One good side effect of this, is that I updated the motherboard/integrated gfx drivers because for some inscrutable reason, the intel updater fails to download them, and you have to do it manually (apparently that's an issue that have been happening to the firmware drivers of this series of motherboards for months if not a year or more).
I might be able to get Radeon RX 6600 later this month...
If it will be in a shop nearby.
Now, how do I check if it will actually work with my motherboard?!
I might be able to get Radeon RX 6600 later this month...
If it will be in a shop nearby.
Now, how do I check if it will actually work with my motherboard?!
The PCI version. It's a power hog at 132W but claims to need only one 8-pin connector and some Reddit posts say it works fine with a PCI 3.0 slot. So just check your power supply and your PCI support.
Now comes the interesting, "exciting" part of the day. We peaked at 103°F at only 75°F in the house, but now I get to see whether the outside gets below 80 or the inside gets above 80 first...
I have PCI-e x16... allegedly you can connect x8 to a x16 slot, but I want to verify that before making decision.
I am worried about the power supply, though...
Hmmm, the power supply is 300 W...
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*SIGH* 'Tis the season for NobodysHome crankiness.
I used to love Halloween, first as a kid getting dressed up in my mother's terrible homemade costumes and going out and getting candy (a good 50% of which my mother would then throw out as being "suspect"), then as a teenager hanging out with my friends and going after bag snatchers and other unsavory sorts, and then as an adult who no longer had to dress up but who could give out full-sized candy bars to neighborhood kids and watch their faces light up.
Unfortunately, the combination of childhood entitlement and disposable fashion have ruined Halloween for me. As I've written, if I dare to give out full-sized candy bars I end up with tweens coming to my house multiple times and out-and-out lying to me trying to coerce more candy, then getting angry with me when I call them out on their lies. We tried a tentative session last year with normal, run-of-the-mill candy crap that every other house gives out and the turnout was dismal, but at least all the kids were polite.
Now comes this year where GothBard has been invited to a "theme party" this weekend where you're supposed to "come as your favorite witch". "Oh, it's no problem! We can just stop by the Halloween Store and get you a costume!"
Disposable consumerism at its worst. Nobody stops to ponder who made that costume, which would be someone working under conditions that would be illegal anywhere in the United States or European Union. Nor how the costume got to the United States, which would be on a container ship not subject to any environmental laws of any of said countries. Nor where the costume goes when you throw it out after that single use, because it's not made of anything remotely biodegradable.
But those are the kinds of things I think about, yet somehow, "I'd be happy to come, but I'd prefer not to wear a costume," is not an acceptable response. "You can afford one! Heck, I'll even buy you one!"
SOOOOO beside the point...
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Ugh. Preach it! I try to make my clothes last and seek out natural fibres wherever I can, so fast fashion (or worse) and I don’t get along at all. That reminds me that I should put my crank hat on and write a series of letters to my MP with radical ideas to bring the industry to heel.
I love Hallowe’en immensely, even if I’m not sociable or energetic enough to have much occasion to dress up, so bearing my social and environmental concerns around textiles in mind, when I have dressed up recently, it’s been in costumes that aren’t too out there to reuse as mostly regular clothing.
My overall aesthetic probably skews to granola witch, generally, so that helps. In contrast to that, one of my most costume-y costumes in recent years, compared to my usual outfits, was some low-key cosplay of Max Caulfield from Life is Strange (in her mean girl / hipster incarnation from that one alternate universe episode), so bits and pieces of that will resurface when I want to wear something that is a bit less, “I spent my morning foraging in the woods.” :)
Anyway, absolutely: no disposable tat destined for landfill extracted mercilessly from the poor sods making it!
(I am still looking for a proper pointy hat made of responsible material, I must confess, but then, as I said, the line between “Qunnessaa dressed up for Hallowe’en and/or to be accused before the village elders” and “Tuesday” is probably all but invisible at this point.)
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Oh, I have an old Bacchus toga and grapevine lying around, and I'll read up on druidism vs. wicca and be a right PITA about the whole thihg.
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Scint's post on "learned helplessness" really resonated with me, and I've been going out of my way to point it out to the family (with mixed success).
But watching just how utterly insane it's become on phone apps is terrifying.
NobodysHome's Phone: The Messages+ app is being retired in November. You must switch to Google Chat.
NobodysHome: . Fine. Switch me.
It. Is. Bad.
"Google chat needs access to your camera, your file system, your location data, and your entire messaging history in order to work on this phone."
"We noticed you started trying to send a message so we've turned on AI assist for you."
"We noticed you were deleting a lot of threads so we moved them to the archives for you instead so you won't lose them."
"This contact looks like spam. Should we delete them?"
No. Stop. Trying. To. Do. ANYTHING.
Just. Fricking. Send. The. Messages. I. Type.
Why is that so hard?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Back yard neighbors lose 1 demerit (gain 1 merit?).
Went outside and Fluffernutter was happily snoozing under the apple tree, but her harness was in a bizarre state. Followed it and it led to a hole in the fence into back yard neighbor's yard and was tangled in a clump of grass.
So it's possible that she did that whole mess on her own and somehow detached the lead from the harness, but that would be an Impressive Kitty Trick. It's far more likely she got stuck in the neighbor's yard and they freed her up so she could run back into our yard.
Yes, freeing a cat that's obviously on a harness and leash without telling the cats' owners is an a*****e move. But freeing a cat that's in obvious distress is a compassionate move, and I'll give 'em a net plus for the day on that one.
"The people of Salem used their religious ways to condom witches."
I need to go home.
Well, I recall being told that, if you wanted to record something under the surface of the water, the thing to do was to put a prophylactic over your microphone, so maybe they were Sorcerous, Malignant 58s.
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Oh, I have an old Bacchus toga and grapevine lying around, and I'll read up on druidism vs. wicca and be a right PITA about the whole thihg.
Terrible cultural history nerd tangent: for extra spite, I would be tempted to try to recreate some of the more, er, let’s say, imaginative reconstructions of what druids were like from earlier periods of Celtomania.
Ron Hutton (who’s a lot of fun!) mentions – I think in Blood and Mistletoe – a visionary fellow who lectured Victorian(?) audiences about the ‘wisdom of the Druids’ or the like, in his apparently earnest attempt at authentic costume. IIRC, it was marked with supposed druidic runes, but to paraphrase the good professor, the audiences were more interested in why he was addressing them in his (rather peculiarly decorated) underwear. If one had an old-fashioned combination / union suit / onesie that wouldn’t be missed, or some impermanent / washable markers…
“What do you mean? I’m obviously a druid!”
…
I may be a terrible person. And, unfortunately, I was absolutely the sort of kid that asked her Mum for weird costumes based on whatever books she was reading at the time. At least it led to some fun conversations while trick-or-treating!
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My "proudest parent" moment was when the Impii were 7 and 4, respectively, and Impus Major said, "I know! I want to go as King Arthur, and Impus Minor can be Sir Robin, and you can be the guy who carries all our stuff!"
So we had our complete homemade Monty Python and the Holy Grail kit on, and it was amazing to see how many people recognized us and fawned over the costumes vs. how many people asked, "Who the heck are you supposed to be?" (The former was an astonishing 80-90% of people over 30, while the latter was almost everyone under 30.)
The problem with attracting large numbers of furry guests to your back yard is what to do during our annual heat wave.
For a week in late September/early October, we get a 90-100°F heat wave and we need to manage the house carefully, as air conditioning is virtually nonexistent around here. (A news article recently listed all the local schools with no air conditioning, and I certainly remember how miserable it was when I was going to high school during these heat waves and sitting in an unconditioned concrete building in 96°F weather.)
So you quickly learn the solution: All windows and curtains wide open all night, seal up everything in the morning the moment the outside temperature climbs to above the inside temperature.
EXCEPT, in the morning it would be fantastic to open our French doors into the back yard to perform some massive cooling of the house. We could harness up the cats indoors with no issues. But we've attracted so many other critters that our kitchen would quickly become populated by curious raccoons, skunks, and possibly opossums. While I don't mind them in my yard, I don't want them in my kitchen. So the French doors stay closed and I lose a few degrees of cooling...
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EXCEPT, in the morning it would be fantastic to open our French doors into the back yard to perform some massive cooling of the house. We could harness up the cats indoors with no issues. But we've attracted so many other critters that our kitchen would quickly become populated by curious raccoons, skunks, and possibly opossums. While I don't mind them in my yard, I don't want them in my kitchen. So the French doors stay closed and I lose a few degrees of cooling...
(whatever that might be)
Also, why are you excluding possibility of crows visiting your kitchen? They might find something tasty... Or shiny!
Also, why are you excluding possibility of crows visiting your kitchen? They might find something tasty... Or shiny!
Crows don't typically fly in the pitch blackness. There are collision issues...
It is *sooooooo* exhausting not calling out idiots to their faces that sometimes I vent here.
Global Megacorporation's annual compliance training: "You MUST NOT use freeware on your Global Megacorporation computer because it violates their license agreements and makes us liable for your misdeeds."
Seriously, it's so bad it's a fireable offense, and Global Megacorporation has been successfully sued in the past for its employees using unlicensed software.
Global Megacorporation's software management tool: "You MUST NOT use any software not on this list for work purposes."
Every week on Slack: "Hi! I saw that <this approved software> requires a license and I don't have one, so can anyone recommend any free software I can use to do my job?"
Grr....
EDIT: It's not so much, "I'm going to pirate software that might get my employer in trouble," it's, "I'm going to announce on a public forum that I want to pirate software that might get my employer in trouble."
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I sometimes forget that people can't read my mind and therefore jump to the wrong conclusion.
"Hey, [coworker], do you know of any short stories about stalking off-hand?"
"...I'm putting together a POI for forensics about parasocial relationships gone wrong, and I need some prose to go with the poems and plays I've found."
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Well, it's not a short story, but Misery should do the job.
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Global Megacorporation's software management tool: "You MUST NOT use any software not on this list for work purposes."
Also Global Megacorporation "You must complete this task that requires you to use software not on this list"
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Global Megacorporation's software management tool: "You MUST NOT use any software not on this list for work purposes."
Also Global Megacorporation "You must complete this task that requires you to use software not on this list"
Ah, you've lived the corporate life, I see...
So yes, getting an essential bit of work-related software approved is a nightmare. But it's one of those nightmares that I at least understand: Most companies with over 10,000 employees have gotten fined/sued/had PR disasters because the employees think that it's perfectly OK to find and use any software that they can download and click through the license agreement. So they're incredibly rigid in that regard.
The problem arises because every employee has their "favorite" productivity program and they ask their company to license it, which isn't feasible for both logistic and financial reasons.
So you end up with a rigid list of fixed software and a monolithic intransigent IT department whose initial answer is always, "No."
And as always, if people were sensible and only requested essentials, and IT departments tested and approved those essentials, life would be MUCH better.
But expecting people to be sensible? "I use Discord at home without any trouble so I want it on my work computer! Screw Slack!"
Ain't gonna happen.
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Worse. State worker
Apparently I had unfulfilled quota of annoying morons for this year. Let's hope today caps it.
When I was finishing he approached me again and started talking some more but I ignored him while he was walking away.
Such interactions always annoy the hell out of me, because my body immediately goes on the edge of fight or flight mode. And I am both lousy fighter and crap when it comes to running.
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My favorite response to that is to keel over start hacking "anti..biotic.. resistant.. cough. cough.. tuberculosis....."
Not the only time I've made someone scream running away but definitely the most deserved!
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My favorite response to that is to keel over start hacking "anti..biotic.. resistant.. cough. cough.. tuberculosis....."
Not the only time I've made someone scream running away but definitely the most deserved!
I lack the presence of mind and composure to improvise something funny when suddenly confronted with unexpected circumstances.
Apparently I had unfulfilled quota of annoying morons for this year. Let's hope today caps it.
** spoiler omitted **
I've always worried about running into such morons when traveling to certain parts of the country, but I have yet to encounter one. You have my sympathy.
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Well, that was abjectly depressing.
Today's menu was supposed to be chicken soup, but no one could make it to the store and with Impus Minor's annual physical and Impus Major's late day, I didn't have a car to drive nor time to walk for an Andronico's run before I had to put the soup on over lunch.
Well, GothBard woke up sick and said she'd really appreciate chicken soup tonight, so I dared the corner store.
I have literally never seen a worse produce section in my life. The loose carrots were brown and you could bend them into a U shape without an issue. Every loose green was wilted to the point of being softer than a Nerf football. The prepackaged green beans had obvious mold in them. There wasn't a single green vegetable that I would have fed to my most-disliked in-laws.
After careful searching, I found one decent onion, a prepackaged bag of carrots near its end of life but not beyond it, a barely-acceptable bunch of celery, and a few decent potatoes. Enough to make the soup. But as I warned GothBard, "There will be no green vegetables, I'm going to have to throw out the carrots and celery once they've flavored the broth, and I have no idea how many of those potatoes will actually be usable, so this really is going to be 'chicken' soup and little else."
Maybe I have some noodles lying around.
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I've always worried about running into such morons when traveling to certain parts of the country, but I have yet to encounter one. You have my sympathy.Apparently I had unfulfilled quota of annoying morons for this year. Let's hope today caps it.
** spoiler omitted **
When I was standing in a queue for the first dose of COVID vaccine, in May 2021, some random guy come to the queue and started asking incredulously "Are you really here of your own will?"
Sadly, the proper quip came to me too late, after that guy ran off..
Funny, how after the Russian invasion on Ukraine in 2022, and wave after wave of sanctions that cut off flow of Rubles, the various anti-vax, pandemic-denying trolls became much less visible... As if someone stopped funding them. Sadly, too many morons already influenced by them are still here.
Well, that was abjectly depressing.
Today's menu was supposed to be chicken soup, but no one could make it to the store and with Impus Minor's annual physical and Impus Major's late day, I didn't have a car to drive nor time to walk for an Andronico's run before I had to put the soup on over lunch.
Well, GothBard woke up sick and said she'd really appreciate chicken soup tonight, so I dared the corner store.
I have literally never seen a worse produce section in my life. The loose carrots were brown and you could bend them into a U shape without an issue. Every loose green was wilted to the point of being softer than a Nerf football. The prepackaged green beans had obvious mold in them. There wasn't a single green vegetable that I would have fed to my most-disliked in-laws.
After careful searching, I found one decent onion, a prepackaged bag of carrots near its end of life but not beyond it, a barely-acceptable bunch of celery, and a few decent potatoes. Enough to make the soup. But as I warned GothBard, "There will be no green vegetables, I'm going to have to throw out the carrots and celery once they've flavored the broth, and I have no idea how many of those potatoes will actually be usable, so this really is going to be 'chicken' soup and little else."
Maybe I have some noodles lying around.
That might end tasting like sadness. :/
...veggie stuff...That might end tasting like sadness. :/
There's a strong reason Californians are foodies: a little-known fact is that California is the 5th-largest supplier of food in the world. (Technically, "food, cotton fiber, and other agricultural commodities", but I've never seen a cotton field here.)
When I was a kid, I was baffled by catalogs where you could send fresh fruit to your friends. "Why wouldn't you just go to the store?" Back in the 1970s shipping hadn't been so modernized that fresh fruit reached the Midwestern states in winter, so as Shiro can attest, fresh fruit in winter was a marvel. Not for us; it was always the norm.
So managing to stock a California store less than 2 hours from the Central Valley with rotting fruits and vegetables takes a special kind of incompetence. I could literally drive for 2 hours, load up my car with wholesale fruits and vegetables fresh off the farm, and bring a few hundred pounds back to the store. So the laziness is astonishing.
Diablo IV is 50% off... Hahahah. NO.
I played it. Not worth it.
Meh. Sadly, the ratio of reviews of God Of War: Ragnarok went into the 'mostly positive' region. So much for showing Sony that their data theft won't be accepted...
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I've always worried about running into such morons when traveling to certain parts of the country, but I have yet to encounter one. You have my sympathy.Apparently I had unfulfilled quota of annoying morons for this year. Let's hope today caps it.
** spoiler omitted **
I'll be honest, the only one I don't understand are people that wear a mask when they're driving alone.
Not that I'd say anything to them, it's just weird.
Scint's post on "learned helplessness" really resonated with me, and I've been going out of my way to point it out to the family (with mixed success).
But watching just how utterly insane it's become on phone apps is terrifying.
NobodysHome's Phone: The Messages+ app is being retired in November. You must switch to Google Chat.
NobodysHome: . Fine. Switch me.It. Is. Bad.
"Google chat needs access to your camera, your file system, your location data, and your entire messaging history in order to work on this phone."
"We noticed you started trying to send a message so we've turned on AI assist for you."
"We noticed you were deleting a lot of threads so we moved them to the archives for you instead so you won't lose them."
"This contact looks like spam. Should we delete them?"No. Stop. Trying. To. Do. ANYTHING.
Just. Fricking. Send. The. Messages. I. Type.
Why is that so hard?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Not a fan of removing messages myself.
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I've always worried about running into such morons when traveling to certain parts of the country, but I have yet to encounter one. You have my sympathy.Apparently I had unfulfilled quota of annoying morons for this year. Let's hope today caps it.
** spoiler omitted **
I'll be honest, the only one I don't understand are people that wear a mask when they're driving alone.
Not that I'd say anything to them, it's just weird.
The only time I do it is when I'm hauling bags of weeds to the composting facility, because of my pollen allergies.
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"Working in the office is critical for networking with your peers."
The first Curriculum Developer hire in 7 years just opened. "Canada, Mexico, or India."
Yeah, somehow I don't think going to my local office is going to somehow make me MORE sociable with the new hire. Just sayin'...
The only time I do it is when I'm hauling bags of weeds to the composting facility, because of my pollen allergies.I've always worried about running into such morons when traveling to certain parts of the country, but I have yet to encounter one. You have my sympathy.Apparently I had unfulfilled quota of annoying morons for this year. Let's hope today caps it.
** spoiler omitted **
I'll be honest, the only one I don't understand are people that wear a mask when they're driving alone.
Not that I'd say anything to them, it's just weird.
Wasn't/isn't the guidance from thems that know to fiddle with one's mask as little as possible? I'm guessing folks might just figure they might as well keep it on while they go from point A to B?
... And now I'm wondering what distance an average person drives in a day. My father, bless his heart, insisted on spending hours in gridlock commuting to work downtown before he retired, even though we lived in the suburbs just over the bridge, so he didn't actually go that far. Which is to wonder, indirectly, if folks that mask up even when driving alone don't expect to be driving for long.
...veggie stuff...That might end tasting like sadness. :/There's a strong reason Californians are foodies: a little-known fact is that California is the 5th-largest supplier of food in the world. (Technically, "food, cotton fiber, and other agricultural commodities", but I've never seen a cotton field here.)
When I was a kid, I was baffled by catalogs where you could send fresh fruit to your friends. "Why wouldn't you just go to the store?" Back in the 1970s shipping hadn't been so modernized that fresh fruit reached the Midwestern states in winter, so as Shiro can attest, fresh fruit in winter was a marvel. Not for us; it was always the norm.
So managing to stock a California store less than 2 hours from the Central Valley with rotting fruits and vegetables takes a special kind of incompetence. I could literally drive for 2 hours, load up my car with wholesale fruits and vegetables fresh off the farm, and bring a few hundred pounds back to the store. So the laziness is astonishing.
intriguing.
... And now I'm wondering what distance an average person drives in a day. My father, bless his heart, insisted on spending hours in gridlock commuting to work downtown before he retired, even though we lived in the suburbs just over the bridge, so he didn't actually go that far. Which is to wonder, indirectly, if folks that mask up even when driving alone don't expect to be driving for long...
Wow... I think that is so dependent on location and circumstance that I don't think there's a rational concept of "average distance" or even "average time" here. As house prices climbed pre-COVID, many people we knew moved out as far as Tracy to commute to San Francisco, which is just over 60 miles and 90-120 minutes each way. So they commuted around 125 miles a day and averaged a little over 3 hours.
Shiro was in Fremont commuting to Santa Clara, one of the worst corridors in the country. His commute was 12 miles, but typically took an hour, and sometimes up to 3 hours. So he commuted around 25 miles a day and averaged about 2.5 hours
So even in my area the notion of "average distance" didn't mean a heck of a lot, and "average time" was far more standardized (almost everyone I knew had a commute between 45 and 90 minutes each way), but there were still significant variations.
intriguing....veggie stuff...That might end tasting like sadness. :/There's a strong reason Californians are foodies: a little-known fact is that California is the 5th-largest supplier of food in the world. (Technically, "food, cotton fiber, and other agricultural commodities", but I've never seen a cotton field here.)
When I was a kid, I was baffled by catalogs where you could send fresh fruit to your friends. "Why wouldn't you just go to the store?" Back in the 1970s shipping hadn't been so modernized that fresh fruit reached the Midwestern states in winter, so as Shiro can attest, fresh fruit in winter was a marvel. Not for us; it was always the norm.
So managing to stock a California store less than 2 hours from the Central Valley with rotting fruits and vegetables takes a special kind of incompetence. I could literally drive for 2 hours, load up my car with wholesale fruits and vegetables fresh off the farm, and bring a few hundred pounds back to the store. So the laziness is astonishing.
For reasons beyond my understanding, I've learned a lot about groceries. Fresh fruits and vegetables are typically a loss leader at a store, or barely a profit-maker. The entire purpose of stocking excellent produce is to bring in the customers to buy other things. So since the corner store went big on a huge liquor, cigarette, and lottery section, I think they decided exactly which clientele they were most interested in.
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Workplace message:
"I am a grain of maize in the obstructed intestines of Kraków."
I.e. a coworker noting on the messenger that he will be about an half an hour late for a planned YT-captions-adding training session.
my commute is just a bit over 60 miles, one way, and the drive is fine for the first 2/3 of the trip.
and then i hit the Memphis metro area.
ugh.
i've been in bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic on I-10 in LA. i've been stuck in a mile-long queue behind a [redacted] Penske truck driver in the fast lane on the same interstate heading into Jacksonville, FL. i've navigated St. Louis, Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, Kansas Cities, and Indianapolis during rush hour, as well. oh, and Nashville.
the only thing that surpasses the Memphis metro area on the idiot-meter, for me, is the I-70 corridor between St. Louis and KC. though that's more historical anecdote than 40-45 minutes of drive time five days each week.
there appears to be something quintessential about Memphis that implodes sound reasoning of both the regular commuters and the "folks just passing through". the roads there are maddening simply because everyone is trying so hard to just get off of them. which on the one hand i completely understand, but on the other recognize it worsens the scenario.
i look forward to the day i no longer make that trip just to earn a few bucks.
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way back in the day, a family friend would always send us a box of Pittman & Davis grapefruit for the holidays. it was a special treat for us; i loved it.
i've always found it amazing how much produce California generates annually. hats off to agricultural enterprise!
my commute is just a bit over 60 miles, one way, and the drive is fine for the first 2/3 of the trip.
and then i hit the Memphis metro area.
ugh.
i've been in bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic on I-10 in LA. i've been stuck in a mile-long queue behind a [redacted] Penske truck driver in the fast lane on the same interstate heading into Jacksonville, FL. i've navigated St. Louis, Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, Kansas Cities, and Indianapolis during rush hour, as well. oh, and Nashville.
the only thing that surpasses the Memphis metro area on the idiot-meter, for me, is the I-70 corridor between St. Louis and KC. though that's more historical anecdote than 40-45 minutes of drive time five days each week.
there appears to be something quintessential about Memphis that implodes sound reasoning of both the regular commuters and the "folks just passing through". the roads there are maddening simply because everyone is trying so hard to just get off of them. which on the one hand i completely understand, but on the other recognize it worsens the scenario.
i look forward to the day i no longer make that trip just to earn a few bucks.
What amazes me around here and L.A. is that on commute days, the bumper-to-bumper traffic is amazingly polite. Signal to change lanes? The first guy will cut you off. The second is about a 50/50 chance. But the third guy'll let you in, almost guaranteed. There's some stupidity, but all in all people have learned that choosing a lane and sticking to it is better for you, your stress levels, and the commute as a whole, as is not trying to be a monster to everyone around you.
Then comes the weekend. When you learn that truly bad commute drivers are all about. I hate to get on any freeway in the area on a weekend.
way back in the day, a family friend would always send us a box of Pittman & Davis grapefruit for the holidays. it was a special treat for us; i loved it.
i've always found it amazing how much produce California generates annually. hats off to agricultural enterprise!
The sad thing is what it's doing to the state. Look up "groundwater loss in California". The floor of the Central Valley has sunk 50 FEET over the last couple of decades as big agribusiness pumps every available drop into their crops.
We're an agricultural powerhouse now, but unless agribusiness focuses on sustainability and using only the available water, we may well be a desert in only 20-30 years.
For reasons beyond my understanding, I've learned a lot about groceries. Fresh fruits and vegetables are typically a loss leader at a store, or barely a profit-maker. The entire purpose of stocking excellent produce is to bring in the customers to buy other things. So since the corner store went big on a huge liquor, cigarette, and lottery section, I think they decided exactly which clientele they were most interested in.intriguing....veggie stuff...That might end tasting like sadness. :/There's a strong reason Californians are foodies: a little-known fact is that California is the 5th-largest supplier of food in the world. (Technically, "food, cotton fiber, and other agricultural commodities", but I've never seen a cotton field here.)
When I was a kid, I was baffled by catalogs where you could send fresh fruit to your friends. "Why wouldn't you just go to the store?" Back in the 1970s shipping hadn't been so modernized that fresh fruit reached the Midwestern states in winter, so as Shiro can attest, fresh fruit in winter was a marvel. Not for us; it was always the norm.
So managing to stock a California store less than 2 hours from the Central Valley with rotting fruits and vegetables takes a special kind of incompetence. I could literally drive for 2 hours, load up my car with wholesale fruits and vegetables fresh off the farm, and bring a few hundred pounds back to the store. So the laziness is astonishing.
We have a few local greengrocers who seem to be doing alright, and the prices aren't that different to the supermarket . Probably not as lucrative as cigs 'n' booze, though, with cigarettes at around £20 for 20 nowadays.
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... And now I'm wondering what distance an average person drives in a day. My father, bless his heart, insisted on spending hours in gridlock commuting to work downtown before he retired, even though we lived in the suburbs just over the bridge, so he didn't actually go that far. Which is to wonder, indirectly, if folks that mask up even when driving alone don't expect to be driving for long...Wow... I think that is so dependent on location and circumstance that I don't think there's a rational concept of "average distance" or even "average time" here. ...
We like irrational and imaginary numbers here! Or, yeah, even as I posted I thought to myself, “This is an ill-posed question, as the mathematicians would say.” :p
I am half-curious, though, despite how much variance there is. I’m guessing that how much time people are willing to spend on the road is the main limit, while how far an hour or so on the road gets you varies drastically based on particular routes and areas. Isn’t sorting, filtering, and organizing that kind of complicated but sort of useful data what fancy machine learning / “AI” is supposed to be for, as opposed to, say, generating cruddy “art” to clog up the intertubes? XD
The lunatic mayor of the nearest metropolis to my part of the world has come up with an idea to improve traffic there by, um, digging a ~55 km tunnel under the existing downtown freeway, so commutes and such have been in the back of my mind lately.