Random thoughts that are pointless and too dumb to say anywhere else thread! **2025**

[hawing]

On time this time!  Keep on keeping it random in 2025.

[Samurai Bucky]

I did not realize the Sesame Street skit counting to 12 with the pinball machine was sung by the Pointer Sisters.

... and for the music nerds in the audience, the time signatures makes Genesis and Rush songs look easy!

 

[AKCheesehead]

2 hours ago, Samurai Bucky said:

I did not realize the Sesame Street skit counting to 12 with the pinball machine was sung by the Pointer Sisters.

... and for the music nerds in the audience, the time signatures makes Genesis and Rush songs look easy!

 

Several years back I was feeling nostalgia and remembering different tidbits of programming from my childhood and youtubed the pinball machine counting video.  Instantly I recognized that it had to be the Pointer Sisters.  

I'm thankful I grew up when I did, even if that means being over the hill now.  We had some cool things.

[GAME05]

My state's DOT will hire private contractors to help clear the roads of snow. They make $350/hr if they use a DOT vehicle and $450 if they bring their own. 

[GreatNWwi]

I have had some LiFePO4 lithium batteries for my RV for about 5 years.  They are expensive but last much longer than the alternatives and have several other advantages that make them worth it, at least for my application.

So, I am doing a little light reading this morning making sure I am properly caring for my batteries, especially during this very cold stretch we have had.  I found a Blog on the Renogy website, check out the risks of overcharging your LiFePO4 batteries...

 

[GAME05]

I really like opera but I also really hate musicals, even though I'm well aware they're the same thing. 

[CheezWizHed]

On 1/25/2025 at 6:34 PM, GAME05 said:

I really like opera but I also really hate musicals, even though I'm well aware they're the same thing. 

Just like me! Except the exact opposite... 

I don't hate opera... I've never really experienced it.  But I can't imagine sitting and listening to something that you can't at all understand. 

On the other hand, I did West Side Story as a play in HS and even though I'll forget why I walked into a room, I can belt out "I feel pretty" at the drop of a hat.

[Thurston Fluff]

This isn't mine. I'm not close to this level but I thought it was worth sharing. It is entirely made up of balloons.

[nate82]

13 minutes ago, Thurston Fluff said:

This isn't mine. I'm not close to this level but I thought it was worth sharing. It is entirely made up of balloons.

I want it!

[TURBO]

49 minutes ago, Thurston Fluff said:

This isn't mine. I'm not close to this level but I thought it was worth sharing. It is entirely made up of balloons.

That looks like AI to me...

[Thurston Fluff]

13 minutes ago, TURBO said:

That looks like AI to me...

It does but I know the people who posted it.

[zurch1818]

I saw in the grocery store yesterday that the price of the vegan eggs we have to buy because of my son's severe allergies were cheaper than the regular ones.

This was also the person checking out in front of me. I'm guessing they did self-checkout because they wanted to be anonymous.

[GAME05]

1 hour ago, zurch1818 said:

vegan eggs

I'm not the only one here wondering, right?

[zurch1818]

The name is even more misleading...but they are made of mung beans. They taste fairly close to the real thing and actually make pretty good French toast and even do a good job making cookies/muffins/other baking substitute. True egg replacer is awful.

Now we can't have dairy in our house either...so if you need advice on vegan "milk", I can do that too.

[GAME05]

9 hours ago, zurch1818 said:

but they are made of mung beans

Ah, I know what you're talking about. I sprout them at work. Very nutritious but they smell like death.

I question the health of milk alternatives (though mung bean eggs sounds great), though obviously for intolerances it's awesome there has come to be so many good alternatives out there now. But my first thought is for all the easy foods you guys (or at least just this person) can't just grab and eat, I'd bet you have a super-good cook in the house.

[GAME05]

On 1/1/2025 at 11:04 AM, hawing said:

On time this time!

Good thing, Hawing. There's a $0.15 charge each day you were overdue.

[Samurai Bucky]

Vegan Eggs reminded me of this Gary Larson gem:

[zurch1818]

14 hours ago, GAME05 said:

Ah, I know what you're talking about. I sprout them at work. Very nutritious but they smell like death.

 

I heard the smell like death...and went here. I had no idea that it was mung beans. Full circle!

Some of the alternative milks aren't really that bad. Oat milk is actually pretty good. When they fortify them, they are pretty much on par with milk and their shelf life is so much better. When you actually think of it, drinking milk from another animal is really kind of weird...especially a human animal

Yup...all the easy things that are available usually have milk or egg, so you have to get creative. The premade vegan stuff is usually expensive too. Also it's impossible to find a dairy free meat lover's frozen pizza.

I've always enjoyed cooking and I've gotten pretty good at it. I just got done making some blueberry pancakes that we will freeze and thaw when we need a quick meal. We also virtually never get to go out to eat. My wife and I may get out together a few times in a year on a date night. We've also got almost two year old twins to go with our four year old who has severe allergies. Now I'm starting to see why I haven't been able to watch the Brewers as much as I used to.

[nate82]

Are we getting closer to Idiocracy?  

[wallus]

3 hours ago, nate82 said:

Are we getting closer to Idiocracy?  

Watching the news lately you'd certainly think so.

[docduany]

We are 100% getting closer

[Thurston Fluff]

I have a feeling the bird flu hitting birds that can't fly is some sort of cosmic joke.

[zurch1818]

My work Surface Pro 4 from 2015 is getting replaced. I literally use it for doing some basic Excel/Word/presentations, web surfacing, and remoting into my desktop (which is definitely meant to run engineering software). There is no other software on it. My surface works...but it just seems slow and the fan runs more frequently when I'm watching YouTube videos. 

My question, is this slow speed mostly because one the following:

1) It's perceived because I'm used to my supercomputer desktop. I will add that I have a home desktop also from 2015 that still seems fast. I did upgrade the storage drive from a HD to SSD (after the HD failed), but that's it. I believe my home desktop has 6GB of RAM instead of 4GB...but both computers have 64bit OS's.

2) Software creep. Programs just required more computing power than 10 years ago. The OS has always been Windows 10.

3) Hardware degradation.

I remember my surface being much faster than it is now...even on boot up, so I don't think it is only 1... especially when comparing with my home desktop. My hunch says it's more 2 than 3...but I don't know.

[Brian]

 

New eggs? Your hands? 

[Samurai Bucky]

23 hours ago, zurch1818 said:

My work Surface Pro 4 from 2015 is getting replaced. I literally use it for doing some basic Excel/Word/presentations, web surfacing, and remoting into my desktop (which is definitely meant to run engineering software). There is no other software on it. My surface works...but it just seems slow and the fan runs more frequently when I'm watching YouTube videos. 

My question, is this slow speed mostly because one the following:

1) It's perceived because I'm used to my supercomputer desktop. I will add that I have a home desktop also from 2015 that still seems fast. I did upgrade the storage drive from a HD to SSD (after the HD failed), but that's it. I believe my home desktop has 6GB of RAM instead of 4GB...but both computers have 64bit OS's.

2) Software creep. Programs just required more computing power than 10 years ago. The OS has always been Windows 10.

3) Hardware degradation.

I remember my surface being much faster than it is now...even on boot up, so I don't think it is only 1... especially when comparing with my home desktop. My hunch says it's more 2 than 3...but I don't know.

I have a Surface Pro 3.  I don't use it for anything more than listening to music... just because.  It is not compatible with Windows 11, but I have it to take along in case I need to log into work when I'm not at home.

I had an old laptop from work that cost around 5K.  At the time, it was absolutely screaming.  After 10 years, though, it was really struggling.  Software got more advanced.  Corporate wanted to have all of these scans, etc.  I also could not update the BIOS anymore.  So, I got a new one and it was night and day.  I figured out how to move my stuff over and it has been awesome.

I'm guessing it is a combination of #1 and #2.  I don't know if degradation would be the issue.  There is an SSD built into the Surface Pro, so hard drive fragmentation wouldn't affect it quite as much.  Odds are the standard "agent" type things that run on your workstation simply take up more memory.  This is causing more paging and the system is slower.  ☹️