The Vent and Rant Thread

[4691mls]

Yeah, if I'm going to seriously shop I use my PC. I was just browsing a few stores on my phone when this happened.

I think Opera Mini does have an ad blocker, so maybe it affects the store's own popups.

If I run into the issue again I'll try turning that off, or try a different browser. And if I really want to buy anything I'll just use my PC.

[binaryhermit]

doesn't opera mini render webpages in the cloud and push them down to your phone?

If so, I suspect it's a quirk in that process.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

There we have it - a forumite in the MobileRead book reading related forums, who if they meant what they posted, doesn't have the attention span to even read a couple of paragraphs.

Perhaps, instead of "too long, didn't read", you meant "not interested" in which case one has to wonder why you felt inclined to post?

Actually what I meant is that I have little tolerance for pseudo intellectuals.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by binaryhermit

doesn't opera mini render webpages in the cloud and push them down to your phone?

If so, I suspect it's a quirk in that process.

Possible, but I doubt it. Opera was doing things like that in the desktop version years back. Broadband was nowhere near as pervasive as it is now, and many folks were accessing the Internet via low speed connections. Opera's response was to intercept what you were trying to download, and compress it on their end before sending it along, to reduce the total amount you had to download to see the content. Opera browser on your end would uncompress it to view it, with the assumption it would be faster overall to do that than download and view the uncompressed data. (For the intended cases, that was a correct assumption.)

But you were still downloading the same content either way, and if compressing it before sending it to you actually changed it, there was a major problem that had to be fixed.

I haven't poked around to see what Opera Mini is doing, but I feel the same way about this. If there is a quirk in the process that can produce this behavior, the process is wrong and needs to be fixed.
_______
Dennis

[John F]

Originally Posted by wodin

Actually what I meant is that I have little tolerance for pseudo intellectuals.

Thank you for the clarification.

[BetterRed]

Yesterday Twitter aficionados (i.e. journalists) was rattling on about lavatory paper shortages <yawn>. Today, on early morning radio the Prime Minister said he was going to speak to the supermarkets about the shortage of lavatory paper - I'm not making this up..

Late this afternoon I dropped into my local supermarket for some milk and ricotta.

In some countries people have to stand in line to get small amounts of cash from ATMs when there's a run on the banks. Not here, here people have to stand in lines to cart away vast quantities of lavatory paper, which is all our dollar is worth right now. I saw them with my own eyes.

It seems that by 11am we had a run on the lavatory paper shelves at all the supermarkets across this wide brown land. Thanks Scotty, a lavatory paper led recovery. If we do have a lavatory paper shortage it's probably because all the trees went up in smoke.

But the good news is: my copy of The Mirror and the Light is waiting to be picked up. Eight year wait, better be good. Dilemma: Should I finish Anarchy before starting it.

BR

[issybird]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Yesterday Twitter aficionados (i.e. journalists) was rattling on about lavatory paper shortages <yawn>. Today, on early morning radio the Prime Minister said he was going to speak to the supermarkets about the shortage of lavatory paper - I'm not making this up..

Late this afternoon I dropped into my local supermarket for some milk and ricotta.

In some countries people have to stand in line to get small amounts of cash from ATMs when there's a run on the banks. Not here, here people have to stand in lines to cart away vast quantities of lavatory paper, which is all our dollar is worth right now. I saw them with my own eyes.

It seems that by 11am we had a run on the lavatory paper shelves at all the supermarkets across this wide brown land. Thanks Scotty, a lavatory paper led recovery. If we do have a lavatory paper shortage it's probably because all the trees went up in smoke.

But the good news is: my copy of The Mirror and the Light is waiting to be picked up. Eight year wait, better be good. Dilemma: Should I finish Anarchy before starting it.

BR

I was in a store yesterday that had limited toilet paper on the shelves, with a note that they’d try to keep it in stock. Hand sanitizer I get; people expect to use more and starting right away. But toilet paper? It’s not as if you’re going to be using more than you already use and we’re not at the bunker stage, yet. However, it seems as if hand sanitizer is gone for the foreseeable future.

As for The Mirror & the Light, I await it with some trepidation, as I thought Bring Up the Bodies was a tremendous letdown after the wonderful Wolf Hall. It’ll be out next Tuesday here.

[wodin]

I think the toilet paper hysteria started here in the beautiful Sandwich Islands. A number of years (~30) ago we underwent a longshoremen strike, and being an island state, thousands of miles from any manufacturing we are utterly dependent on ocean cargo for nearly everything.

One of the first things that disappeared from the store shelves was necessary paper, and it was a disgusting few weeks until the strike was settled. People became desperate! And they remembered.

Not only that but our dilemma became widely known across the globe so now anytime there appears to be any interruption of ocean shipping folks stock up on TP... and bottled water.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by issybird

As for The Mirror & the Light, I await it with some trepidation, as I thought Bring Up the Bodies was a tremendous letdown after the wonderful Wolf Hall. It’ll be out next Tuesday here.

For me ...Bodies was worth reading just for these four lines:

‘So you see,’ Edward urges. ‘You must not give in to the king.’
Jane says, 'Why would I want to do that?’
‘His honeyed words—’ Edward begins.
‘His what?’

I haven't watched the mini-series. I'm sure the Jane Seymour, Thomas Wyatt… etc that I know wouldn't be the same people the BBC director knows So, while waiting for Mantel's latest, I read Tracy Borman's Thomas Cromwell biography - didn't want to die without knowing the ending. Be interesting to see what I think of the new Mantel having recently read the Borman.

BR

[trichobezoar]

I might have to take down the gremlin and remove the dragon figurine from my patio! Management's doing an inspection on Monday; they'll decide then... I know the gremlin and dragon figurines aren't seasonal, but they're cool!

[cromag]

So far I haven't changed my habits in the face of the coronavirus scare.

My problem is, I usually buy in bulk when I can and I'm just about due to buy toilet paper. I suppose I can hold off until things get back to normal, or at least just buy a few rolls to tide us over, but this is an unnecessary annoyance.

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by cromag

So far I haven't changed my habits in the face of the coronavirus scare.

My problem is, I usually buy in bulk when I can and I'm just about due to buy toilet paper. I suppose I can hold off until things get back to normal, or at least just buy a few rolls to tide us over, but this is an unnecessary annoyance.

Same here. I didn't even know there was a shortage going on until today. I thought it was due a timely gift card sale. Anyway, stocked up on our regular quantity of TP, paper towels and Kleenex today. Told Mom that she should probably go back to using the hankies that I kept from my late Dad to save on Kleenex when at home. She sneered.

I'm trying to change my mother's habit of sending me out on errands every single day, so that is the only good thing about this virus thing going on. The more times I go out, the more likely I will bring 'something' home or be sick and then she will have to run the errands. It's not that I don't mind going out for errands, but it burns my morning which is my most productive time. There's just no reason for this to be a daily function - twice a week will do. And NEVER on the weekend - let the working folks have that time. Plus (whine here) I really miss my relaxing second cup of coffee.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by cromag

So far I haven't changed my habits in the face of the coronavirus scare.

My problem is, I usually buy in bulk when I can and I'm just about due to buy toilet paper. I suppose I can hold off until things get back to normal, or at least just buy a few rolls to tide us over, but this is an unnecessary annoyance.

Yesterday I wondered why the two women in front of me at my nearby "MiC shop" were buying a trolley and bungee straps. Then I saw they needed them to deal with the dozen or more cartons of (Made in Indonesia) TP they had stacked up near the door. My guess is they were Japanese tourists

BR

[cromag]

Minor, on the overall scale of annoyances, but my clocks just went from 1:59AM to 3:00AM.

[binaryhermit]

Apparently most people hate that