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Pittsburgh has a water park.
We have the Wisconsin Dells, which has 5-30 water parks.
And I guess is very scenic, if you don't want to go to water parks.
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Now THAT'S a scene.
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Don't be fooled, from that angle they always look like scenery.
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Sometimes I love writing my brief descriptions of current events topics on the board. Today's article is about the possibility and potential problems of taxing robots that replace jobs.
I have gotten so many confused questions from English about why I have "robot taxes" up there. It's great.
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So a week or two ago we had an arctic rain move through and I had to crank up the heat just to keep the house over 60. This week we're getting a nice drenching Pineapple Express that's keeping the outdoor temp at a steady 56° so we don't need the heat at all. I'm hoping this is going to get cold enough to snow in the Sierras and give us a decent snow pack, but time will tell...
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I would sell you all for two days above 60 degrees.
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I would sell you all for two days above 60 degrees.
Hell, I'll take above 40.
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49 forecast for tomorrow.
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38 here.
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First dog notices something fascinating about a clump of grass, stops to sniff it intently.
Second dogs pulls relentlessly, hoping to dislocate something or continue moving forward, looks back to see if anything dislocated or why he isn't moving forward notices the first dog and goes back to sniff at the incredibly interesting clump of grass he missed.
Both dogs sniff clump of grass.
First dog loses interest and begins relentlessly pulling, hoping to dislocate something, looks back to see second dog sniffing at the most fascinating clump of grass, goes back.
Both dogs sniff clump of grass, which is even more fascinating then before.
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I would sell you all for two days above 60 degrees.
Today's high in central Illinois is supposed to be 38-40. Tomorrow and Thursday might hit 50. After that we're in the mid 40's for the next week.
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I would sell you all for two days above 60 degrees.
Insanity.
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49 forecast for tomorrow.
better.
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38 here.
MUCH better.
First dog notices something fascinating about a clump of grass, stops to sniff it intently.
Second dogs pulls relentlessly, hoping to dislocate something or continue moving forward, looks back to see if anything dislocated or why he isn't moving forward notices the first dog and goes back to sniff at the incredibly interesting clump of grass he missed.
Both dogs sniff clump of grass.
First dog loses interest and begins relentlessly pulling, hoping to dislocate something, looks back to see second dog sniffing at the most fascinating clump of grass, goes back.
Both dogs sniff clump of grass, which is even more fascinating then before.
Cats.
You need cats.
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I would sell you all for two days above 60 degrees.Today's high in central Illinois is supposed to be 38-40. Tomorrow and Thursday might hit 50. After that we're in the mid 40's for the next week.
I'll take it.
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It's apparently 44* here. But sunny and windless so it feels closer to the low 50s.
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First dog notices something fascinating about a clump of grass, stops to sniff it intently.
Second dogs pulls relentlessly, hoping to dislocate something or continue moving forward, looks back to see if anything dislocated or why he isn't moving forward notices the first dog and goes back to sniff at the incredibly interesting clump of grass he missed.
Both dogs sniff clump of grass.
First dog loses interest and begins relentlessly pulling, hoping to dislocate something, looks back to see second dog sniffing at the most fascinating clump of grass, goes back.
Both dogs sniff clump of grass, which is even more fascinating then before.
Cats.
You need cats.
The General and Crookshanks are both extremely allergic to cats.
The General and Crookshanks are both extremely allergic to cats.First dog notices something fascinating about a clump of grass, stops to sniff it intently.
Second dogs pulls relentlessly, hoping to dislocate something or continue moving forward, looks back to see if anything dislocated or why he isn't moving forward notices the first dog and goes back to sniff at the incredibly interesting clump of grass he missed.
Both dogs sniff clump of grass.
First dog loses interest and begins relentlessly pulling, hoping to dislocate something, looks back to see second dog sniffing at the most fascinating clump of grass, goes back.
Both dogs sniff clump of grass, which is even more fascinating then before.
Cats.
You need cats.
unfortunate.
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I prefer dogs anyway.
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Good boy.
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I prefer dogs anyway.
Dissident confirmed. Garden invasion and marking imminent.
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It's apparently 44* here. But sunny and windless so it feels closer to the low 50s.
I can't conceive of a windless day. We always have wind. Maybe 1-3 days a year do we have no measurable wind. A "windless" day means we have a 5-10 mph breeze all day.
Yeah, there's a reason we have wind farms all over Illinois.
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Pittsburgh has a water park.
Bradford has a sort of concrete lake in the middle of town. It's supposed to be a scenic water feature, but apparently people do wash in it.
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Pittsburgh has a water park.We have the Wisconsin Dells, which has 5-30 water parks.
And I guess is very scenic, if you don't want to go to water parks.
It is very scenic. And expensive. Don't forget the hundreds of mini-golf courses in that area. And the Duck rides. Who can forget the Duck rides?
For the uninitiated - Ducks = Boats on Wheels. These are generally WWII era machines that someone thought would be great for amphibious landings.
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Pirate's Cove mini-golf is the single greatest place there!
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And Xanadu, the house made of foam.
And of course, Tommy Bartlett's ski sky and stage show.
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But yes, huge tourist trap, the whole damn region.
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Oh, there's actually a lot going on in the Dells. It's just more fun to boil it all down to "That place with the Duck rides."
The last time I was there was with my first wife and her family. So...about 17-18 years ago.
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[Grumpy Old Man Tirade]
This afternoon, as I received three packages from Amazon and a package from UPS, I felt that old familiar Christmas-like excitement of, "What's in the box?" Only to be dashed when I found toothpaste, shampoo, Chex Mix, and a bike helmet. Talk about disappointment!
And it made me wax philosophical: In 20 years, when we sit back in our rocking chairs and ask, "What ever happened to brick-and-mortar stores?", my answer isn't going to be "Amazon Prime's free delivery". It's going to be "Store Brands".
CVS is a prime culprit. Just go into a CVS these days and try to get anything you'd normally get at a drug store: Band-Aids, cold medicine, a notepad, or whatnot. Inevitably, you won't be able to find a brand name version of what you want, but instead the CVS-branded stuff. And it SUCKS! The reason I'm picking on CVS is that we've bought their adhesive bandages (fall off within an hour), their thermometers (not accurate to within 4 degrees), and their cold medicine (did not relieve any symptoms) to the point that if it says CVS on it, we won't buy it. ACE Hardware is exactly the same: A litany of fail, all focused on providing a cheaper in-house alternative to name brands...then FAILING TO CARRY THE NAME BRANDS.
So we won't buy CVS or ACE branded stuff any more. I've even told managers at both establishments this. But corporate continues to force them to use more and more shelf space for store-branded stuff, to the point that they no longer have space for the name brands. As a result, we just don't shop at CVS or ACE any more; we can't get name brands, and the store brands are crap.
So I'm getting toothpaste and shampoo from Amazon, and my local brick-and-mortar store is going out of business. For me, it isn't price. It's just getting a product that isn't crap.
Is that too much to ask any more?
[/Grumpy Old Man Tirade]
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As a rule we generally don't buy store branded stuff, with a few exceptions.
Target brand diapers for instance are actually better than Pampers and Huggies.
Not that we buy a lot of diapers these days.
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As a rule we generally don't buy store branded stuff, with a few exceptions.
Target brand diapers for instance are actually better than Pampers and Huggies.
Not that we buy a lot of diapers these days.
But... but... what about your cosplay?
EDIT: And yeah, we found that the non-food Target stuff wasn't bad, but our local Target is immense and actually has room to carry many of the name brands... but as a result they're always sold out. It's one of my HUGE frustrations with chain stores. A good example is Impus Minor. He won't eat all-natural peanut butter (just peanuts and salt) (much to my chagrin, since I love the stuff), but he at least likes "Simply Jif", which is the processed peanut butter but with reduced sugar. Unfortunately, he's not alone. So it is uniformly sold out at ALL of our local stores: Two Safeways and a Target. Yet corporate mandates that they give equal shelf space to low-fat Jif (nobody buys it), chunky Jif (ditto), and so forth. So every week there's a rush to buy out the low-sugar Jif because it's the only Jif that sells, and the stores can't adjust for it.
So I have to order it online... and the cycle continues...
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Huh. I like store brand stuff. I was raised to always pick the cheapest option (on account of being dirt poor) so I didn't even really realize non generic things were even an option until I got to college. With some exceptions. When even the poor folks won't buy the generic of something you know it's bad. (looking at you, store brand velveeta, yeeech....the brand name is just barely food as is) Now I have to get name brands on some things on account of allergies, but I still buy a lot of store brand stuff. Never had a problem with it. Still buy a bunch on Amazon because specialty product, cheaper to buy online, or just don't like carrying it home from the store....laziness is a perfectly valid reason to order something! ;)
And everyone knows to never get store brand band-aids. It's like velveeta. Always buy a name brand. I prefer Nexcare myself. Which they do still carry at CVS. I know because that's where I bought it last. :P
Edit: Apparently the benefit of living in the midwest instead of California is that I don't have to compete for normal things like simply Jif and so on....that is seriously so weird. Here I'm like the only person who even buys that stuff. :)
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My experience, as seems to be the case with anything that involves money, is 100% the opposite of nobody's. I use store brands all the time and it has been so long since I bought stuff under name-brand if an off-brand option is available. The reduced price is of course the primary selling point for me, but also the problems you've seemed to have with off-brand stuff not living up to expectations is something I've not personally experienced all that often.
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And ninjad by Lynora. Her experience pretty strongly mirrors my own in almost all ways.
I would not hsve afforded to survive my college years without store brands.
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[Grumpy Old Man Tirade]
This afternoon, as I received three packages from Amazon and a package from UPS, I felt that old familiar Christmas-like excitement of, "What's in the box?" Only to be dashed when I found toothpaste, shampoo, Chex Mix, and a bike helmet. Talk about disappointment!
And it made me wax philosophical: In 20 years, when we sit back in our rocking chairs and ask, "What ever happened to brick-and-mortar stores?", my answer isn't going to be "Amazon Prime's free delivery". It's going to be "Store Brands".CVS is a prime culprit. Just go into a CVS these days and try to get anything you'd normally get at a drug store: Band-Aids, cold medicine, a notepad, or whatnot. Inevitably, you won't be able to find a brand name version of what you want, but instead the CVS-branded stuff. And it SUCKS! The reason I'm picking on CVS is that we've bought their adhesive bandages (fall off within an hour), their thermometers (not accurate to within 4 degrees), and their cold medicine (did not relieve any symptoms) to the point that if it says CVS on it, we won't buy it. ACE Hardware is exactly the same: A litany of fail, all focused on providing a cheaper in-house alternative to name brands...then FAILING TO CARRY THE NAME BRANDS.
So we won't buy CVS or ACE branded stuff any more. I've even told managers at both establishments this. But corporate continues to force them to use more and more shelf space for store-branded stuff, to the point that they no longer have space for the name brands. As a result, we just don't shop at CVS or ACE any more; we can't get name brands, and the store brands are crap.
So I'm getting toothpaste and shampoo from Amazon, and my local brick-and-mortar store is going out of business. For me, it isn't price. It's just getting a product that isn't crap.
Is that too much to ask any more?
[/Grumpy Old Man Tirade]
it's a question as old as time- do I need soap, or do I need Ivory? Do I need soda or do I need Coke? Do I need asprin or do I need Asprin? Is copyright the same as quality?
Different answer for everyone.
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I usually don't have problems with store brands. There are a few things I insist on name brands for. Soda, for one. I only get Sam's Choice if we are broke now. Clothing is another, after having 3 brand new pairs of jeans rip in the same week a decade ago. And toilet paper, because I have to wipe my ass with that single-ply sandpaper enough at work. But stuff like band-aids? Meh. Half the time we don't even have them in the house and I wind up using tissues and duct tape.
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Yeah, I'm with the other generic heathens. I'm not paying 50 cents extra for Rice Crispies when I can buy the functionally identical Crisp Rice.
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I usually don't have problems with store brands. There are a few things I insist on name brands for. Soda, for one. I only get Sam's Choice if we are broke now. Clothing is another, after having 3 brand new pairs of jeans rip in the same week a decade ago. And toilet paper, because I have to wipe my ass with that single-ply sandpaper enough at work. But stuff like band-aids? Meh. Half the time we don't even have them in the house and I wind up using tissues and duct tape.
o.O
Yeah, that's too DIY even for me. :P
Definitely keep Bandaids in the house. In various sizes. Because we're all a bunch of klutzes. :)
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Well, its not so much that we don't have them as we can't find them. Probably about 30% of the time they wind up in my wife's purse of the month and left in the trunk of the car. About 60% of the time they turn up weeks after we needed them and only 10% are we truly out.
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I think it may be a difference between what we're talking about, because for example, at ACE I had:
While at CVS I had:
So for me it wasn't, "This stuff isn't as good," it was, quite literally, "This stuff does not work for the purpose for which I bought it."
That's not "saving money", that's, "This does not function."
EDIT: In terms of foodstuffs, we've rarely had incidents. NobodysWife and I lived on the generic cereals they sold at the Nugget Market in Davis. But Lucerne anything is unacceptable, and I was rather astonished when I snuck some Target mandarin orange slices into Impus Major's lunch (the individual packets are unlabeled and look identical) and he brought it home and said, "Dad, I think these are spoiled. They taste all chemically."
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I *do* have to laugh at the TP comment, though. For both paper towels and TP, I insisted on going through EVERY brand, both commercial and generic, because toilet paper is just too important to cheap out on. (We finally decided on Charmin Ultra, but I'm sure tastes vary.)
But in general, back to Freehold's comment, I am definitely an, "I don't care what it says on the label; I just want it to WORK" guy. But in the last 10 years or so, more and more often I've found many store-brand items that simply do not function for their purpose, be they soap, or lighters, or tools, or what-have-you. Hence I have grown a healthy mistrust of all things store-brand that serve a functional purpose. (I'm intentionally excluding food because that's entered the discussion, and I know there are a LOT of great store-brand foods out there.)
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Yeah, for those kinds of problems NH, I don't blame you. I shop almost exclusively at Walmart though, so if things are that bad, I just take it back for a refund/exchange.
Edit: For our toilet paper, we get Cottonelle Ultra. It's not quite as expensive as wiping ourselves with dollar bills, but its worth it.
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True NobodysHome Fact: I do not believe I have ever been inside a Walmart.
(It's not some snobbery thing -- they can't afford real estate prices around here so there are none nearby, and usually when we're on road trips I'm dealing with the car and the kids if NobodysWife has to go into one.)
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I worked at Walmart for the better part of the past decade, so I know the store inside and out, and it is the cheapest place to shop in town unless there's a sale going on.