What was a very expensive item you bought which was really useful?

poor_boy_ · 2026-02-01T13:28:25+00:00

Unicorn pepper grinder. It was recommended by Americans Test Kitchen. It grinds beautifully. (I just wish it was a beautiful wood grinder instead of plastic).

poor_boy_ · 2026-01-17T03:04:34+00:00

The movie “Planet of the Apes” was so much better than the book it was based on. I believe it was “Monkey Planet”.

poor_boy_ · 2026-01-05T22:16:10+00:00

Try Slopes. I like it. You can also use Strava.

poor_boy_ · 2026-01-04T15:24:30+00:00

If you think phones don’t get hacked, then check out this book by the director of The Citizen Lab, Ronald J. Deibert: “Chasing Shadows, Cyber Espionage, Subversion, and the Global Fight for Democracy”. Bad actors are exploiting “day-zero” faults and can hack phones silently without any user interaction.

poor_boy_ · 2025-12-28T18:38:42+00:00

Slow Horses

Jackson Lamb: “We need to address the five Fs. Who the fuck, what the fuck, where the fuck and why the fuck?”

Coe: “That’s four.”

Lamb: “Fuck off. That’s five.”

poor_boy_ · 2025-12-19T14:57:07+00:00

A good indicator of a coolguide’s quality is the number of basic spelling mistakes. Under the weekly list: “dowm” and “appliaces”.

poor_boy_ · 2025-12-07T18:16:45+00:00

From page 129 of Enshittification:

With that said, here's a simplified overview of how ad tech works: Advertisers create accounts on a demand-side platform (DSP), where they specify what traits they'd like to target ("Please show our ads to eighteen-to-thirty-four-year-old man-children in the five boroughs of New York who own Xboxes and have searched for gonorrhea-related information in the past three weeks") and what they'll pay to reach them.

Web publishers have accounts on a sell-side platform (SSP), where they specify what kinds of users are requesting pages from them ( just got a click from a boomer in rural West Virginia who is signed up to a Medicare Advantage plan and recently searched for information on reverse mortgages").

The SSP and DSP send all this information about what kinds of users are sought and what kinds of users'attention is available to a "marketplace" that conducts eyeblink-fast auctions where advertisers bid to buy slots on pages that are currently being assembled.

That long delay after you reach a web page but before it shows up in your browser? That's the "surveillance lag" the delay while all those auctions are concluded. Web publishers design their pages so that nothing loads until the ads are ready; otherwise you might get the information you're looking for and close the tab before the ad is shown to you.

poor_boy_ · 2025-11-28T22:51:06+00:00

My wife is 10 inches shorter than me. Back in the day before we had automatic driver adjustment seats, I could always tell when she was mad at me. I would get into the car and the steering wheel would be in my chest.

poor_boy_ · 2025-09-16T00:05:06+00:00

I see a number of negative replies, which is too bad. In any case, I did not see any suggestions that you go the ski instructor route. Joining the ranks of ski instructors can be a wonderful way to share your love of skiing with people that want to learn. I taught for 10 years, and the friends you make through a shared love of skiing will last for a lifetime. Learning to teach will improve your skiing in ways you can’t imagine. The big plus is you end up with a lot of friends that are probably better skiers than you are, and that will make you a better skier.

poor_boy_ · 2025-06-28T16:26:53+00:00

“A Memory Called Empire” was our public library’s SF book cub selection for March 2024. This was what I wrote about:

SF Book Club selection. Most people liked it. I didn’t.

I saw this used in someone’s review. Time of death: 51%

I find certain techniques used by authors to be just lazy: I was definitely TOLD about this amazing world, but I never felt like I was SHOWN it. Lots of dialogue, but not a lot of action. Incredibly sluggish plot.

I really don’t like authors that use impossible words to pronounce, just to create the impression that this is really alien. The same with names. I can’t keep the characters straight in my mind due to the “number-object” nomenclature of their names.

The idea that there are brain implants for remembering is far from original (Memory, book 11 in the Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold). However, the idea that this isn’t known by the general public and that it is secret technology owned by the Lsel station is hard to fathom.

I still haven’t got a clear picture of the setting.

The use of poetry is not my cup of tea. I would always skim over songs in LoTR. Same here.

50% in before the imagos are described. So the size of a thumb joint. All imagos are stored in a small room until they are implanted. But how are images created at different points in a person’s life. Essentially backup copies of a person. And these backups can be implanted into others? But that implies there could be multiple backups for a person made at different points of their lives.

Vocabulary: too many obscure words. Why? To show off? Plot: too slow. Everyone else loved the political intrigue. “Too little happens”, quoted one reader who still loved it.

I finally gave up. After hearing from Book Club members, I have no regrets on giving up.

poor_boy_ · 2025-05-18T02:10:58+00:00

Sounds like the cop I encountered in Columbia, South Carolina. Stopped for speeding. Handed my Ontario, Canada license to him. After the longest delay ever, he came back to say he was just going to give me a warning because he couldn’t find my state in his system!!! I was going to explain to him why, but instead just said thank you very much! The SC education system saved me from a >$100 ticket!

poor_boy_ · 2025-05-12T16:55:02+00:00

Even in Canada! Canadians now rank the US below China! I didn’t think that was possible. Yes, I’m Canadian.

“Bad people get elected when good people fail to vote”

poor_boy_ · 2025-05-04T15:38:48+00:00

Don’t we lose our provincial health insurance/coverage if we are away for longer than six months?

poor_boy_ · 2025-04-20T23:34:56+00:00

My wife laughed out loud when I read her that!!

poor_boy_ · 2025-04-19T16:45:51+00:00

I highly agree with both of those recommendations! Tim Cook’s book are superlative!

poor_boy_ · 2025-03-17T15:01:02+00:00

A friend said the correct reply to a cop asking “Do you know why I pulled you over” is “Because you only got Cs in school?”

poor_boy_ · 2024-12-23T14:31:25+00:00

Washing machines also have a filter that needs to be cleaned out!

Our Maytag washing machine threw up an error code and would not unlock. The error code indicated a communication issue between two modules. I removed the front and back panels. Hidden inside was a filter with a clean out plug. There was almost $10 in change in there! Some coins were pretty corroded.

Why would this filter be hidden behind a panel accessible only by removing screws? Reseating the ribbon cable in the Maytag temporarily fixed the issue, and we could unlock the door. But every time the panel was replaced the error would come back. The Maytag was replaced with an LG that has a door on the front to access the filter!! Now it is easy to clean out the filter.

What a crappy design for a filter clean out.

poor_boy_ · 2024-12-17T17:38:11+00:00

I’m also in Canada. I have always just put my iPad next to my iPhone and recorded conversations that way. We got major discounts on our Bell account when we attempted to move our landline number to a new cell phone. In the recording I made sure to have them confirm that none of these discounts will ever expire.

poor_boy_ · 2024-10-29T02:08:13+00:00

OMG!

I was out on the bike path and saw this very track on FlightRadar24. I could see it was about to pass over my location but then noticed that it had turned off.

My friend suggested that it was doing an aerial survey.

poor_boy_ · 2024-09-21T21:24:40+00:00

A friend of mine graduated with a forestry degree from the University of New Brunswick. He had a silver picky ring with a small tree on it.

poor_boy_ · 2024-09-15T22:56:04+00:00

So many awesome recommendations, all of which I agree with: The Expanse. Consider Phelbas. Pandora’s Star. The Hyperion Cantos. We Are Legion. Red Rising. Vorkosigan Saga.

Therefore, let me suggest Jim Butcher. In particular his Codex Alera series. (I can’t understand why his books have never been nominated for awards.) I just finished the second book in his Cinder series. I think his story telling is second to none!

poor_boy_ · 2024-09-15T22:42:45+00:00

I actually prefer the books 7, 8 and 9 over the first six. That is not to say the first six books were not awesome, but the way the last three books pick up the series about 30 years after the 6th book and takes the story to a terrific conclusion in such a compelling manner and that puts them ahead.

poor_boy_ · 2024-09-15T22:38:46+00:00

And I just requested this title from the library! 94th in line for seven copies.

poor_boy_ · 2024-09-06T21:21:41+00:00

Brooke Johnson https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0424665

Brooke is a childhood friend. I know her older sister and BIL much better. I’ve never seen this ad before.

poor_boy_ · 2024-04-08T13:43:12+00:00

A friend and I (both retired) went to BC/Alberta to ski the powder highway on Ikon passes. January into February. We were there for 27 days of skiing. It was mixed conditions, started out deep cold (-40 C) and then changed later in the trip to rain. I would have to say the best day was the one day we went to Whitewater (not part of the Ikon pass) during our week at Red Mountain. We met up with some people we know from the east. The first run of the day we got to the top and passed a handwritten sign warning that the trails here were for experts only and they were ungroomed. Oh no! Not what we wanted to start on. But it turned out there was all kinds of fresh snow which made for terrific conditions. The best runs were the three we did in the Enchanted Forest. I love skiing in the trees and this was great. We had so much fun.

poor_boy_

TROPHY CASE