Useless Conversation

[MrHat]

I thought 100k personal was more important than 100k vehicle due to vehicles just getting scrapped vs. permanent damage to humans being unlimited in potential pays.

That blows though.  I've been in similar situations where I could've sued over silly things.  I guess in retrospect you're either suing or getting sued.

[Bunk]

Whoa, hold on. $30k personal injury coverage? WTF is that? Would that even cover an ER visit in the US?

I love to bitch about our insurance rates up here (I pay about $130 a month for my car insurance) but what the hell? Minimum coverage for third party liability is $200k. No one has the minimum. I think my current policy is at two million.

[schild]

Fan-fucking-tastic. Apparently we're getting served with papers soon in relation to a car accident from a year ago. Low-speedcollision out in bumfuck Texas, but apparently the fucker that got hit has decided that having her fucking car repaired, her bullshit medical claims and her time off --- well, dealt with. Pretty sure State Farm thinks they're bullshit and did not offer to pay whatever ridiculous ass price her fucking shit-stain, disgrace to the bar ambulance chaser lawyer is asking for. They offered something, I was told.

Anyways, apparently we're supposed to be served with papers FOR State Farm, although why the fuck they're serving us and not our insurance company is a big question mark.

15 mph crash, the fucking other occupant was just goddamn dandy. I thought it was already settled, but apparently not. Waiting to hear from State Farm on what the fuck is going on, but since it's been a fucking YEAR I can only assume she has invented multiple passengers and decided she is permanently crippled despite not having so much as a bruise.

Hmmmm, I have State Farm and this nearly exactly situation happened to me 8 years ago. Including the lag between when it happened and when the lawsuit happened.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Building move complete.  New cubicle digs almost set up completely.  Just need to adjust things a bit over time since this desk is laid out differently than the old one.  Contemplating going back to the old building (there are still some people there because they haven't moved yet.  Nothing like your group going from all being in basically one building to now spread out across 3 buildings and 2 floors, all as a result of someone else (higher on the food chain than my group's boss) deciding to horn in on our move and consolidate his people from multiple buildings.

Still, nicer digs and goddamn but I need to get a fitbit to start tracking all this damn walking I'll be doing.

[WayAbvPar]

Fan-fucking-tastic. Apparently we're getting served with papers soon in relation to a car accident from a year ago. Low-speedcollision out in bumfuck Texas, but apparently the fucker that got hit has decided that having her fucking car repaired, her bullshit medical claims and her time off --- well, dealt with. Pretty sure State Farm thinks they're bullshit and did not offer to pay whatever ridiculous ass price her fucking shit-stain, disgrace to the bar ambulance chaser lawyer is asking for. They offered something, I was told.

Anyways, apparently we're supposed to be served with papers FOR State Farm, although why the fuck they're serving us and not our insurance company is a big question mark.

15 mph crash, the fucking other occupant was just goddamn dandy. I thought it was already settled, but apparently not. Waiting to hear from State Farm on what the fuck is going on, but since it's been a fucking YEAR I can only assume she has invented multiple passengers and decided she is permanently crippled despite not having so much as a bruise.

Hmmmm, I have State Farm and this nearly exactly situation happened to me 8 years ago. Including the lag between when it happened and when the lawsuit happened.

I was sued as well for an accident well after it happened. I just had to give a deposition to my insurance company's lawyer and they handled the rest. Interesting* side note- the lawyer worked in the building next door to my office, and my office eventually moved into his building. He works upstairs from me.

Also- I maintain that a strong contributing cause of the accident was because I was watching a golf shot fly onto the road, and was distracted. Obviously still my fault, but having people tee off right next to a very busy thoroughfare is less than optimal. It was Willows Rd (and Willows Run golf course) for the Puget Sounders around.

*barely qualifies as interesting

[Morat20]

All off to the lawyers and I'm gonna leave it at "court filings are interesting to read"

[Morat20]

Whoa, hold on. $30k personal injury coverage? WTF is that? Would that even cover an ER visit in the US?

It's called "I did not realize I was at the Texas minimum". I have fixed that going forward.

[Sky]

Had a jam last night with a couple buddies, same old farts I jammed with a couple weeks ago sans the one guy who's been alone in his basement a little too long. He's nominally the band leader, so I was hesitant to step on his toes (I'm a better guitarist and singer, though that's not saying much heh). So I ran a mic through my preamp into a guitar amp and apparently I'm the singer/guitarist of the trio config. Went surprisingly (amazingly) well, and to my surprise the song I sang best was Dazed and Confused, which was kind of bizarre.

After playing classical on a nylon for the last several years, my fingers are aching from playing over 4 hours of leads, we ended up doing a lot of Hendrix.

Then they said the 'other band' was going to up to 3 nights a week. Ain't nobody got time for that!

[Rasix]

Well, this a first.  I'll give it to this spam caller, they're inventive.

Them:  Is Liz there?
Me: No. You've got the wrong number.
Them: Well, I've got the right number, just the wrong name. I've from <whatever, I wasn't listening> and we're doing a brief survey... *rambling intensifies*
/hang_up

I almost considered listening.

[Signe]

Sad spam phone call from a few weeks ago:

Me:  Hello
Them:  Hellom Ma'am, my name is Daniel (must be something religious or cult-y, right)  I'm from Project Home.  Do you have a few minutes?
Me:  Go on, then.  (I want to be proven right)
Daniel:  Excuse me? 
Me:  I have a few minutes.
Daniel:  The organisation that I represent gives homeless veterans a new lease on life. We provide housing, medical... blah blah blah.  (Ok, I was wrong)
Me:  What do you really want?
Dan:  We are asking for donations.  No minimum just whatever you can afford.
Lister, the great ginger pussy, walks into the room.
Me:  I can't say yes to that.  My minder isn't here.  I can have him call you when he comes back.
Dan:  Excuse me?
Me: Wait.  Here he is.  Lister?
Lister, the great ginger who always responds to his name:  Meeee?  Meeaaah?
Me:  This man wants money, Lister.
Lister:  Meeeaaah.
Me:  He said no.
/Hang up

I really intended to hang up after proven right but I just can't help it sometimes.  When I was a kid, I used to make prank calls all the time.  It was one of my favourite hobbies.  I don't call anyone anymore but this is like a sicko's grown up version of that.  I sometimes giggle about it for weeks.

My brother in law does this sort of thing sometimes, too.  Once time, at Whole Foods, he was a woman standing in from of on of those table with all the oddly shaped soaps.  He told her, "I wouldn't buy those.  They are some of the worst tasting cheeses I've ever eaten.  They taste just like soap!"

I love my family.

[Sky]

My brother in law does this sort of thing sometimes, too.  Once time, at Whole Foods, he was a woman standing in from of on of those table with all the oddly shaped soaps. 

Interesting.

[Signe]

Fuck you.  I mean "SAW".  I had a sudden spontaneous burst of projectile dyslexia.  Dammit.

Don't you ever miss anything???

[Signe]

Has anyone bought a Cuban cigar or Cuban rum since the Cuban thingy?  Just curious.

[Yegolev]

There is still a lot wrong with the grammar in that sentence, but I managed to parse it anyway.  Don't adjust your meds.

[Nevermore]

Has anyone bought a Cuban cigar or Cuban rum since the Cuban thingy?  Just curious.

Last I heard the trade embargo hasn't been lifted yet.

[Signe]

I would have been better off not reading that post again.  :(  I'd fix the rest of it but it just gets more embarrassing when I do. 

Let me know if you buy a cigar or some rams, Nevermore.

[rattran]

I had some cuban rum from a friend who illegally imports his cuban cigars via Canadiastan. It was okay, nothing special compared to high end Cayman rums even.

[Chimpy]

Since the fall of the Soviet Union and their subsidies to Cuba, the ability for Cuban agriculture to produce the crops that go into those products like rum and cigars has been stunted to the point that most of the same products from other places int eh region are of higher quality. I talked to a guy in the local cigar shop several years ago and he said that Honduran cigars are actually the best representation of what a "cuban cigar" is thought to be because the plant stock and the processes used to produce the cigars were all taken to Honduras from Cuba and used to start the businesses up there.

[Morat20]

After eight jabs in the neck (two separate biopsies, fun!) my most likely benign thyroid nodule is...benign. Which is what I expected, but nice to know.

A surprisingly easy procedure, if you're ever called upon to have one. Beats a biopsy practically anywhere else. Feels like, at most, a weird sore throat. Do use the ice packs they give you. I didn't have the second one (the first hand't seemed to swell and was fine 24 hours later) and I had a swollen knot and soreness for a week.

[Hawkbit]

That's really great news. :)

[Morat20]

That's really great news. :)

I thought so. I mean, the odds on thyroids being anything but "Eh, sometimes it does that" are huge. But with my brother and all, well...*shrug*. Hard not to have cancer on the brain when you're horsing a guy to chemo every two weeks. (He's done, in fact. Now I get to horse him to radiation!).

I didn't realize I was worrying about it that much.

[Signe]

I'm glad it's all good, Morat.   

[ezrast]

So I'm driving west through Arizona. I've been in the car for a little over a day at this point, only stopping to grab food or gas, or take a nap at a rest stop. I'm keeping myself sane by fiddling with the radio, jumping between whatever classic rock and oldies stations I can find as I crawl across the country. About fifteen miles away from the California border, none other but The Eagles come on the radio, using my destination state as a metaphor for a black hole of existential ennui, or something. As the anthem heralding my relocation to a new home, it sounds like an ill omen.

I don't make it to the end of Hotel California because at about the time that Don Henley is telling me that I Can Check Out Any Time I Like, But I Can Never Leave, a scraping sound starts coming from underneath my car and I pull over to check it out. Some of the plastic molding in one of my wheel wells and underneath the front bumper has come loose and is making contact with my front tire and the asphalt, and is pretty torn up. I manage to secure the shredded bits of wheel well with tape, and a kindly stranger points out the parts under the bumper that I missed, so everything gets patched up and I don't have to resort to a tow truck. That much was lucky, but given that I'm pretty sure the damage originated from a pothole that I hit in Oklahoma City it's sort of weird that my car waited until the California border to actually fall apart. Seems to be an ill omen.

With a car held together by packaging tape, I drive across the border and am greeted by this sight (excuse my filthy windshield):

A Californian, I guess, would consider this great, since tornadoes aren't really a thing here and moisture in any form is a blessing in this dessicated husk of a state. But to a native of the Midwest, that looks to be about one flap of the butterfly's wings away from the wrath of God given cyclonic form - the kind of storm where the NWS gets on the radio and tells you to just find a ditch and wait for the end. This being California, it actually rains for about 30 seconds and then everything dries up again, but driving into it is still unnerving. I can't help but think of it as an ill omen.

I've been a life-long atheist, but at this point I think it may not be unreasonable to conclude that God exists and is trying to get me to stay the fuck out of California.

[Samwise]

I can't wait to hear about your reaction to fog if you make it far west enough.   

[apocrypha]

Your picture doesn't work for me ezrast.

[Reg]

Me neither.

[Yegolev]

Another ill omen.

[Yegolev]

I don't know where to ask about GoPro cameras.  The response could be long but I really expect a short and straightforward recommendation.  Summary is: trip to Belize; video cameras are unwieldy.

[Samwise]

They take good video for being so tiny, and are designed to not require a lot of attention and fiddling during shooting.

[Merusk]

They're great little units and you can get all sorts of accessories for doing things with them.  Get a backpack and mount it behind you. 3rd person home moves.

[Sky]

[Bunk]

If anyone has had experience with GoPros, what I've always wondered is about the focal length. Any videos I've ever seen from them seems to be shot at about 10mm and you end up with that crazy fisheyed look. Can they be set to something a little more normal?

[Samwise]

If anyone has had experience with GoPros, what I've always wondered is about the focal length. Any videos I've ever seen from them seems to be shot at about 10mm and you end up with that crazy fisheyed look. Can they be set to something a little more normal?

They have different FOV options, yeah.  The wide FOV option gets used a lot with GoPros because it helps correct for the fact that you aren't necessarily actually aiming the camera, which means it's easier to miss something with a more "normal" FOV.

[Trippy]

I don't know where to ask about GoPro cameras.  The response could be long but I really expect a short and straightforward recommendation.  Summary is: trip to Belize; video cameras are unwieldy.

Your phone doesn't shoot HD video?

[Yegolev]

I don't know where to ask about GoPro cameras.  The response could be long but I really expect a short and straightforward recommendation.  Summary is: trip to Belize; video cameras are unwieldy.

Your phone doesn't shoot HD video?

It does as far as I know, but if anything would be harder to use in the field than a handheld video camera, it would be my S5.  Unless you are suggesting that I strap my phone to my <body_part>, which I submit wasn't obvious.