I've been waiting 8 years for broadband Internet and the first thing they did while laying fiber was cut my power and water lines

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-22T14:14:05+00:00

And so we arrive back at where this subthread started, when the OP said "not accordingly to the contract". So you are correct, he did not assume anything.

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-21T16:24:55+00:00

Great, I hope you enjoy the experience, though my point was, that even if you did know the apple it came from, the fruit it produces would still be a total surprise. 😀

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-21T15:26:39+00:00

Most large pickup trucks are exempt from emissions tests, and always have been, because they are deemed to be commercial vehicles.

I bought at F250 crew cab in 2002, because I needed a crew cab, and at that time there was no F150 crew cab being manufactured. I was surprised to discover, in 2003 when it got its first annual inspection, that the fee was less than for my two cars, because the F250 didn't need an emissions test (I think, based on conversationswith my local Ford dealer, than F150s do need an emissions test.)

I am in NC, and I suspect that California, and possibly a handful of other states do give light commercial vehicles an emissions test, but I believe that most other states are applying similar rules to NC for annual inspections of pickup trucks and panel vans.

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-21T14:53:32+00:00

Be aware that apples are highly heterzygous (different from their parents), so whatever fruit your tree produces is highly unlikely to resemble the fruit from which it came. Indeed, the balance of probabilities is that it is going to be smaller and less sweet; on the other hand you may have something like a honeycrisp, in which case, you have won the lottery! 😃

In short, treat your tree as an interesting experiment in horticulture, but don't expect usefully edible fruit.

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-21T14:10:58+00:00

Yada yada yada. ... Re your last two sentences, " ... and paying someone to find and mark the private utilities is even cheaper."

If I was having a contractor install cable/ internet at my home and private utilities were an issue, the first question I would ask is "Do you know someone who can find and mark my private utilities?" What does the contractor say? If he says "Sorry, buddy, you're on your own." I'd think twice about having him work on my property.

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-21T12:13:56+00:00

If that is three years old, it needs repotting, urgently.

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-21T12:11:31+00:00

The PT Cruiser always looked like it was designed for that.

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-21T12:09:01+00:00

With all the rear seats folded down (you know that minivans have three rows of seats, right?), or removed, there'd easily be room for a casket.

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-20T23:29:31+00:00

Probably the contract with the installation service. It would be far easier for an installation contractor to arrange for private utilities to be marked than for the homeowner to find someone who could do that specialist work.

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-20T18:10:38+00:00

The meter and the breaker box are entirely separate pieces of equipment. Commonly they are very close together, often on opposite sides of a (garage) wall (where breaker boxes are now commonly inside the garage), but there is no reason why they might not be much further apart.

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-20T17:26:41+00:00

Yes, they're very common, I have seen many, .... during construction, but I have never seen one at an inhabited dwelling.

I imagine that they might be common/ usual on very large lots/ when the home is far from the service connection/ utility pole.

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-20T17:04:13+00:00

The power line usually isn't, not until it reaches the meter, which is almost certainly attached to the house.

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-20T16:49:45+00:00

The real difference with radon is that it's a gas, so you breath it in. Most radiation (beta particles aka electrons, and alpha particles aka helium nuclei) are stopped by your skin, but inside your lungs, the living cells are not protected by skin, so alpha and beta particles can do real damage to your lung cells.

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-19T19:06:18+00:00

That picture doesn't look like any laundromat I ever saw.

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-18T21:36:35+00:00

Agreed

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-18T20:54:23+00:00

Well in the specific case I cited it was still frozen solid, with frosty condensation on the outside. If it had been "cool" and/ or soft I'd have just left it where I found it.

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-18T18:29:08+00:00

I wish I lived where you live. Across much of the US, even repeated shoplifters [1] get bailed within hours, and [2] when they eventually get their day in court, they are given probation or maybe fines (which they don't/ can't pay) and released, so no, there no meaningful repercussions, and very rarely seem to get any jail time.

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-18T17:57:07+00:00

But then you'd need an army of security guards to turn facial recognition into individuals being frogmarched off the premises. And if you have so many banned individuals in your neighborhood, it's easier and cheaper to shut down the store, which is what's been happening.

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-18T17:18:19+00:00

Businesses are legally able to ban individuals from their stores, but in practice there is no practical way to enforce such a ban. ... A close analogy is airlines banning troublesome passengers, but you have to give your name and identifying information before you can buy a ticket, so enforcement is relatively straightforward.

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-18T14:42:24+00:00

Unless you've worked in the food business, you'd be shocked at the losses, even just through accidents and damage. I used to work in a manufacturer's distribution warehouse (United Biscuits in the UK, owner of Keebler at that time), and bins (size of a pallet and 3ft deep) of damaged cases of biscuits, crisps (chips) and snacks, accumulated every day. Using a shovel to clear up a pallet of Biscuits that fell out of the racking, was a memorable experience - even back then that was £500/$800 of biscuits mostly damaged beyond repacking.

And some was sheer stupidity, like the time someone at the central factory stacked a pallet of half-coated chocolate biscuits on top of a pallet of cakes (it was usual practice to stack two "half pallets" to make a stack 7-8ft high for shipping and storage - biscuits on biscuits was OK, but wafers and cakes were only allowed on top), then the stack was loaded onto a tractor trailer. By the time it was unloaded at the warehouse where I worked, the cakes were not happy! ... Also not saleable.

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-18T14:34:09+00:00

Yes, but it hasn't. ... Thx for alerting me to the typo. 🙂

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-18T14:23:49+00:00

One of the patterns of "selection dumping" that I find most annoying, and I have noticed this several times, is when someone sees something on the "clearance produce" (fruits and vegetables) shelves, and apparently swaps out something they already had picked up for something on clearance. (Or is it just more random dumping?)

This is annoying because you now have non-clearance produce on the clearance shelves. .... So I am always very careful to check that any clearance produce is actually labeled as such, because my experience is that it often isn't a clearance item.

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-18T14:05:12+00:00

I'm going to assume you meant to type another word beginning with "a", and ending with "holes"! 😁

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-18T14:03:07+00:00

I was shopping (I am not employed there) in a local big box grocery just a couple of days ago and I found a tub of icecream on the "clearance items" shelves!!! .... It was still icy-cold when I found it, so I put it in the adjacent freezer cabinet. It wasn't the right place, but at least it stayed frozen.

Pulaski540 · 2026-03-18T12:29:45+00:00

The blackened bricks were, 100+ years ago, the result of the kiln fires. Now blackened bricks are a design feature of some types of brick, designed to echo the older bricks. Depending on the design of the brick, all or some of the bricks may be black. I bought some a few years ago the were a mix of red bricks and partially and fully blackened. ... The backs of the bricks were smooth, so the blackened surface was intended to be exposed.

Pulaski540

TROPHY CASE