Randomness XV: 'tis a silly place.

[Chaoswolf 106350]

10 hours ago, TheAuldGrump said:

 

You know how you can use Pepsi to dissolve the rust off of old nails?

 

Coke, too. I never believed that until I did it. I stopped drinking soda shortly after that.

I also did the same thing with 'bug juice' (cool aid) in the Navy. Granted, I mixed a packet with a half bucket of water when it was meant to be mixed with a couple gallons of water, but after it dissolved a few layers of paint, corrosion and rust off some brass fittings and made them 'like new' shiny, I stopped drinking that, too.

[eldamir 6186]

6 minutes ago, Chaoswolf said:

Coke, too. I never believed that until I did it. I stopped drinking soda shortly after that.

I also did the same thing with 'bug juice' (cool aid) in the Navy. Granted, I mixed a packet with a half bucket of water when it was meant to be mixed with a couple gallons of water, but after it dissolved a few layers of paint, corrosion and rust off some brass fittings and made them 'like new' shiny, I stopped drinking that, too.

I had a friend who serviced gas station soda machines as part of his job delivering to the same gas stations. He said that part of regular maintenance was replacing all the feed lines, adapters, nozzles, etc. every month (or maybe every other month) because they corroded to the point of failure in that time...

 

Also, growing up, my dad's primary means of cleaning battery terminals was a coke bath..

[Pingo 108195]

Went round and put this through the mail slots of our ten nearest neighbors:

 

Quote

25 May 2019

 

Hi,

 

We’re your neighbors at <redacted>, the white house with the giant silver maple in the back yard.

 

Unfortunately, the big tree has gotten big enough to be dangerous, and has some rot in it.

 

We hate to see the big old thing go, but for the safety of everyone living under it we have to.

 

We are planning to have it taken down. Our tentative schedule is for a week from this Monday, which is to say Monday, the 3rd of June. The arborists will have a crane set up on the two driveways between our house and the house next door. They have told us it should take six to seven hours.

 

We don’t anticipate there being much trouble, but we wanted to let you know ahead of time. The arborists say they will clear up if anything drops in your yard.

 

Your neighbors,

 

<redacted contact information>

 

The tree is approximately twenty feet in circumference at the base. Migratory birds love stopping here. We’ll be  very sorry to see it go.

[buglips*the*goblin 91972]

13 hours ago, Xiwo Xerase said:

I would love to try that someday.

 

Pacific Candy wholesalers might have them by the case.  Also, apparently Pineapple Crush was once also a local exclusive.  So that vile bile started here before it escaped.  

 

 

[Glitterwolf 163313]

16 hours ago, Chaoswolf said:

I almost got rear-ended just now.

I stopped to wait for the car in front of me to turn into his driveway, and I heard tires screeching from behind me. I glanced up to see the car behind me entirely too close to me, and the car behind them half off the road.

There was a cell phone involved.

Seeing that led to much swearing on my part.

Not a great start to the weekend.

 

Other than that, it's been a good day.

 

 

Let's be thankful you got off with a scare ( and some swearing).

I hate driver's who use their cellphones while driving.

A few seconds can cause someones life.

 

On the Soda front, I hear you, I rarely drink sodas anymore.

Maybe two or three in a year.

I prefer water, tea, coffee and the occasional wine or rum.

 

6 hours ago, Mad Jack said:

 

   This is what "bacon cheese fries" looks like when it grows up - none of that crappy cheese sauce, artificial bacon bits and paper/foam containers, just a regular-sized tin dish (the size chicken parm usually comes in) half-filled with fries, covered in real mozzarella, then filled to the top with fries and more cheese and bacon on it... $9.75 at my local family-owned pizza place.

 

  Hide contents

 

 

 ...And a grilled chicken grinder ($8.75) for my dinner - I put the fries in the fridge for tomorrow, I'll reheat them in the oven....

 

  Hide contents

 

 

 There's a reason that place is one of the busiest and longest-operating businesses in town...

 

 

 

Now that looks yummie!

 

 

 

 

This morning I have been busy to fight some vermin.

 

I placed some ant boxes in the garage ( I've seen too many of them lately).

I have been busy putting steel wool in many little gaps to deny the shrews access to the house.

I placed a few mouse traps.

 

And I sprinkled Cat Repellant in the front yard. 

New neighbours across the street introduced a feline who wants to use our front yard as a toilet.

They're nice young people and they did apologize when I confronted them but the cat is still left out to do as it pleases.

I won't hurt it ( eventhough it's clearly a M.E.O.W agent) but I used a repellant that gives off a scent that scares the cat off.

We don't care much for cat poop when gardening.

I doubt he will try to enter our backyard that's where Brutus is.

 

 

There is another neighbour though who breeds birds, if the little feline starts murdering nests things might get bad though.

Edited May 25 by Glitterwolf

[Doug Sundseth 53488]

1 hour ago, Chaoswolf said:

Coke, too. I never believed that until I did it. I stopped drinking soda shortly after that.

I also did the same thing with 'bug juice' (cool aid) in the Navy. Granted, I mixed a packet with a half bucket of water when it was meant to be mixed with a couple gallons of water, but after it dissolved a few layers of paint, corrosion and rust off some brass fittings and made them 'like new' shiny, I stopped drinking that, too.

 

Why? Don't you want to be shiny too? I want to be shiny.

 

20 minutes ago, buglips*the*goblin said:

Pacific Candy wholesalers might have them by the case.  Also, apparently Pineapple Crush was once also a local exclusive.  So that vile bile started here before it escaped.  

 

Manufacturers who do test marketing like places that are relatively isolated, which is why Denver and I suspect Newfoundland get used for test marketing often. Apparently that test, unlike yummy Habanero Doritos, was actually a success. Which just proves that the universe really is a vile plot. 

[Unruly 30460]

19 minutes ago, Doug Sundseth said:

 

Manufacturers who do test marketing like places that are relatively isolated, which is why Denver and I suspect Newfoundland get used for test marketing often. Apparently that test, unlike yummy Habanero Doritos, was actually a success. Which just proves that the universe really is a vile plot. 

 

Fiery Habanero Doritos were a thing for a while, though it has been almost 15 years. I loved them. They were the best doritos on the market. And I never understood why they killed them off. I even had little kids, like 10 years old, who loved the things. They demanded that any time I babysat I bring a bag

 

And I could swear I saw some kind of habanero doritos around here not too long ago. But it may have been those Takis knockoffs that doritos makes and not true doritos...

[OneBoot 72780]

I think this hotel room secretly hates people. There's a gap in the curtains that perfectly aimed the morning sun (well, daylight at least, this is Seattle after all) at my face, despite the fact that I KNOW I pulled them firmly shut. They have now been...dealt with. 

 

At least the bed is surprisingly comfy; I'm going to find out what brand the mattress is, since ours at home is really getting to the point of needing replacement. 

 

Huzzah! 

--OneBoot :D 

[Darsc Zacal 45998]

15 minutes ago, OneBoot said:

I think this hotel room secretly hates people. There's a gap in the curtains that perfectly aimed the morning sun (well, daylight at least, this is Seattle after all) at my face, despite the fact that I KNOW I pulled them firmly shut. They have now been...dealt with.

The greyness woke you up? 

[Zink 23973]

1 hour ago, Glitterwolf said:

 

 

Let's be thankful you got off with a scare ( and some swearing).

I hate driver's who use their cellphones while driving.

A few seconds can cause someones life.

 

On the Soda front, I hear you, I rarely drink sodas anymore.

Maybe two or three in a year.

I prefer water, tea, coffee and the occasional wine or rum.

 

 

Now that looks yummie!

 

 

 

 

This morning I have been busy to fight some vermin.

 

I placed some ant boxes in the garage ( I've seen too many of them lately).

I have been busy putting steel wool in many little gaps to deny the shrews access to the house.

I placed a few mouse traps.

 

And I sprinkled Cat Repellant in the front yard. 

New neighbours across the street introduced a feline who wants to use our front yard as a toilet.

They're nice young people and they did apologize when I confronted them but the cat is still left out to do as it pleases.

I won't hurt it ( eventhough it's clearly a M.E.O.W agent) but I used a repellant that gives off a scent that scares the cat off.

We don't care much for cat poop when gardening.

I doubt he will try to enter our backyard that's where Brutus is.

 

 

There is another neighbour though who breeds birds, if the little feline starts murdering nests things might get bad though.

 

What do you use for cat repellant? This town is infested with feral cats and the wife isn't happy with them crawling and urinating on her things.

 

1 hour ago, Doug Sundseth said:

 

Why? Don't you want to be shiny too? I want to be shiny.

 

 

I rarely show off my insides so it's not a high priority for me to polish them. A friend of mine drinks coke by the gallons. When people tell him about what it can do he just says that his stomach is stronger acid than the coke so no worries. I'd be more worried about my teeth but he's from eastern Europe where lots of gold or other metal teeth are popular. I don't drink much fizzy stuff anymore and I think 90% of my cola intake is when I'm hanging out with that friend. He loves his rum and coke and if he's pouring I'll drink.

[Glitterwolf 163313]

15 minutes ago, Zink said:

 

What do you use for cat repellant? This town is infested with feral cats and the wife isn't happy with them crawling and urinating on her things.

 

 

Here it's called Kattenschrik ( Cat Scare) it's biological, animal friendly. Clay granules drenched in etherical oils, it smells a bit like garlic but there are other things in there like lavender and Ruta graveolens ).

It seems most cats hate that scent.

 

Now to see if it will work

[redambrosia 69437]

My baby just punched herself in the face so hard she started crying. 

 

It was was so hard not to laugh while I tried to comfort her 

[TripleH 8561]

[TheAuldGrump 40360]

6 hours ago, Pingo said:

 

 

Me too.

 

I didn’t even know sweetened grapefruit juice was a thing until I ordered some at some nasty* chain restaurant on a road trip and discovered I could taste the difference between fructose (or whatever natural sugars are in citrus fruit) and cane sugar. Yuck!

 

 

 

*The sort of place that smells of ground-in cigarette smoke regardless of local laws and when you order “brown rice” you discover it is white rice with brown gravy and the only point is to try to get something with a little nutrition and not too unhealthy to shore you up until you get to where you are going.

Megan really doesn't like grape fruit. Not even ruby red.

 

I am being punished for ordering the new Fire without telling her... By being forced to take her to the beach.

 

The Auld Grump - a punishment I can live with.

[Xiwo Xerase 9195]

9 hours ago, Kangaroorex said:

Sorry to hear that.  I do hope it's corporate and not personal.  Best of luck and I hope your cross plaining ends soon!

This was for my wife's job.

 

My crisis management principles simplified:

 

* Don't panic.

* If possible, know ways the system can fail ahead of time and plan accordingly.

* Crises should be communicated to the appropriate persons immediately.  (Don't give your manager more unexpected surprises than you have to.  Also, your manager may be able to call in people to help that you can't yourself.)

* Designate someone to be responsible for communication and coordination.  (When you're waist deep in crap, you may not have enough cycles to communicate or to think clearly.  Having someone else responsible for this limits interruptions to the investigators and gives them someone to present facts to, who may have a clearer picture of what's going on.)  (In some circumstances, you may need to split communication and coordination between different people.)

* Don't panic.

* Make sure you know what the problem really is before you fix it.  (For example, when a heat pump runs low on coolant, the coils inside the inside unit will ice over.  A simple solution is to add more coolant, but that will only buy you time if the coolant tubes have a leak.)

* Make sure to review the issue and the actions taken after the fact.

* Make sure to establish a plan to prevent recurrences.

* Actually follow through on that plan.

* (That which I say three times it true.) Don't panic.

 

I ended up in the coordinator role last night because the equipment with issues wasn't mine, so I had the spare cycles to research, takes notes, etc.

 

I'm not sure how much more I'm allowed to say.

 

We're going to have to check up on the equipment tonight, tomorrow night, and maybe Monday night.  The joys of things breaking during an extended weekend.