So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Ticklishchap]

Not surprising. Here In Hawaii, my retirement location, I tell people that I lived in Austria for 20 years. Many have no idea where Austria is. Even more annoying, very many hear Australia when I say Austria, to the point that I have to firmly grab their attention and say “no, not Australia. Austria.” I suppose it can be forgiven, but it is annoying.

At my former job, frequent Topics of conversation (which usually put me on the defense) were: Americans are monolingual. Americans are clueless about geography/history. And Less than half of Americans have valid passports (its 37%. I just googled it.) Those were the “polite” observations that my global colleagues made. If they were really trying to get my goat, the conversation would move on to more embarrassing stereotypes. Over the course of years, I got pretty good at finding the right balance of jousting with them and goodnaturedly accepting It.

On the brighter side, most of my colleagues either had family in the U.S., or had gone to university (at least for a year or two) in the U.S., had worked in the U.S., or travelled extensively around the U.S. Really, although they sometimes

At my former job, frequent Topics of conversation (which usually put me on the defense) were: Americans are monolingual. Americans are clueless about geography/history. And Less than half of Americans have valid passports (its 37%. I just googled it.) Those were the “polite” observations that my global colleagues made. If they were really trying to get my goat, the conversation would move on to more embarrassing stereotypes. Over the course of years, I got pretty good at finding the right balance of jousting with them and goodnaturedly accepting It.

On the brighter side, most of my colleagues either had family in the U.S., or had gone to university (at least for a year or two) in the U.S., had worked in the U.S., or travelled extensively around the U.S. Really, although they sometimes pretended otherwise, they were generally very sympathetic To Americans.

If I’m going on too long about this, I confess it’s because I miss them and am still feeling a little uprooted.

https://today.yougov.com/topics/tra...ly-one-third-americans-have-valid-us-passport

Let me assure you that some of my best friends are Americans who have very advanced knowledge of geography. It is they, far more than me, who mock their compatriots about this.

I think there is a residual element of Manifest Destiny in all this. Quite a few of your fellow countrymen think, at some level: “Why do I need to go anywhere when I’ve already arrived?”

 

[Ticklishchap]

Going back to catastrophist headlines: I saw one a few days ago: “Risk of death increases when you’re mourning your loved ones”.

Okay. You’ve just lost your significant other, your sibling, your parents, close friend, etc. Do you really need to be told that you might die of grief? Enough already.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I hear you on that! This is where electric vehicles will be very welcome as they roll out - at least it's one less noise to disturb the neighbourhood in the wee hours.


I've had a lot of great stuff that was made in China and qualitatively the equal of anything made anywhere else. Of course, while it may have been cheaper, it wasn't cheap. The Chinese rubbish I've encountered was almost exclusively cheap tat made down to a price point on the specification of whichever international business had ordered it.... Mind you, 99% of the time, in my opinion it's the customer is to blame for not being prepared to pay what something decent would cost. Supply and demand, an aw tha.

For sure, though, China has been the world's workshop for some time now. Way back, things were moved to Japan because that was where Labour was cheap, then Korea, then Taiwan, now mostly mainland China. I've noticed Indonesia and Vietnam increasingly cropping up, while the Indian subcontinent is a very common one for clothes, at least on the UK market. Turkey seems to have developed quite the denim industry. The murmurs I keep hearing are that Africa will be the next big manufacturing hub. A lot of manufacturing will keep moving where labour is cheapest, it seems. Of course cutting quality of materials is another way to save money. It'll be interesting to see if the "slow fashion" ethos catches on more widely as environmental concerns focus more on sustainability. Course, I'm sure there are all sorts of other trends involved too: here in London, with so many people now living in HMOs and moving at least annually well into their thirties, a lot of folks are reluctant to spend money on furniture that might not work in their next place, or that costs significantly to move. All inks in the ecosystem!

I do see that with furniture. Once upon a time furniture was a major investment second to the house itself that people would hire a moving company to haul their belongings to their new home whether it was across town or across the country. Nowadays it seems that It's cheaper to leave the old furniture behind and buy completely new. I know that because in the last several years we've bought much of our furniture at yard sales from people who are moving.

 

[tonyb]

The very concept of a “thought leader” or an “influencer” makes me want to grind my teeth together.

Are there actually people who really need such persons to “guide” them through life?

The older I get the less I desire anyone to emulate.

It’s not that certain characters don’t do things worthy of emulation; it’s more that I’ve gotten to know many such characters who showed themselves to be less than admirable. That doesn’t diminish that one thing or two they happen to be very good at. But their talents don’t erase their character flaws. Great talent is service of great ills has been the bane of humanity.

 

[tonyb]

I do see that with furniture. Once upon a time furniture was a major investment second to the house itself that people would hire a moving company to haul their belongings to their new home whether it was across town or across the country. Nowadays it seems that It's cheaper to leave the old furniture behind and buy completely new. I know that because in the last several years we've bought much of our furniture at yard sales from people who are moving.

That’s the way to do it.

Several years ago, during one of those spikes in gas prices, I rented a large truck to transport furniture I acquired free of charge out Seattle way and drove it to greater Denver. I used that stuff to furnish a short-term rental unit we had recently acquired.

I spent $800 just on fuel (7 mpg adds up fast). I don’t recall what I spent on the rental, but it must have been several hundred dollars at least.

If not that I enjoy long road trips, the entire exercise would have been a waste. I could have bought equal or better stuff for less money at yard sales within a few miles of here.

 

[LizzieMaine]

There are plenty of people I try to emulate in my life, in one way or another. They just don't call themselves "influencers." Anybody who has to tell me they're influential is somebody I don't want to know -- I had enough of that in radio.

 

[tonyb]

Sometimes I wish there were some mandatory additional charge for every email or phone call over some reasonable limit, a charge so minimal (some fraction of a cent per, say) as to be of no significance to anyone other than the spam producers. I delete, I block, I unsubscribe, I jump up and down on one leg, yet the unwelcome calls and texts and emails just keep coming. For every one I think I’ve killed two more arise to take its place.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The email address I've had for the past twenty-five years will disappear at the end of this month when the ISP discontinues their email servers. Won't the spammers be mad.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Movies, leaving me without any idea, what they wanted to tell me.

 

[tonyb]

Movies, leaving me without any idea, what they wanted to tell me.

Just call it Dada, man.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Movies, leaving me without any idea, what they wanted to tell me.

I just previewed one of those. It must mean something, because somebody got paid.

 

[Zombie_61]

...I get easily distracted, especially online, such that reading anything lengthier than a few hundred words can seem more trouble than it’s worth...

My problem with online articles, particularly during the last 4-5 years, is that they're so poorly written that I lose interest within the first paragraph or two. I have zero proof to support my assumptions, but I'm convinced that the authors of such articles are/were not overly familiar with American English, so prior to being "published" those articles were processed through a poorly written online language translator that couldn't be bothered with proper sentence structure and/or the actual definitions of the words chosen.

The very concept of a “thought leader” or an “influencer” makes me want to grind my teeth together.

Are there actually people who really need such persons to “guide” them through life?

A certain percentage of any human population will, and should be, classified as "sheep", i.e. people who couldn't find their own backsides in a dark room if they used both hands and a flashlight. Many years ago I realized some people have absolutely no sense of individuality, and that this is why clothing stores like The Gap and Old Navy came into existence--so these people have a place to go to buy the same clothes as their friends so they can "fit in". "Influencers" have also existed for centuries; self-appointed authorities with no actual qualifications who sucker the sheep into thinking they're worth following. It's a little unsettling to see just how easily these "influencers" can collect their respective flocks these days.

One of the things I find more and more off-putting about the internet as it evolves is the increased dependence on videos as a means of conveying information. I'm not a particularly "visual" person, my mind doesn't work that way -- it's easier for me to learn something by reading it than by watching some kid with a trick beard demonstrate it. I get very very frustrated having to sit thru five minutes of "Guys! Guys! Hey! Thanks for watching my video! Be sure to subscribe to my channel for more great content! And a shoutout to my sponsor, Blah Blah's House of Blah for providing the product we're going to demonstrate today, etc. etc." before showing the actual content that I want to see, and when they do show it, it doesn't actually give me the details that I need to know...

I've given up on videos like these because 99 times out of 100 they're nothing more than a virtual pat on the back in which the "author" becomes the star rather than the subject matter. And that's another reason I've given up on them--whatever the alleged content of the video indicated in the title, you can be sure it won't be mentioned and you've wasted another eight minutes watching nothing more than blowhard puffery.

 

[ChiTownScion]

I do see that with furniture. Once upon a time furniture was a major investment second to the house itself that people would hire a moving company to haul their belongings to their new home whether it was across town or across the country. Nowadays it seems that It's cheaper to leave the old furniture behind and buy completely new. I know that because in the last several years we've bought much of our furniture at yard sales from people who are moving.

Hiring a moving company today for a cross country move can be an endeavor costing in the tens of thousands of dollars.

We made the big retirement move in 2019 from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest. And from a four-bedroom home w/ furnished basement (including pool table and library) on half an acre of land to a three-bedroom townhouse (no basement). We packed a pod rather than hire a van, which saved us time and a lot of money. Ditched 2/3 of the library and most of the furniture and bought a lot of new furniture because it was cheaper than moving goods acquired over four decades. Goodwill got a LOT of donations.

I didn't give up any of my model trains and my wife didn't give up any of her jewelry making tools/ supplies. I mean, there are limits for all of us, right?

Had friends who moved from the same Midwest area to Quebec and didn't throw out so much as a teaspoon. Between packing, moving, storage while waiting for customs inspection, and unpacking, I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped at least $20K on the move.

I certainly appreciate ignoring the modern "just throw it out" mentality, when possible, but a big move forces an examination of a metaphysical puzzle: do we own our property/ chattels, or do they in fact own us?

 

[Edward]

I certainly appreciate ignoring the modern "just throw it out" mentality, when possible, but a big move forces an examination of a metaphysical puzzle: do we own our property/ chattels, or do they in fact own us?

My parents have moved twice in the past five years - once to a better location for them, from the top of a steep hill in their village to the bottom of the same hill, and then to a smaller bungalow they built within the second house's grounds. The second house had always had planning permission and the plan was they'd build a bungalow for whichever of them outlived the other. As it turned out, though, my mother's Parkinson's has progressed a lot faster than anticipated, and they went ahead and built the bungalow for them both. Floor area wise it's not any smaller, but much better laid out. Where they had to downsize big time, though, is they went open plan for the living area, ergo far fewer walls for shelves.... Much easier than a cross-country move, but having never seriously downsized before, me living abroad and my brother not wanting anything, it's been trickier for them than anticipated. Dad's very good at getting rid of everything, but my mother's side carries the hoarder gene....

I have always liked and admired the way in which H. P. Lovecraft used the English language, and I have read a few of his pieces over and over through the years.

I have read LOTR and the Hobbit multiple times, but I find the Silmarillion hopelessly confusing.

IMO the Silmarillion suffers from being one of the multiple books that JRRT never quite fully finished during his lifetime, and which have been rattled out posthumously for profit. There's quite a few of those I'm not entirely sure should really have gone to print, ultimately, but there we are...

One of the things I find more and more off-putting about the internet as it evolves is the increased dependence on videos as a means of conveying information. I'm not a particularly "visual" person, my mind doesn't work that way -- it's easier for me to learn something by reading it than by watching some kid with a trick beard demonstrate it. I get very very frustrated having to sit thru five minutes of "Guys! Guys! Hey! Thanks for watching my video! Be sure to subscribe to my channel for more great content! And a shoutout to my sponsor, Blah Blah's House of Blah for providing the product we're going to demonstrate today, etc. etc." before showing the actual content that I want to see, and when they do show it, it doesn't actually give me the details that I need to know.

I think the internet has actually changed the way minds process material -- most people today would, in fact, rather watch a video than read an article, especially younger people, because their brains have evolved to process information more efficiently that way. But mine is rooted in the written word, for better or worse, and it's too late to rewire it now.

I like the availability of Youtube - there's good stuff on it amidst the dross - but it's a video platform ,and I can go there if I want / need video. The issue I have is with video invading so many other websites. I hate wasting time on newssites waiting for video to download so I can read the content- if I wanted video news, I'd go to a video site, or the television. It's particularly inane when both of them give you exactly the same information. Also hateful is when a site purports to be an online newspaper, then only gives you video for some stuff. And don't even get me started on videos that run automatically, with sound....

 

[Who?]

For the most part, I detest videos.

I learned to read a very long time ago, and I can read faster than I can listen to some guy "explaining" something in an impenetrable accent, with rambling statements filled with word fillers.

It is just very annoying to me.

 

[tonyb]

Hiring a moving company today for a cross country move can be an endeavor costing in the tens of thousands of dollars.

We made the big retirement move in 2019 from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest. And from a four-bedroom home w/ furnished basement (including pool table and library) on half an acre of land to a three-bedroom townhouse (no basement). We packed a pod rather than hire a van, which saved us time and a lot of money. Ditched 2/3 of the library and most of the furniture and bought a lot of new furniture because it was cheaper than moving goods acquired over four decades. Goodwill got a LOT of donations.

I didn't give up any of my model trains and my wife didn't give up any of her jewelry making tools/ supplies. I mean, there are limits for all of us, right?

Had friends who moved from the same Midwest area to Quebec and didn't throw out so much as a teaspoon. Between packing, moving, storage while waiting for customs inspection, and unpacking, I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped at least $20K on the move.

I certainly appreciate ignoring the modern "just throw it out" mentality, when possible, but a big move forces an examination of a metaphysical puzzle: do we own our property/ chattels, or do they in fact own us?

In May of 2020 a shirttail relative who had been in failing health for a number of years found himself in desperate straits when the woman with whom he resided, and on whom he relied for the business of daily living, up and died on him.

So we (another relative and an old friend and I) scrambled to get him here, to my “new” place, some 1,400 miles or so away. The friend loaded up the relative’s stuff in his truck and drove him and his cat here, where he lived until February of 2021, when his condition deteriorated to the point that he required more care than I could provide.

The relative died in a nursing facility in May of this year. The overwhelming majority of the stuff that arrived in that truck 24 months prior, the overwhelming majority of which didn’t see any use whatsoever over that timespan, has been finding its way to the Arc thrift store donation station.

I suppose that some level of mortality denial, or if not denial than at least the disregard of the death that awaits us all, might be all but necessary to a happy life.

I suspect what motivated that late relative to hold onto his swag was in large part an attempt to hold onto life itself. I understand it. He had suffered much loss — the slow but steady diminishment of his physical and mental capabilities, the death of his woman friend, and more.

It’s not unlike the Tom Hanks character’s attachment to Wilson the volleyball in the film “Castaway.” When a person is left with so little, he invests much in what little he still has.

I still have the cat.

 

[Edward]

Going back to catastrophist headlines: I saw one a few days ago: “Risk of death increases when you’re mourning your loved ones”.

Okay. You’ve just lost your significant other, your sibling, your parents, close friend, etc. Do you really need to be told that you might die of grief? Enough already.

Some great ones today. One of the headlines on Classic FM this morning was a new medical study which claims that if you drink under 40 it'll kill you, and if you don't drink over 40 you'll die sooner.

 

[ChrisB]

A certain percentage of any human population will, and should be, classified as "sheep", i.e. people who couldn't find their own backsides in a dark room if they used both hands and a flashlight. Many years ago I realized some people have absolutely no sense of individuality, and that this is why clothing stores like The Gap and Old Navy came into existence--so these people have a place to go to buy the same clothes as their friends so they can "fit in".

 

[Who?]

That we need an article on the internet to explain that tin foil and aluminum foil are not the same thing.

Is there no end to the depth of societal ignorance?

 

[Turnip]

If there was, this planet would not have been dragged down to the condition it is currently in.