Shoot the Wall (A.K.A. The Rant Thread)

[Van Buren Supernova]

On 11/24/2018 at 3:48 AM, Carol the Dabbler said:

I do, however, reserve the right to ridicule those large inflatable Santas, snowmen, etc., when they are deflated during the daytime, like sad puddles on the lawn.

Not related to Christmas, but there was a tacky phone shop that display inflatable character. Huge! Two-storey high. And one day, early in the morning it face-planted half inflated on the road and created road hazard. But it's funny scene though.

On 11/24/2018 at 10:16 PM, Arcadia said:

There's a place a few miles down the road that decorates to the hilt for every holiday and/or season. They have about an acre that they fill with sculptures and lights and animatronics and such. Right now, in addition to the yard "art", they also have a (life size) Santa, his sleigh and all his reindeer on the roof, and an Eiffel Tower on their chimney. It's tacky as heck and I absolutely love it. Oh, and their inflatables STAY inflated.

I deduce that you are hairy and green and that place is named Whoville.

[Arcadia]

1 hour ago, Van Buren Supernova said:

I deduce that you are hairy and green and that place is named Whoville.

Oh drat, you've found out my secret!  

[Van Buren Supernova]

On 11/26/2018 at 5:28 PM, Arcadia said:

Oh drat, you've found out my secret!

And it took me only 8 seconds! Shall I quit my job now and hang out at crime scene?

 

Below is not my rant, in fact, it's other's rants projected to me, I suppose.

But they wouldn't need to do so if they know how to do their frigging job, and I wouldn't need to do so if my bosses have the balls to say it directly to them.

 

[Hikari]

I'm not sure this is a 'rant' but it is causing me a headache today so . .

My optometrist talked me into trying the new top-of-the-line bifocal contacts from B&L.  For several years now, I've been doing the 'trombone slide'  and I even bought some cheaters from the drugstore.  Since I pay a lot of money for the daily disposable contacts, having to buy extra glasses to go over the top of them is annoying as hell.  Usually get by without them.  I am leery of buying bifocal glasses because a lot of people I know have issues with theirs.  My eye doc raved about these contacts and said, no worries,, they adjust automatically to what you need, unlike the glasses.

Today is the first pair of my trials.  My distance vision is fantastic.  I cannot, however, read the small print on the computer.  Right now I am sitting a full arm's length away from the keyboard just so I can see to type this.

Since I work in a library, not having good near vision is problematical in the extreme.  Were I working on a construction site or anything that didn't require reading small print, these would be great.  However, since the whole point of going BIFOCAL was to improve my close reading, these are not doing the trick.  If I want to wear cheaters over my contacts, I can go back to my previous brand of non-bifocal, which cost $200 less per year.

I will be going back in a week and telling him these are a no-go; put me back in my other ones.  If he weren't in eyes, he'd probably be selling cars for a living because he manages to stealthily upgrade me (at additional cost) every chance he gets.

I'm disappointed because I thought I was going to see a difference for the better and instead these are much worse for me.  I have to read a story aloud tonight also, but fortunately that is bigger print and I can see that all right.  Just hoping nobody asks for help in the non-fiction because I won't be able to read the call numbers!

[Arcadia]

I had the same problem once my close up vision started to get worse … seems like the progressive lenses I ended up buying were great for everything except reading, so I was constantly taking them off. Maybe it was just the wrong prescription for the reading part, I don't know. The ones I have now help somewhat, but I still struggle to read fine print, which I never used to do. I've just resigned myself to it, though. Age. Bleh.

[J.P.]

There are progressive/bifocal contact lenses? O_O

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

5 hours ago, Hikari said:

My optometrist talked me into trying the new top-of-the-line bifocal contacts from B&L.  [....]  My distance vision is fantastic.  I cannot, however, read the small print on the computer.  [....] ... since the whole point of going BIFOCAL was to improve my close reading, these are not doing the trick.  If I want to wear cheaters over my contacts, I can go back to my previous brand of non-bifocal, which cost $200 less per year.

Near as I can recall, bifocal contacts have the distance-vision prescription in the center and the near-vision prescription around the edge, with in-between vision -- in between.  This means that in order for them to work properly, you need to look at far-away things with your pupils more-or-less centered between your eyelids, and look at closer things with your pupils closer to one eyelid or the other.

This works fairly automatically for many people, since close-up things tend to be on a table or on one's lap.  But if you try to read something close-up that's straight ahead of you -- like a computer screen -- you'll be using the distance vision area.  I suspect that's the problem you're having.

When I first had bifocal glasses, I was getting a horrible crick in my neck from tilting my head back in order to read the computer screen through the near-vision area at the bottom of the lens.  I finally got a new pair of glasses specifically to wear while using the computer.  They're single-vision (i.e., not bifocals), and the prescription enables me to focus at a good distance for comfortably reading the computer screen.

[Arcadia]

4 hours ago, J.P. said:

There are progressive/bifocal contact lenses? O_O

Evidently, yes. But mine are glasses, I never could get used to wearing contacts, alas.

[J.P.]

That's interesting, as I thought the contacts sit on the iris+pupil area of the eye and move with it.

Recently I had to invest into special glasses for my workplace - which is a 22" monitor ca. an arm length from me. But thanks to my galloping presbyopia I also had more and more problems with reading small print on paper. Good that the optician I went to didn't try to sell me progressive glasses (which an ophthalmologist was trying to as if her life depended on it). So I ended with old fashioned bi-focal glasses with really small near sight area. I have to live with the blurred far vision, but it's actually not that bad, as long as I see if the person entering the room is a man or a woman.

And now I'd actually also needed a special glasses for driving, because with my far-sight glasses I don't see the dashboard properly, not mentioning the navigation display. At day I'm okay with an every-day glasses which are adjusted for 1 to 3-4 meters, but at night they are useless. One more reason for not driving at night.

For emergencies I use those clip-on glasses I put on my nose in front of my regular glasses (I have astigmatism so I need a correction all the time). Funnily enough they are sturdier than I though and the only inconvenience is a tiny breathing disruption as the spring sits on the tip of my nose instead of the bone.

[Carol the Dabbler]

9 hours ago, J.P. said:

I thought the contacts sit on the iris+pupil area of the eye and move with it.

In general they do (they obviously don't pop out every time one blinks), but apparently bumping into an eyelid will cause them to slide just enough to engage the near-vision area.

[Van Buren Supernova]

Failing eyes, what about failing memory?

Two months ago I stayed for the weekend in this place with quite a decent library. It's been a while since I read, but I picked up a book and finished it in between the spare time I had for that two days.

And then, a week ago,  I went back there and struggled, very hard, to recall which book that I read. It's so absurd that I forget! It's not something I saw in a brief, but for the two whole day with that many words, story, what happened? I also remember choosing that particular book because I knew something about it and confident that I would like it, but what?

I really spend a day and half not remembering which book, went through all the shelves to see if it's still there to jog my memory. The funny thing is I remember what color was the cover, how thick it was, which shelf did I find it, which spot did I read it, the condition of the book, slightly yellowish but still in good condition, no pig ear but curved from frequent reading, all those. It was so frustrating because I didn't read another book and very sure I know something about it before I read it, so I should have more lasting impression. Too bad, the book was no longer there, so I had agonizing time eventhough I kept looking because the curiosity was just too much.

And then, in a snap, just when I was about to leave the place, it came back to me. It was The Reader, I had watched the movie therefore I know at the very least I would probably like the book. Why I have memory blackout is annoying to me, but this is not the first time.

[Arcadia]

I hate to break it to you, VBS, but it gets worse...….

[Pseudonym]

I saw that story about the guy who invented a glitter bomb when his parcels kept getting pinched off of his porch, is it common in America for delivery companies to leave parcels on the doorstep? 

[Artemis]

Yes it is.

 

[Pseudonym]

Huh, they never do that here. For the exact reason that someone will probably nick it. Delivery drivers do hide parcels sometimes if there is no one home, there are always stories of things being hidden in stupid places, but usually it's in a shed or something. 

[Artemis]

Delivery drivers here don’t usually go to extra trouble to hide a package.  At best they might leave it between your door and your screen door, to better hide it from view.  But many boxes are too big for that.

I haven’t heard the glitter bomb story, that sounds hilarious.  I’ve had more than a few packages stolen, it’s a common problem, especially where I currently live.  In past locations it was a rarer occurrence.  There’s also a problem with mail being stolen from the mailboxes.  I really wish there were a locking group mailbox here, like I’ve had in other residences.

 

[Pseudonym]

Here's the guy's video of it

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

6 hours ago, Pseudonym said:

is it common in America for delivery companies to leave parcels on the doorstep? 

If we're lucky!  Nowadays they're more likely to leave our parcels in front of the garage or on top of the mailbox.  I suspect that sometimes they don't even get out of their truck.

[besleybean]

Ours don't do that...

It's usually in a shed or garage .

[Artemis]

An American delivery driver wouldn’t even be able to get in to the average person’s garage (or shed, if they have one), without breaking in.

 

[Pseudonym]

I'm stumped how they manage to leave so many in sheds here tbh.

[Arcadia]

Out here in the "country", it's not much of an issue, as we don't have sidewalks and thieves aren't generally bold enough to come all the way up our long, narrow driveways. But in apartments and towns and such … yeah, it's becoming a bit of a problem. There was a story about it on the news the other night, and precautions you should take … like having packages delivered to the neighbors if you're not home. Which makes no sense to me, as the neighbors are just as likely to be gone during the day as you are!

[Carol the Dabbler]

One place where I worked allowed employees to have personal packages delivered there.  Which was very nice.

But I agree, Arcadia, my front porch is about as safe a place as any, assuming the delivery isn't something of obvious major value (in which case I'd worry just a bit about the guy behind us, who once did time for attempted theft).

As I understand it, the current problem stems from two factors:  1)  As you say, nobody's home during the day, and 2)  Many delivery services no longer employ their own drivers (who would be paid by the hour), they use contractors who are paid per delivery.  This means the drivers have strong incentive to make as many deliveries as possible each day, thus maximizing their income but simultaneously minimizing the level of service they provide.  Thus packages are often left in easy-to-access areas such as the front steps of apartment buildings or (in my case) on top of our mailbox at the entrance to our development, a mile from our actual house.

I suspect we're going to see more and more pick-up options offered, where they don't send the package to you, they arrange to have it available at a store or other facility where you can pick it up at your convenience.

[besleybean]

Loads of teachers at my school get stuff delivered there.  I think it's a bit bad form, to be honest.

[T.o.b.y]

1 hour ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

One place where I worked allowed employees to have personal packages delivered there.  Which was very nice.

But I agree, Arcadia, my front porch is about as safe a place as any, assuming the delivery isn't something of obvious major value (in which case I'd worry just a bit about the guy behind us, who once did time for attempted theft).

As I understand it, the current problem stems from two factors:  1)  As you say, nobody's home during the day, and 2)  Many delivery services no longer employ their own drivers (who would be paid by the hour), they use contractors who are paid per delivery.  This means the drivers have strong incentive to make as many deliveries as possible each day, thus maximizing their income but simultaneously minimizing the level of service they provide.  Thus packages are often left in easy-to-access areas such as the front steps of apartment buildings or (in my case) on top of our mailbox at the entrance to our development, a mile from our actual house.

I suspect we're going to see more and more pick-up options offered, where they don't send the package to you, they arrange to have it available at a store or other facility where you can pick it up at your convenience.

That's certainly the case over here. In fact, one of the largest companies in the market just announced that it will raise prices for home delivery next year to make the pick up option more attractive. 

Doesn't bother me much. Even the small villages around here usually have a gas station or post office that takes packages.