Just Saying -- the soapbox thread

[somnif]

I decided (stupidly) to use some of my stimulus check to build myself a new computer. This rig is 5 years old, and I originally planned it to last "4 or 5 years" (to quote my own scribbled notes). So, yesterday, got the shopping lists together and pushed the button on the orders, new CPU, motherboard, and RAM (vid card and PSU will last me a while longer). Then I went to buy groceries.

Aaaaand my car crapped out on the drive home. Engine just cut out. In the middle of nowhere, at 9pm. And Uber charged me 20$ to get me home. Car is currently in the shop, and I'm waiting on the butchers bill. (Symptoms: turning key chugs a bit, but won't catch, and fills the cabin with strong sulfur smell. I'm guessing the distributor crapped out, wouldn't be the first time, but my car doesn't have a genome I can tinker with so it's all voodoo to me)

I think the universe just whapped me on the nose for being frivolous with money I should have been saving for more essential stuff. 

edit: Ignition coil shorted out and killed the Engine Control Unit (the computer brain). 850$ repair on a car I only paid 1200$ for. Ugh.

[jimilee]

Daaaammn good luck sir. Been there done that. Once in the middle of moving.


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[thesmokingman]

I went ahead and got the wife a no-frills inspiron laptop so she can help the kids with schoolwork from home ... waiting for that to bite me somehow for not squirreling the money away

[gordo]

Some sort of cosmic slap in the head isn't it?  Every time I do stuff like that something goes kaboom around here.  Last time it was the air conditioner and since it was the old style of refrigerant and half the guts were shot anyway it made the most sense to start from scratch.

On the plus side, with a decent internet search if been able to figure out how to rebuild an oven and a washer and dryer.  But cars...nope...it'll be cheaper if I don't touch it.

[somnif]

On the plus side, with a decent internet search if been able to figure out how to rebuild an oven and a washer and dryer.  But cars...nope...it'll be cheaper if I don't touch it.

The thing is, my former roommate was a master mechanic (had a certificate to that effect and everything) so I got real spoiled about being able to pay for car repair in beer. I also got at least vaguely competent about knowing what did what inside my car, so I could do some simple stuff.... at least until my apartment complex put out a notice that car repair in the parking lot would be a eviction worthy offense.

Granted, this time around, 500$ of that price is just parts alone (turns out finding the brains for a 23 year old car is a wee bit tricky) but still, labor costs suck.

[TheDude]

Well, at least karma was swift and didn't lure you into a false sense of security? Sorry to hear that man. Hopefully this is the other way around and just tryin keeping you humble before bigger things.

And, as a wiser man than myself once said,
https://youtu.be/aPVLyB0Yc6I

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[Muadzin]

I decided (stupidly) to use some of my stimulus check to build myself a new computer. This rig is 5 years old, and I originally planned it to last "4 or 5 years" (to quote my own scribbled notes). So, yesterday, got the shopping lists together and pushed the button on the orders, new CPU, motherboard, and RAM (vid card and PSU will last me a while longer). Then I went to buy groceries.

Aaaaand my car crapped out on the drive home. Engine just cut out. In the middle of nowhere, at 9pm. And Uber charged me 20$ to get me home. Car is currently in the shop, and I'm waiting on the butchers bill. (Symptoms: turning key chugs a bit, but won't catch, and fills the cabin with strong sulfur smell. I'm guessing the distributor crapped out, wouldn't be the first time, but my car doesn't have a genome I can tinker with so it's all voodoo to me)

I think the universe just whapped me on the nose for being frivolous with money I should have been saving for more essential stuff. 

edit: Ignition coil shorted out and killed the Engine Control Unit (the computer brain). 850$ repair on a car I only paid 1200$ for. Ugh.

There's no point in saving money anyway. Interest rates were so low prior to corona it practically cost you money to park it into an account, and once this thing is over we should count ourselves very lucky not to have hit Zimbabwean or Venezuelan inflation rates, because governments all over the world are printing money like the world will end tomorrow. Which it will if hyperinflation starts rearing its ugly head. So holding it back would only have seen it lose value. I wouldn't call a good PC that will last you for a long time a frivolous buy. You just had bad luck to be hit with bad luck.

[alanp]

One guy at work (the same guy who doesn't understand the stock market), needed several days of explaining to understand why you can't just have the country on lockdown for a year, and why the economy (and supply chain) will be totally f'ed.

Basic Economics should be a mandatory class requiring a pass in order to graduate.

[Muadzin]

One guy at work (the same guy who doesn't understand the stock market), needed several days of explaining to understand why you can't just have the country on lockdown for a year, and why the economy (and supply chain) will be totally f'ed.

Basic Economics should be a mandatory class requiring a pass in order to graduate.

I'm not even sure most economics professors understand economics. It's as much psychology as it is all that mathy stuff. People don't behave and act rationally. Unfortunately we live in an age where feelings and emotions trump logical thinking and I'm afraid. So if the politicians see that the social media sphere wants something stupid done, they will do it.

And we also live in an age where we are so far removed from how our food and non-foods are made. I loved watching those reality TV shows set in Alaska, and I couldn't help but notice there were no vegans in Alaska. Where even small kids knew that the meat on their plate was that lovely animal they used to play with or some karibou their dad shot. They know where their food comes from, it's not some package that just magically materializes in a supermarket. And that if they don't work their asses off in the summer they will go hungry in the winter. And their non-foods are not things that just materializes in your mail box because you clicked on something on the internet. They have to make it themselves, scrounge the parts, or make something else to trade for it. When you are that far removed from how your food is made, how things are made, when all you do all day for a living is hit keyboards and stare at screens, then yes, I am not surprised that you think that food will continue to materialize for a whole year in lockdown.

Ultimately the cure will be worse then the disease and its effects will be with us for far longer then the disease.

[EBK]

Won't organized crime and/or looting just fill any gaps in the economy?  We'll be fine. 

[matmosphere]

One guy at work (the same guy who doesn't understand the stock market), needed several days of explaining to understand why you can't just have the country on lockdown for a year, and why the economy (and supply chain) will be totally f'ed.

Basic Economics should be a mandatory class requiring a pass in order to graduate.

I'm not even sure most economics professors understand economics. It's as much psychology as it is all that mathy stuff. People don't behave and act rationally. Unfortunately we live in an age where feelings and emotions trump logical thinking and I'm afraid. So if the politicians see that the social media sphere wants something stupid done, they will do it.

And we also live in an age where we are so far removed from how our food and non-foods are made. I loved watching those reality TV shows set in Alaska, and I couldn't help but notice there were no vegans in Alaska. Where even small kids knew that the meat on their plate was that lovely animal they used to play with or some karibou their dad shot. They know where their food comes from, it's not some package that just magically materializes in a supermarket. And that if they don't work their asses off in the summer they will go hungry in the winter. And their non-foods are not things that just materializes in your mail box because you clicked on something on the internet. They have to make it themselves, scrounge the parts, or make something else to trade for it. When you are that far removed from how your food is made, how things are made, when all you do all day for a living is hit keyboards and stare at screens, then yes, I am not surprised that you think that food will continue to materialize for a whole year in lockdown.

Ultimately the cure will be worse then the disease and its effects will be with us for far longer then the disease.

I don't think the cure will be worse, but it's not going to be good.

Ever watched somebody go through cancer treatments? Trust me it's not pretty, but when the alternative is dying then the choice is a little less difficult, but honestly, not always that clear.

[midwayfair]

I loved watching those reality TV shows set in Alaska, and I couldn't help but notice there were no vegans in Alaska.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

[midwayfair]

[/quote]

[jkokura]

(Jacob puts moderator hat on)

Alright everyone. I think that's stepping over the line far enough. I understand how it's easy to make a quip about someone online, but when typing is involved it's hard to say if someone is joking or attacking.

If you were my kids, I'd ask you to apologize to each other, forgive and move forward in kindness. You're not my kids, you're grown men whom I hope don't need to be told to do that.

(Jacob takes moderator hat off)

Jacob