start a victory garden and ration your IRRATIONALLY ANGRY feelings, part 3

Maybe they're better for reading in bed.

It's an affectation instead of a useful feature, and it fits the theme of this thread beautifully.

Things provided as m4b files not mp3s. FUCK OFF.

things provided as avif files not jpgs

(webp also)

could do a poll for most annoying file format, right now as far as daily annoyances go it's .pages but .ram might be my all-time choice.

RealAudio metadata file?

yeah, lots of memories of thinking I'd found an mp3 I was looking for and instead it was a broken realaudio stream.

annoyed at Calexpo, where they hold state fairs, rv shows & bridal expos & whatnot

Huge permanent electronic signs at both major entrances now mostly used for local advertising

but that *should* theoretically (surely) at least promote a current major event when it’s happening right?

but no

a couple of poorly placed tiny plastic sandwich boards by the roadside are your only notice of the day’s event

meanwhile the giant electronic signs continue to tell you about vape stores & bad mexican food 2 miles away

not irrationally "angry" but any time I see a tv show where someone opens the door for someone, and that person enters the house, and they laeve the door wide the fuck open, I cant' focus on the scene cos i'm so bugged about the door being left wide open

Perfectly able-bodied people who, instead of simply using the handle to pull or push a door open, push the handicapped button to make the door open agonizingly slowly.

xpost - as a corollary to that one Neando, it always takes me out when a show or movie is set somewhere and during some time of year when the outdoors is absolutely bug-drenched but the characters seemingly live 24-7 with huge open patio doors and windows with no screens

absolutely no sane person in the Midwest would leave that many windows and doors wide open without screens in June, no matter how pleasing the temperature!

Perfectly able-bodied people who, instead of simply using the handle to pull or push a door open, push the handicapped button to make the door open agonizingly slowly.

― "The pudding incident?" (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, April 18, 2023 10:16 PM (twenty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

My local pharmacist has a door which will only open from the inside by pressing this button, which is a whole six feet away from the door. They don't have a decent sized sign to tell you this is the case either. Every fucking time I forget and try to pull it open.

Perfectly able-bodied people who, instead of simply using the handle to pull or push a door open, push the handicapped button to make the door open agonizingly slowly.

It's ridiculous how seemingly everybody except me does this

i totally did that just yesterday. Resume anger.

I know there's a dedicated thread about the whole thing, but I really hate this time of year when I see a tweet or something announcing a cool looking new release, only to click on it to find out it's another damn RSD exclusive thing that will be pressed in vanishingly tiny quantities and will only be found three months from now on Discogs for 3x the already inflated retail price.

(this post inspired by seeing news that the new Albert Ayler archival live thing from 1966 is a Record Store Day exclusive)

(this post inspired by seeing news that the new Albert Ayler archival live thing from 1966 is a Record Store Day exclusive)

It's been available as a 2CD set for some time. Get it here (Squidco is a small indie store/distro I like dealing with).

Oh shit, thanks! I didn't realize that was the same thing and that it was just a repackaging.

Ordered, thanks for easing my IA today.

That's some of my favorite Ayler material, too.

Perfectly able-bodied people who, instead of simply using the handle to pull or push a door open, push the handicapped button to make the door open agonizingly slowly.

IME, doors with such a button often feel like they "resist" a bit when I try to pull or push them manually, which gives a vague impression that doing so is wearing on the mechanism or something, so I (possibly irrationally) feel like I should use the button when it exists.

^^^^^^

every single t-shirt here

https://twitter.com/miahtao

they keep serving them up to me as ads and I keep clicking on them out of grim curiosity, all the comments are "got to get this t-shirt!" aaaaaaaaaaa

today it's sending me this one

That's What I Do And I Know Things.https://t.co/pe2KTp8lX5 pic.twitter.com/av4XTnapdL

— Miahtao (@miahtao) March 11, 2023

god those are terrible

ugly awful screen-printed t-shirts with unfunny jokey sayings have always outnumbered good t-shirts by approximately a 100:1 ratio

"Your Mom is on my Top 8 on MySpace"

My cd player slowly dying. It's been 18 years but it should remain with me forever and things should be built to last and so on. LIke maybe the thing lasting so loing if it was bought iu 2005 is the opposite of planned obsolescence or going against what one would assume that meant.
& not sure if this would be salvageable if I could take it apart and swap out the laser unit. & put it back together and so on. I'm not confident I would get it back to working and reconstructed perfectly. Maybe I need to take an electronics course and learn to repair this and the sewing machine properly.

THought it improved a lot yesterday. Actually got back to reading discs right away instead of flashing reading for ages.
But was back fuzzing out a disc later on.

I've grown accustomed to this thing as my main cd player. Don't want to let it slip away.
But getting discs making weird beating , tapping , electronic distortion noises and fuzzing out when they are attempted to be played is a pain. Washing the discs doesn't seem to sort things either.

First step is to get the service manual for the specific model - there will be adjustment trimpots for the laser diode. You might be able to pump it up a little and get more life out of the existing one.
Actually step zero is to get a CD laser cleaner disc - they are a standard CD with fine hairs sticking out in the middle of a track. Obviously not something to do often, but they can get rid of accumulated dust which may be an issue too.

cd lens cleaner is something that is used regularly. Even daily. The one i use has a lens cleaning solution that is dropped on the lines of hairs.

I used to be able to only take the machine lid off and clean the lens once in a blue moon, has been more frequent recently.

I got the manual online yesterday and found out that the way the machine was built I need to take the front off before I get to take the section including the guard for the cd laser off. That was the bit that had me wondering if it would reconstruct easily.
I did get at the laser unit lens with isopropyl alcohol a couple of times.

Also never know which cd is going to get a negative play. Fuzz out, start making that weird rhythmic noise or whatever.
So bit of a pain.

every single t-shirt here

https://twitter.com/miahtao

they keep serving them up to me as ads and I keep clicking on them out of grim curiosity, all the comments are "got to get this t-shirt!" aaaaaaaaaaa

― the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, April 25, 2023 3:39 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I used to get those ones with text that covered the whole back like ' Im a proud Arkansan Taurean MAMA BEAR and proud American and this is my address and social and debit card pin"

the more I click on them the more they appear, it's becoming a problem

https://i.postimg.cc/brL946Zt/Screenshot-20230426-231909.jpg

imagine you were working in a cafe and you had to serve someone wearing that

Man those shirts are getting darker, wordier, and more violent.

"BACK OFF I am a functionally illiterate ASSHOLE I bought this shirt because COOL SKULL and I WILL KILL YOU"

https://vangogh.teespring.com/v3/image/-expMvIbE3-ojB0UUZMdNMRA-Bc/800/800.jpg

When you're walking towards someone on a narrow pavement alongside a busy road and because they can see the all the dangerous cars coming they move away from the road to let you pass, when really it's much more dangerous for you to be next to the road because you can't see them coming.

Had a cop once call that the 'Sui-side"

I read a bit of a book years ago that talked about walking on country lanes that said you should walk on the side of the road facing oncoming traffic for safety. So have had that as an understanding for years, unfortunately it doesn't seem to be universally shared.

I think there is supposed to be a single direction that people ride on the bicycle lanes between pedestrian path and road too that is frequently ignored,. Have heard that a lot of people get hit by bikes coming in the opposite direction than expected.
I need to get back on a bike since I have one that I think works though saddle too high or at least was when I tried it out.

Oh well.

Yeah, I always learned as a kid to walk or bike in the opposite direction of traffic so the cars would see you. Those were suburban roads though. I'm still confused by it all.

Yes this is a thing where you can hear equally persuasive arguments for completely opposite recommendations.

I generally ride a bicycle with traffic, or in traffic. But that is subject to hyperlocal conditions. I maintain that my physical vulnerability (relative to the driver of a two-ton car) is salient. They can kill me instantly while barwly inconveniencing themselves. To me, that means I get a bit more of a right to decide what to do and not do. YMMV.

Walking is also very situational and depends on several factors.

My 'hood is pretty pedestrian-friendly but there are still rampant perils.

Barwly? Wtf, I mean barely

interesting! i always thought the reason not to bike against traffic was because you're both converging on each other, shortening the time it would take for a wayward vehicle to cream you than if you were both going the same way (but otoh, you can't see them if you're going w/ traffic).

all of our bike lanes here have arrows on them and sort of make the decision for us (they point with traffic)

If that wasn't clear I was talking about pedestrians being hit by bikes going along lane in wrong direction , not cars being hit by them.

Stevo, in my experience pedestrians and cyclists (and, in posh areas, equestrians) generally have common cause. The enemy is the people driving big motorized metal death cubes.

I don't think I have had a significant negative biker/walker interaction in fifty years of doing both almost every day.

never had a negative interaction as a pedestrian with a cyclist myself either (haven't ridden a bike in years sadly as well).

did once hit a guy on a bike with my car, which fortunately was a minor incident when the smoke cleared, but was pretty scary in the moment. they were riding across the street on their bike, not in the crosswalk, but in the middle of the road, while we were stopped at a red light. I was maybe four vehicles back.

the light was likely already green when he started his journey, I didn't see him until he was near my car, and when it was my turn to go, I lightly accelerated only to finally see him rapidly approaching to my right - too late to stop, and I hit him and he fell. got out to help him up and apologized and another passenger and I offered to take him to the hospital, but he shrugged it off, said it was his fault, and that he was ok. he was bleeding a little on his arm, we offered again and he insisted he was fine and that he messed up and then took off.

not fun. also why i'm a lot more anxious about scanning every inch of road now.

my negative interactions with cyclists as a pedestrian usually occurs when they're riding their bikes down the goddamm sidewalk.

^^^^

there's one particular road with a hipster bar scene that is utterly devoid of bike lanes where cyclists pretty much exclusively use the sidewalk and I just wind up walking in the road because of not wanting to be constantly being startled from behind

when did it become acceptable to just drastically change plans at the 11th hour? like I don't mean "oh hey, we were going to have our friend's birthday dinner at Bar A, but we're going to Bar B instead", when both bars are within miles of each other. but like completely and fundamentally changing them.

so today's a packed day. It's my brother's birthday, I had tickets to the Orlando City match (as a season ticket holder), and I'd been invited to see the band Massacre at a local venue. Originally had just planned to just go to the soccer game, as the fam and I are having dinner with the bro and his fiancee tomorrow, then go home after, as it'd be too late to get to the Massacre show. then last week, my bro's best friend invites me to a dinner they're having for my bro tonight at Buca di Beppo at 7.

I figured it'd be good to see him on his birthday, so I said fuck it, and sold the soccer tickets. The Buca is ten minutes from my house, which is perfect. and because of that, I realized I could probably make the Massacre show after all, as dinner is likely to be done by 8:15 - 8:30, and the show is also 10 mins from my house. so I told that friend on Thursday I'd be good to go, and bought a ticket. it'd work perfectly, as I could go from Buca, to my house, take care of dad, and then continue East to the venue. a fun night with a variety of people.

not a peep from the best friend in the FB Event since the day he invited me, until this morning. at 11 am, the friend announces that he's changed the location from the Buca in Maitland to the Buca on 192 in Celebration, a difference of 26 miles, 45 minutes. he states it's because it's more centrally located for most of them.

so now that's a 90 minute, 52 mile round trip, a trip I'm in no mood to take after the awfulness of last night, but also would obliterate my plans, as I wouldn't be able to make the show on time, so would have to eat the ticket and bail on the friend.

The only reason I accepted the invite is because of how centrally located it was. if his friend had chosen this alternate location initially, or even several days ago, I probably would have just opted not to go, keep my soccer tickets, and just see him on Sunday as we originally planned. Instead, he pulls a bait and switch at the 11th hour. of course, the gathering is a surprise - my brother only knows he's going there, doesn't know that other people are coming, so I can't talk to HIM about it.

so I responded somewhat pass-agg to the friend that I was no longer going as the new location no longer worked with my plans, and that I'd just see him tomorrow. it's for the best because his friends and I are like oil and water, we don't dislike each other, but I always feel alienated around them. I'm sure friend is talking me up like I'm some asshole now but come the fuck on bruh.