So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[tonyb]

It's a proven fact that testosterone does things to the brain. I heard a fascinating radio interview years ago with a person transitioning from female to male, describing the aggressive mental changes that came once he started taking testosterone. Anyone who's ever watched a teenage brother grow up recognizes all the symptoms.

And yet there are those who refuse to see what’s right in front of their eyes.

If you’ve never read Gore Vidal’s essay “The Birds and the Bees,” I heartily recommend you do so. It’s a hoot.

 

[GHT]

Insurance is pretty much the same thing as gambling -- you pay in money and the house rigs the game so you get back as little return as possible. The only conceivable difference is that the atmosphere in a casino is more congenial than you find in an insurance office, and you feel good on the off chance that you actually get a payout.

As always Lizzie, you have nailed it. What a great analogy.
One annoyance that Lizzie hasn't experienced, because she has famously admitted that she doesn't have a cell phone, is the phone's belligerent spell checker. Time and again mine will change words in a text I'm about to send. I used to put it down to fat finger syndrome but I just saw the word "from" change to the word "form." Words fail me, or in the case of my phone: "Worms fail me."

 

[Turnip]

Logic dictates. You collect a traffic citation, that means your driving is questionable, which means that you are at risk of being in a collision, which means that being a risk you must attract a higher premium. Our insurance companies would increase your premiums just for a mis-spelling on the application form. Mis-spelling means you're stupid, which means you're higher risk and so on. OK, I made that last sentence up, but believe you me, when it comes to being creative in increasing premiums, insurance companies are past masters at it.

That would luckily already fail due to data protection regulations here.
Police would never be permitted to transfer such data to any private run company, not even to most public authorities.

 

[Hercule]

Dare we go into the role of credit scores in insurance rates?

Insurance will use absolutely any and every metric they can think of to effect (usually to raise) insurance rates. We just moved across town (from a decidedly urban setting to a more suburban community), and my car insurance rate went up.

 

[GHT]

That would luckily already fail due to data protection regulations here.
Police would never be permitted to transfer such data to any private run company, not even to most public authorities.

You underestimate the devious tactics of our Insurers. They don't need the police to tell them that you have been caught speeding, or whatever the transgression was. You the motorist will tell them. When you agree to their price for insurance, you will sign up to their terms and conditions. Hidden away in the small print is a clause that tells you that you are legally bound to tell your insurer of any traffic violation that you have committed, failure to do so could render you uninsured which would then be another violation and so on and so forth. Devious bastards, insurers.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And yet people will criticize the sleazy late-night TV ads for "ambulance chasing" law firms that specialize in going after insurance companies. Seems to me the only way to defeat a gang of thuggish racketeers preying on vulnerable people is to unleash the wrath of your own gang of thuggish racketeers against them.

We have a firm in Maine that uses a baseball bat as its logo -- and the implication is clear. More power to them.

 

[Harp]

We have a firm in Maine that uses a baseball bat as its logo -- and the implication is clear. More power to them.

Obviously a Louisville #7 Ernie Banks signature stick.

 

[Trenchfriend]

How much costs pure Ananas juice in the US?
I'm asking, because I'm still astonished, that the juice is so dirt cheap in old Germany. Too cheap, in my opinion. Just 1.35 EUR per liter in Tetra Pak!

 

[MisterCairo]

How much costs pure Ananas juice in the US?
I'm asking, because I'm still astonished, that the juice is so dirt cheap in old Germany. Too cheap, in my opinion. Just 1.35 EUR per liter in Tetra Pak!

If that means pineapple juice, 1L in Canada is $1.49 CAD:

Link does not seem to work. National grocery chain branded product, but 100% pure juice.

https://www.zehrs.ca/Food/Drinks/Ju...t's-Choice-100%-Juice-Pineapple/p/21080958_EA

 

[Trenchfriend]

Anyone here with private watchdogs?

Just a question, that interests me, since a long time!

Sharp dogs, start barking from let's say 200 meters distance. Do they smell me or do they feel any "vibes"?

 

[Bushman]

We alleged adults are like children sometimes. We need to be protected from ourselves.

As I like to say, some people never actually mature, they simply find more complex ways to be toddlers.

The history of “religious” holidays is a study in marketing. Gotta get the masses to buy what you’re selling.

My favorite will always be how the beheading of the patron saint of epilepsy became a greeting card holiday celebrated with the consumption of cheap, chalky heart-shaped candies.

As always Lizzie, you have nailed it. What a great analogy.
One annoyance that Lizzie hasn't experienced, because she has famously admitted that she doesn't have a cell phone, is the phone's belligerent spell checker. Time and again mine will change words in a text I'm about to send. I used to put it down to fat finger syndrome but I just saw the word "from" change to the word "form." Words fail me, or in the case of my phone: "Worms fail me."

I find it a particular pain in the ass when autocorrect deems it necessary to change my verbiage.

Dare we go into the role of credit scores in insurance rates?

Credit scores are among the all time dumbest things to ever come out of financing. Your financial life, and in effect your entire capability of living, becomes tied to an arbitrary, ever-changing number that goes up or down based on how much debt you put yourself in. I stopped paying bills for a few months after I lost my job due to the Coronavirus, and illogically my credit score went UP, only to fall once I started paying my bills again. Whoever decided that I must live in perpetual debt should be resurrected and tortured to back death, and then resurrected and tortured back to death ad infinitum.

 

[Harp]

Credit scores are among the all time dumbest things to ever come out of financing. Your financial life, and in effect your entire capability of living, becomes tied to an arbitrary, ever-changing number that goes up or down based on how much debt you put yourself in. .

When I attended the U of Illinois-Chicago the country was in economic recession and my GI Bill benefits
were spooled in bureaucratic red tape, no job, etc etc etc. So, out of necessity, I jacked up my American Express
card as a temporary expedient, causing a telephone call from India, where AE apparently had its collection
operation. I managed to work out a practical repayment plan; grudgingly agreed to by the head honcho
who decided he also had to threaten me if I didn't pay. "We're going to come after you."
I told him Charlie had been after my ass and he wasn't shit. Years later, I settled with AE with a low ball.

 

[tonyb]

...
I told him Charlie had been after my ass and he wasn't shit. Years later, I settled with AE with a low ball.

Yeah, they probably figured after a couple three or fours years that a few bucks beats no bucks.

 

[Bushman]

When I attended the U of Illinois-Chicago the country was in economic recession and my GI Bill benefits
were spooled in bureaucratic red tape, no job, etc etc etc. So, out of necessity, I jacked up my American Express
card as a temporary expedient, causing a telephone call from India, where AE apparently had its collection
operation. I managed to work out a practical repayment plan; grudgingly agreed to by the head honcho
who decided he also had to threaten me if I didn't pay. "We're going to come after you."
I told him Charlie had been after my ass and he wasn't shit. Years later, I settled with AE with a low ball.

I get "where's our money?!" emails the day after I schedule an unnecessary additional student loan payment. It's insulting. In this economy, they're lucky I even have a good, steady 40hr a week job that allows me to even make an additional payment or two a month.

 

[tonyb]

...

Credit scores are among the all time dumbest things to ever come out of financing. Your financial life, and in effect your entire capability of living, becomes tied to an arbitrary, ever-changing number that goes up or down based on how much debt you put yourself in. I stopped paying bills for a few months after I lost my job due to the Coronavirus, and illogically my credit score went UP, only to fall once I started paying my bills again. Whoever decided that I must live in perpetual debt should be resurrected and tortured to back death, and then resurrected and tortured back to death ad infinitum.

Neither the lovely missus nor I carry any debt other than the mortgage on our now only piece of real property. (It was a relief to be rid of the others.) No car payment, no credit card debt, etc.

And while our credit scores are still in the “excellent” range, they’ve been slowly but steadily drifting downwards over the past couple years. It annoys the hell out of me. As you note, the aim of the financial institutions is to keep us all in perpetual debt — to them, of course.

It almost wanna go find a tall building to jump off of when I recall how much interest and fees I paid over the decades that I carried debt.

 

[Zombie_61]

Yeah, they probably figured after a couple three or fours years that a few bucks beats no bucks.

I'm hoping our mortgage company has this epiphany once someone crunches the numbers and they realize the government's falsely-inflated current balance will leave 17 years worth of payments remaining after I'm dead.

 

[Hercule]

Annoyance du jour (well, more often than not, it seems): The US Postal Service.

Mother in law (Pennsylvania hinterlands) sent a package to us via priority mail on November 20. It arrived in Harrisburg on the 21st, then in Cleveland on the 22nd. We live in the Cleveland east suburbs and have yet to received our package. So much for the homemade bread she sent us.

Why again hasn't the post office gone under?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Because Fed Wrecks and U Pee S are even worse. Every single damaged package I've ever received has come from either of them. Uncle's service, however it may otherwise be criticized, has never destroyed any of my parcels.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Have you ever tried an Asam black tea from North India, named "nero"? This tea causes me a little respect, so let's see what happens.

 

[Turnip]

Try some (real) Lapsang Souchong then...