The Vent and Rant Thread

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by devilsadvocate

Thanks for visiting, please come again.

thanks, but it didn't do much for me the first time around!!!

[devilsadvocate]

Originally Posted by recluse

My youngest sister loves Mapquest.
Whenever she takes a trip, she uses it.
My brother in law, who does the driving, ignores her.
They make good time that way.

I can imagine.

Mapquest once led us to a Subway restaurant that didn't exist, which wouldn't have been bad except we were in Lawrence KS (where none of us had ever been before) to meet with Shel's ex and get her son for the summer. We found the nearest existing address and the friendly convenience-store attendant said we were in the right place but there was no Subway at that location nor was there at any point in recent memory.

Bonus: Google gave us the same directions.

My theory is that there's an NSA spook warehouse/DoD research facility operating nearby (or maybe at the university) because we did in fact start getting the opposite-direction turn instructions GPS is known to generate when in proximity of such facilities, when we started for home. I know it was home to at least one missile silo at one point. Anyway, dead reckoning on my part (no really, ask Shel) got us back onto I-35.

[phenomshel]

He's right. Chris is the best person I know for getting us out of places by just following his instincts.

However, I refuse to navigate any more, after both Mapquest and Google kept messing us up.

[recluse]

You two are too cute for words.

My sister calls her husband every name in the book for ignoring her directions. It's how her kids learned the "F" word.

Chris, that explains why Mapquest doesn't work on Long Island.
The Plum Island facility is DOD.

[devilsadvocate]

While we're on the conspiracy thing, I want to pitch a bitch about dyndns.org. I was using one of their free dynamic DNS forwards for my file server; seems it ate my account. Username is valid, password isn't. Password retrieval doesn't go to any present or recent past email account. I would suspect hijacking/theft at this point but I've noticed that their once-lengthy list of cutesy domain names like servebeer.org is now gone for those using the free version. Wonder if I've been downgraded.

Anyway, it doesn't go to my LAN after 30 days of no update so in the unlikely event of a security breach I shouldn't have anything to worry about. However, I still need dynamic DNS service, perferably without paying for another domain name every year (which I could do, and would as a last resort, but I'm trying not to nickel-and-dime my squirrel fund any more than I have to). In light of recent events I'm loathe to use dyndns.org again. Static IP is also possible but not cost-effective.

So far I've tried DynSide but they won't propagate for some reason. A couple others looked shady/wanted money.

[SneakySnake]

Originally Posted by recluse

I don't trust GPS.
Optimum time from my sister's house to mine, barring traffic, following the GPS route, is 40 minutes. Real time: about an hour.
Using common sense, it takes me 20 minutes.

If you cycle on the footpath (sidewalk) you can avoid a lot of the traffic snarls.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by SneakySnake

If you cycle on the footpath (sidewalk) you can avoid a lot of the traffic snarls.

If you drive on the footpath, you can cause them.

[devilsadvocate]

Originally Posted by devilsadvocate

While we're on the conspiracy thing, I want to pitch a bitch about dyndns.org. I was using one of their free dynamic DNS forwards for my file server; seems it ate my account. Username is valid, password isn't. Password retrieval doesn't go to any present or recent past email account. I would suspect hijacking/theft at this point but I've noticed that their once-lengthy list of cutesy domain names like servebeer.org is now gone for those using the free version. Wonder if I've been downgraded.

Anyway, it doesn't go to my LAN after 30 days of no update so in the unlikely event of a security breach I shouldn't have anything to worry about. However, I still need dynamic DNS service, perferably without paying for another domain name every year (which I could do, and would as a last resort, but I'm trying not to nickel-and-dime my squirrel fund any more than I have to). In light of recent events I'm loathe to use dyndns.org again. Static IP is also possible but not cost-effective.

So far I've tried DynSide but they won't propagate for some reason. A couple others looked shady/wanted money.

Fixed. Got a .us domain name for $4. My IP address doesn't change that often and propagation seems pretty damn fast.

[recluse]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

If you drive on the footpath, you can cause them.

No big deal.

In New York City, pedestrians are viewed as, at best, minor road hazards.

You can't really damage your car if you hit them right.

You get extra points if you clip one into the path of another vehicle.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

If you drive on the footpath, you can cause them.

An there are a lot fewer cars.

[GeoffC]

and likely no potholes.

[montsnmags]

And every shop's a drive-thru.

[GeoffC]

[poohbear_nc]

I have spent the weekend sitting against a heating pad whilst the temps outside rose to the high 80's F. Saturday morning I leaned forward to gaze into the litter box and suddenly experienced shooting pains in my lower back.

Yep - another verified case of my cats trying to cripple me - so I can stay home and feed them non-stop all day long.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

I have spent the weekend sitting against a heating pad whilst the temps outside rose to the high 80's F. Saturday morning I leaned forward to gaze into the litter box and suddenly experienced shooting pains in my lower back.

Yep - another verified case of my cats trying to cripple me - so I can stay home and feed them non-stop all day long.

I hope it's a bit better. Dang cats!!!

My back issue has gotten significantly better this afternoon -- thank goodness!

Hope yours is better too!