Randomness XIV: THE FLOOR IS LAVA!

[kristof65]

14 minutes ago, OneBoot said:

Also I invested in a luggage scale rather than estimating.

This has become a necessity for me. 

Flew to Atlanta one year, and my bag was 48 pounds, and 47 at the airport, because it had several parts for the customer I was visiting.  Used the parts, didn't buy anything extra, but got back to the Atlanta airport to fly home, and was told my 48 pound bag weighed 52 pounds.  It should have been 3-5 pounds lighter without the parts. Still trying to figure out how my bag gained 8-10 pounds with fewer contents.   

[redambrosia]

As hubby and I were discussing the topography of his world, I mentioned that a certain area would be "elephant land" (Africa, basically). He said, what if there are no elephants in my world, and I nearly clobbered him. No elephants is intolerable! 

 

He relented and told me that, not only are there elephants, there's wooly mammoths! 

[Kangaroorex]

3 hours ago, kristof65 said:

This has become a necessity for me. 

Flew to Atlanta one year, and my bag was 48 pounds, and 47 at the airport, because it had several parts for the customer I was visiting.  Used the parts, didn't buy anything extra, but got back to the Atlanta airport to fly home, and was told my 48 pound bag weighed 52 pounds.  It should have been 3-5 pounds lighter without the parts. Still trying to figure out how my bag gained 8-10 pounds with fewer contents.   

That's easy.  Try to find a calibration certificate on an airport scale.  They are not regulated and therefore can be off even worse than your bathroom scale.

 

In some US airports and a lot of other countries you will find kiosks whch will wrap and weigh your luggage using a certified scale.  Part of the reason they exist is to ensure that your luggage doesn't get tagged with an overweight charge.  It's been my experience that if you have the certificate from on of these kiosks and your luggage is wrapped, the check in attendant will ignore what their counter scale says in lieu of the scale certificate.  

[Unruly]

52 minutes ago, Kangaroorex said:

That's easy.  Try to find a calibration certificate on an airport scale.  They are not regulated and therefore can be off even worse than your bathroom scale.

 

In some US airports and a lot of other countries you will find kiosks whch will wrap and weigh your luggage using a certified scale.  Part of the reason they exist is to ensure that your luggage doesn't get tagged with an overweight charge.  It's been my experience that if you have the certificate from on of these kiosks and your luggage is wrapped, the check in attendant will ignore what their counter scale says in lieu of the scale certificate.  

 

So what you're saying is that they need regulations put in place to require that their scales are accurate, because they aren't self-policing and correcting the problem on their own, and thus are using the situation to basically steal from their customers. Gotta love the airlines!

[Glitterwolf]

Right,

 

Crucial stuff is breaking down, contacted the guy who needs to take care of it.

Ending up telling him how to do his job, basically explaining what to do step by step in order to get the stuff.

On one hand, nice that the guy listens, on the other hand, dude, you should have thought of it yourself it's YOUR job!

 

This Warrant Officer is now going to get an espresso before he kills someone..

 

[Sylverthorne]

2 hours ago, Kangaroorex said:

That's easy.  Try to find a calibration certificate on an airport scale.  They are not regulated and therefore can be off even worse than your bathroom scale.

 

In some US airports and a lot of other countries you will find kiosks whch will wrap and weigh your luggage using a certified scale.  Part of the reason they exist is to ensure that your luggage doesn't get tagged with an overweight charge.  It's been my experience that if you have the certificate from on of these kiosks and your luggage is wrapped, the check in attendant will ignore what their counter scale says in lieu of the scale certificate.  

 

This *redacted* surprises me less than I feel like it should.

 

I'll mention it to Mr. Thorne, in case SeaTac has one of these things.

[Werkrobotwerk]

2 hours ago, Kangaroorex said:

That's easy.  Try to find a calibration certificate on an airport scale.  They are not regulated and therefore can be off even worse than your bathroom scale.

 

In some US airports and a lot of other countries you will find kiosks whch will wrap and weigh your luggage using a certified scale.  Part of the reason they exist is to ensure that your luggage doesn't get tagged with an overweight charge.  It's been my experience that if you have the certificate from on of these kiosks and your luggage is wrapped, the check in attendant will ignore what their counter scale says in lieu of the scale certificate.  

Rather surprising this hasn't lead to some sort class action suit about their consistent misrepresentation of weight for purposes of assessing extra fees. seems like the existence of the other scale would be all the evidence you'd need.

[Sylverthorne]

1 minute ago, Werkrobotwerk said:

3 hours ago, Kangaroorex said:

That's easy.  Try to find a calibration certificate on an airport scale.  They are not regulated and therefore can be off even worse than your bathroom scale.

 

In some US airports and a lot of other countries you will find kiosks whch will wrap and weigh your luggage using a certified scale.  Part of the reason they exist is to ensure that your luggage doesn't get tagged with an overweight charge.  It's been my experience that if you have the certificate from on of these kiosks and your luggage is wrapped, the check in attendant will ignore what their counter scale says in lieu of the scale certificate.  

Rather surprising this hasn't lead to some sort class action suit about their consistent misrepresentation of weight for purposes of assessing extra fees. seems like the existence of the other scale would be all the evidence you'd need.

 

Mr. Thorne is dubious himself; he said he can't find a recent example of this sort of shenanigans. I'll keep an eye out regardless; keeping them honest shouldn't be this much work.

(the last time, when we flew home, we were a pound over, and the guy at the counter shrugged and said, eh, I'll waive the fee, you're only one pound over.)

[LittleBluberry]

1 hour ago, Sylverthorne said:

 

This *redacted* surprises me less than I feel like it should.

 

I'll mention it to Mr. Thorne, in case SeaTac has one of these things.

 

I didn't notice any scale kiosks at SeaTac, but I do agree that having a self-weigh doo-dad is pretty handy for peace of mind and/or planning purposes.  Generally I don't like to bring an enormous suitcase anyway, and 50 pounds is a hefty amount of weight to lug around.  OneBoot's duffel plan seems pretty sound, though.  

[Kangaroorex]

3 hours ago, Unruly said:

 

So what you're saying is that they need regulations put in place to require that their scales are accurate, because they aren't self-policing and correcting the problem on their own, and thus are using the situation to basically steal from their customers. Gotta love the airlines!

 

1 hour ago, Werkrobotwerk said:

Rather surprising this hasn't lead to some sort class action suit about their consistent misrepresentation of weight for purposes of assessing extra fees. seems like the existence of the other scale would be all the evidence you'd need.

 

18 minutes ago, LittleBluberry said:

 

I didn't notice any scale kiosks at SeaTac, but I do agree that having a self-weigh doo-dad is pretty handy for peace of mind and/or planning purposes.  Generally I don't like to bring an enormous suitcase anyway, and 50 pounds is a hefty amount of weight to lug around.  OneBoot's duffel plan seems pretty sound, though.  

 

Eventually the state boards of weights and measures will recognize that its a profit stream for the airlines and they will require a PM and sealed calibration certificate.  Some states already have.  I have seen a few bright yellow stickers on airport scales. 

Unfortunately it is mandated by the states rather than federal level so there is no universal policy on when this needs to be implemented.

 

 

[knarthex]

15 hours ago, Chaoswolf said:

>runs through the thread as though all the demons of hell were two steps behind<

 

 

MUST PACK EVERYTHING!!!!!

Takky and Demogorgon will be waiting for you...

10 hours ago, Sharky said:

Apropos of nothing, but the staff at the new Warhammer Cafe in Grapevine, TX didn't even blink at the 2006 ReaperCon t-shirt I wore during my visit there today. No trolling involved, I honestly didn't think about what I was wearing until I saw my reflection in a display cabinet. Nice place, BTW. 

 

Sadly, no ReaperCon this year. We'll be busy getting our little Poolee ready for her "vacation" at Parris Island. 

Good luck to her!

Have her read Starship troopers by Heinlein before she goes

Having READ that book got me through basic....

[TheAuldGrump]

16 hours ago, PaganMegan said:

Chicken casserole is smelling much better than I expected.

 

I think I got a false image of casseroles somewhere, since I have liked all the ones I have tried so far, even the ones with tuna.

I need to point out that Megan made this casserole herself - it was not one of mine.

 

And it came out delicious.

 

Slowly but surely, I am convincing her that, yes, she can cook.

 

Plenty of leftovers for dinner tonight, too.

 

The Auld Grump - casserole might as well be why the microwave was invented.

[kristof65]

2 hours ago, Glitterwolf said:

 

On one hand, nice that the guy listens, on the other hand, dude, you should have thought of it yourself it's YOUR job!

I have a distributor tech who's first instinct is to call me for tech support.  I like him, so I don't mind talking to him, but I figured out a long time ago that if I wait 30 minutes before calling him back, he'll usually have it figured out.   
 

1 hour ago, LittleBluberry said:

  Generally I don't like to bring an enormous suitcase anyway, and 50 pounds is a hefty amount of weight to lug around.  OneBoot's duffel plan seems pretty sound, though.  

50 pounds is a lot. 

But I have to carry tools and pars for work, and thanks to the TSA causing my stuff to be damaged three times because they just throw stuff back in the suitcase after inspecting it, I had to move to a large hard sided suitcase. It weighs ten pounds just by itself, and inside that I pack everything else in soft sided zipper bags.  So I am regularly at 40+ pounds when I fly for work between the suitcase and the tools.  I would have preferred to go with two smaller suitcases - one hardsided for my tools & parts, and one soft sided for my other stuff, but the airlines want to charge for that, too. 

[LittleBluberry]

1 minute ago, kristof65 said:

50 pounds is a lot. 

But I have to carry tools and pars for work, and thanks to the TSA causing my stuff to be damaged three times because they just throw stuff back in the suitcase after inspecting it, I had to move to a large hard sided suitcase. It weighs ten pounds just by itself, and inside that I pack everything else in soft sided zipper bags.  So I am regularly at 40+ pounds when I fly for work between the suitcase and the tools.  I would have preferred to go with two smaller suitcases - one hardsided for my tools & parts, and one soft sided for my other stuff, but the airlines want to charge for that, too. 

 

I should probably clarify that while I'm skilled at lifting things that squirm, wiggle and shriek, I'm not particularly strong.  I also do a lot of weekend trips to visit family so I'm pretty good at guessing what I'll actually *need*.  

 

Travelling for work is like the master class for packing skills.  Hubby used to fly out weekly and had it down to a precise routine.  I can only imagine how much more of a hassle it is with a bunch of tools, I assume you've done the TSA Pre-Check thing?  They seem to hassle me less now that they've got my background check and biometrics on file.   

[TheAuldGrump]

The kids took down the brigands quite handily, in spite of four of them being poisoned.

 

And took most of them alive, in the hopes that there will be a reward for capture.

 

Funny, it doesn't look like Mr. Gygax prepared for that eventuality.... (And Sam is crowing that she told them that buying a cart would pay for itself. She gets to pat herself on the back for telling them, and they get to pat themselves on the back for listening.)

 

I have decided that, yes, there is a reward for capture - and that the information obtained from the brigands may lead to further adventure... later.

 

There is only two weeks or so left in this mini-campaign, then it is back to Legacy of Fire.

 

Next week, ghouls and crawdads....

 

The Auld Grump