start a victory garden and ration your IRRATIONALLY ANGRY feelings, part 3

yeah it's weird. i've wondered whether they just want to be buzzed into the stairwell so they can knock on doors and try to wodge their way into people's front rooms just to sell shit (or case the joint, as it were).

The robocall I keep getting has the "oh, hello, sorry!" start that pretends they were using an auto dialer and took a second to pick up. Pretty obviously geared toward people who are used to answering marketing calls, follows by a pitch for some sort of vacation scam. the first time I did the "hello, hey, stop please. pleas remove me from your list" spiel, which a real person should take as a legal cease notice, at which point I realized it was fake. the second time I just hung up, since it's a randomized phone bank calling for different area codes and they're just hoping no state cracks down on them

can't wait for the fcc and state governments to defund all regulation and I just get the same endless pitches forever

> Yeah no, no one needs to come unsolicited to your door to check yr meter.

they do here (UK) - the meter reading is outsourced to a third party (G4S?) and they don't give notice, just turn up. so i often get buzzed to let them in. they are uniformed and carry id. and all the electricity meters are in the lobby so that's not a problem.

but the gas meters are inside the flats so they sometimes knock on individual doors too. again, not a problem because they are easily identifiable.

and they have to read the meter (as opposed to estimating the bill) once a year, legally.

haven't had my meter read in an age but then it seems a bit perverse to send meter readers out during the working day only

They got rid of meter readers here, and instead ask you to send the numbers over once a year. If you don't/too lazy (hi dere) they'll estimate and try again next year. One could perhaps try and screw The Man over but it's a hassle and the small percentage that gets away with it is nothing compared to what they saved sacking meter readers I suppose.

My doorbell has not been working for five years? Blessing at Halloween tbf.

they do here (UK) - the meter reading is outsourced to a third party (G4S?) and they don't give notice, just turn up.

victoria (australia) has things called 'smart meters' which can be checked remotely, so iirc nobody even needs to physically check anything ever. moving into a new place might be an exception, not sure, but in the normal course of metering nobody ever turns up out of the blue any more. so here, anyone who turns up unannounced with a shiny badge and no explanation is 100% a scam.

My doorbell has not been working for five years?

ours is wired to the mains and is shrill. as. fuck

Oof. I've been there. I'll happily go through life without having a working doorbell ever again.

How to spot a suspect meter reader:

SUSPECT: Knocks or rings doorbell. Holds clipboard. Asks politely if he can come in to check your meter.

LEGIT: You wake up to like a dozen diesel engines going off in your yard. There's a guy banging on your front door. "We're checking your meter back there, you don't have any dogs, do you?"

haha yes. when we first moved in, the gas company called us to say they couldn't find a way into the car park.

LOL our elec bills always say theyre estimated cos they cant access our meter (no idea where it effing is tbh - its not a smart meter tho)

I thought meter readers were as anachronistic as milkmen.

Every place I've lived since the late 90s has had meters (electricity or gas) indoors in the basement or garage, and they send in their readings automatically.

My current building just got "smart" meters, but they're "smartness" is that they can report exact usage by the minute. Self-reporting is old stuff.

in victoria i think we jumped straight from old-timey meters to minute-reporting meters. there were protests for some reason.

My current building just got "smart" meters, but they're "smartness" is that they can report exact usage by the minute. Self-reporting is old stuff.

we've got to get smart!

in victoria i think we jumped straight from old-timey meters to minute-reporting meters. there were protests for some reason.

Yeh Google just showed me "Stop smart meters!" results. I haven't really read them, but it sounds like people object on privacy grounds.

^ grow houses

I haven't really read them, but it sounds like people object on privacy grounds.

― Je55e, Thursday, 9 March 2017 11:09 (twenty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ah yeah, iirc privacy and the ability to charge extra at peak times.

we also had a lobby group that tried to stop digital tv broadcasting on the grounds that analogue signals were 'beautiful'

which is probably the most ia thing ever

lock thread

I don't doubt someone would have stopped CDs for the same reason if they could have.

And that man's name is Neil Young

And it would have worked, too, if not for you meddling consumers!

TV shows look much warmer when played on vinyl

Why is McDonalds' new promotional burger, that's bigger than a Big Mac, called a Grand Mac instead of a Bigger Mac?

grandiose burger

TV shows look much warmer when played on vinyl

― may all your memes be dank (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 9 March 2017 12:58 (thirty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you laugh but

http://www.mathpirate.net/log/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/VideodiscCase.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/yPSj0uwyli0/maxresdefault.jpg

There were actually two vinyl-video systems, one was pretty much exclusive to Japan.

I KNOW THINGS

yeah wasn't one a music video thingy, way back

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-doomed-effort-to-make-videos-go-vinyl

omg waht

By 1971, they had recorded a color image onto their increasingly densely grooved discs. Finally, in 1972, Clemens and his team managed to record 10 full minutes of color video onto one of their discs.

CED in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LrPe0rwXOU&t=1475s

VHD in action (cheers hawkwindz, i had no idea this existed):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCWLaAwr3sM

btw sorry to derail, it's not often you get to talk about movies recorded on grooved vinyl discs

CED link again (last one's broken):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LrPe0rwXOU

I love that the system used in the VHD system is called DiscLord

Steampunks in 2105 are going to love that shit.

I've got to hand it to RCA for having the sort of corporate structure where they threw profitability and logic to the side. VHS was out and was equal or better in quality, Laserdisc existed and was true to the huge platter vision but didn't have self-destructing discs, but they still threw money at this project that was impractical and doomed

And that man's name is Neil Young

― Moodles, Wednesday, March 8, 2017 8:43 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Neil embraced digital early on, and converted his studio in the '80s. He recorded six albums digitally before he realized he didn't like how it sounded.

does he realize recording music digitally and distributing music digitally are not the same

*request advance event information*
"Sure, I should have dates & details for you next week*
*next week passes, send follow-up*
"We're still a long way out so we don't have any dates or details yet but here's some vague info from our website"

WATCH ME FLIP THIS TABLE

[Yeh Google just showed me "Stop smart meters!" results. I haven't really read them, but it sounds like people object on privacy grounds.

Nah they objected to them on something way stupider - and something I get very IA about to keep it on topic - the meters ran over wifi and O NOES TEH WIFIES WILL ROT MY BRAIN MEATS AND ALSO SEND SIGNALS TO THE G-MEN

Like, do not even start me on people anti-wifi/anti-wind turbines etc etc

haha really? that reads like parody

"You’ve read 5 articles, but it looks like you’re blocking ads.
Business Insider UK supports the journalism you crave with advertising, and we strive to only show you ads we think you might be interested in."

only ads i will be interested in. ok, lets see...

adblock off.

cpu usage hits 100%, fan starts whirring. page shows the usual taboola crap:

"A hair surgeon explains what's going on with Trump's hair ..."
"A curvy Aerie model responded to body shamers in the best way possible ..."
"This model was dropped from her agency for her size—now she's the ..."
"What Jane From 'Melrose Place' Looks Like Now Will Make You Shiver"
"How To Dress Well Without Trying..Quiz"
"How this app teaches you a language in 21 days!"
"How Many Famous TV Theme Songs Do You Know? Take the Quiz!"
"5 Ways Tailor-Made Dog Food Can Help Your Dog Love Dinner"
"People Without Card Machines Must Read This..."
"These Unnerving Photos of Life in North Korea Will Make Your Jaw D"
"What Happened To Elisabeth Shue? We Can't Look Away."

adblock on...

Business Insider UK believes that EVERYONE might be interested in those ads, because hey what is clickbait if not ads that appeal to the largest possible number of people, eh?

i do kind of wonder what happened to elizabeth shue but only because we share a birthday.

taboola really is the worst shit though. do they not realise that people can't help but judge the content by the sidebar crap? do they not even check?

my work VPN seems to be fine but the files I need to unzip and upload, no, my upload and download speeds are ridiculously slow, on a FRIDAY!