear or not. Texting, there is probably a larger difference, but again, if you are focusing on composing a sentence, you are not focusing on driving. I know its the new normal, but I don't like either the act, or the feeling that we can't be out of touch for an hour or two here and there.
Semi-Luddite, me.
I can’t seem to get anything, Bluetooth in my car, Siri, or Alexa to understand what I’m saying.
First world problems: my favorite bbq joint is closed for vacation, and ill be right next door for a meeting tomorrow at 11.
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