[reader50]

I'm seeing a mostly-normal spam mix. Drug spam may be up a little. No TP offers for $5/roll yet. The spammers are behind the curve.

[Waragainstsleep]

I heard someone else in Missouri tried to bomb a hospital earlier. Luckily the police killed him first.
Also a store had to throw out $35k worth of food because some stupid woman deliberately coughed over it all.

[reader50]

I'll bet those deodorant bottles tasted like plastic.

[reader50]

Plaintiffs cite no authority—and the Court is not aware of any—establishing that admissions of drinking and sleeping on the job, or using racial slurs towards co-workers, meet the first requirement for stating a First Amendment retaliation claim.
...
The question before the Court is whether society is prepared to recognize as reasonable an on-duty police officer’s expectation of privacy in a room used to sleep and consume alcohol on the job without his supervisors’ knowledge. Common sense says the answer is “no,” and Plaintiffs cite no authority to the contrary.

How did we get here? Two night-shift police officers securing a water facility were actually passing the time in a hidden room, with padlocked door. Due to a "radio malfunction" (not reading the instructions on how to use their handsets, I assume) they broadcast their own conversations on a public channel. Which someone recorded, and forwarded to supervisors.

In their conversation, they give each other tips on how to drink alcohol on the job, and how to sleep on the job without getting caught. Along with racial statements about co-workers, of course. No conversation between scoundrels would be complete without racial statements.

• explained how he slept on duty by saying “I just set the alarm on my phone (inaudible) for every F***ing hour and fifty-eight. So I call in at fifty-nine, go right back to f***in’ sleep. After you call in at five o’clock, set that motherf***er for six o’clock, you know so you get up to come and do your f’**ing trunk checks,”

The sleepy beer-drinking cops were fired. Showing how smart they are, they sued for wrongful termination, and tried to get the recordings suppressed. It seems they had a right to sleep on the job, not get fired, and of course enjoy the brewskis.

The court did not agree. I wish the judge was one of those who write colorful opinions, because s/he'd have a field day with this pair.

[reader50]

Originally Posted by subego 

Someone broke into my car once

They ignored the radio and the knife in the glove compartment.

Went straight for the apocalypse prep-sized bundle of toilet paper from Costco I hadn’t brought in yet.

Posted May 23, 2019. About 9 months early - the thief had foresight. Totally understandable today.

I was just thinking how risky it would be to leave a pack of TP in the back seat overnight. I don't have the guts to try the experiment.

[Spheric Harlot]

https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2020/...d-19-pandemic/

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2020/...d-19-pandemic/

Begs the question - which is more ridiculous:

- the ask itself
- the idea that criminals would suddenly give a shit when politely asked

-t

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

Begs the question - which is more ridiculous:

- the ask itself
- the idea that criminals would suddenly give a shit when politely asked

From where I'm sitting, it's primarily the fact that this would even be a problem — that a first-world country would be unable to deal with this crisis because people are busy shooting each other — that is absurd.

'Murica.

[Thorzdad]

Just popping in here to point out the door of the Politics/War Lounge over there...

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Thorzdad 

Just popping in here to point out the door of the Politics/War Lounge over there...

Yeah, no

I see that the door handle to the PWL hasn’t been disinfected lately. Not touching it.

-t

[reader50]

Sometimes one just has to have a smoke. Or at least, a cheap smoke.

A Frenchman caused a major alert this weekend after setting off across the Pyrénées to buy cheap cigarettes in Spain.

He tried to drive to Spain first, but with both countries under lockdown, he got turned back. I suppose saving money on coffin nails was not essential travel. Luddite border guards.

So he decided to hike it across the mountains. I guess he'd never hiked before, and thought it would only take a short while. He fell in a stream, got lost, and finally called for help. Must have a waterproof cell phone.

[subego]

I bought a bunch of smokes before the lockdown, but at some point I’m going to need to reload.

For better or worse, the fact they’re half the price once I step over the county line factors into my logistical planning.

[Thorzdad]

In case you needed more definitive proof that the end times are upon us...
This is now a thing.

[subego]

I’d definitely try it, but Doritos in general I find lacking.

Curiously, I put down about a gallon of (diet) Mountain Dew a day, and couldn’t really tell you what the flavor is, except for maybe “green”.

I recently read the claim it’s orange.

[andi*pandi]

lemon-lime, IIRC. So lime +nacho chips might not be that bad, except the swwwwweeeeeetness.

[Thorzdad]

My wife’s office has been having serious internet service issues. Like, snail’s pace speeds. They’re paying for Comcast Business, so their speeds should be blazing. They are, of course, a completely wi-fi office, and they’re using a Comcast-supplied gateway.

So, they called Comcast support about the miserable speed versus what they’re supposedly guaranteed. That’s when the service rep tells them that those speeds are only guaranteed over an ethernet connection, not wi-fi.

That’s when my wife asks if I happen to have an ethernet cable in my box-o-wires. I did. She took it down to the office to hook it up. Luckily, they had a single computer that had an ethernet port, an iMac. Everyone else are on a combination of MacBooks and MBPs, with nary an ethernet port among them.

And, holy crap, even over ethernet, their DL speed tested even slower than here at our house. Oddly, their UL speed was faster than DL.

[reader50]

Sounds like Comcast is saturated on that cable node. Everyone nearby streaming video or something. Leaving the upload channels with free capacity.

[mindwaves]

I definitely like trying new Dorritos flavors.

[reader50]

Wisdom from watching way too many Russian car crash videos:

If you are ever in an accident, remember to turn on your windshield wipers. It's traditional.

[Laminar]

Here's some personal random ridiculousness. I bought a car back in October. Drove down to Oklahoma to buy it used from a dealer down there. I ended up having one of the worst purchasing experiences of my life. The salesman was slow to communicate, was late coming in on the day when he was meeting me. He took three tries to enter my data into their system, and spent most of the time talking to me and telling me bad stories of when he was in high school instead of just typing my name in the stupid computer. Then he complained about his young female colleague and how she was a terrible salesperson. Later when he got out a wrench to install my license plate, he banging in on his desk for a while and threatened her saying that if she got out of line he'd fix her. There was more to it, but those were the highlights.

Lincoln corporate reached out for a survey after the fact and I outlined everything that happened in detail. Someone from the dealership called back and left a voicemail with a bumbling apology, and I hoped that was the end of it.

But then on Sunday morning at 2:08 AM, my phone rang and the number was from Oklahoma. I silenced it, no voicemail. The next morning I reverse-searched the number and found it was my sales guy's cell phone. So for some reason he's drunk dialing me at 2AM? I blocked the number, but if something like this happens again I'm probably going to have to actually do something.

[andi*pandi]

Well then. That's creepy AF.

[Waragainstsleep]

He got fired. Then drunk.

[subego]

The Snyder Cut.

[andi*pandi]

Don't mess with Maine Loons.

https://bangordailynews.com/2020/05/...-in-the-heart/

[subego]

Glad this got cleared up...

[reader50]

Mississippi recently decided to remove the Confederate battle flag from its state flag. So they solicited flag designs from the public. The proposed flags get narrowed down in several rounds, until the commission picks a winner. Winning design goes on the ballot, so voters can change the state flag.

Someone submitted a flag featuring a giant mosquito. Naturally it advanced to stage two, until political cowardice took over. Now it's been pulled from contention - it was all a mistake. Someone made a typo. Or perhaps the dog ate it.



Click through to read the excuses.

[subego]

I’m only an amateur vexillologist, but I feel the leg outside the ring of stars and the off-center grey square are big no-nos.

[Thorzdad]

I think the gray square is a copy/paste artifact.
I’m confused by the ring of 19 stars. Mississippi is the 20th state.

[subego]

I put the words “bear” and “gay” in a YouTube title.

Immediately got bots with female names making comments.

[andi*pandi]

those bots were programmed incorrectly.

[subego]

I’m slightly curious as to what the angle is.

I mean, I assume it’s money, but how?

[subego]

Example comment:




I’ve settled on the angle probably being the bot will pitch paid porn.

[andi*pandi]

but for the completely wrong demographic?

[reader50]

Maybe they'll edit in spam links a month from now. We see that a lot here. It would be search indexed by then, and have dropped off the current list. Account owner less likely to recheck comments on old videos.

[andi*pandi]

Keep an eye out for giant cat in NH:

https://www.pressherald.com/2020/09/...g-in-n-h-town/

[subego]

“And then Brad Pitt blows up two Norwegian space baboons...”

I read this and was intrigued. Anyone here see this movie?

[mindwaves]

Not something that you see every day.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54715327

[Thorzdad]

Not really ridiculous, but I wanted to share anyway...TIL the Comoros national football team are called the Coelacanths. I would so rock a Coelacanths t-shirt.

[OAW]

Former NBA player and 3-time Slam Dunk champion Nate Robinson getting KTFO by YouTuber Jake Paul. Blow by blow commentary by Snoop Dogg.

Internet Reacts With Memes After Jake Paul Knocks Out Nate Robinson | Complex.com

OAW

[Waragainstsleep]

I heard Jake Paul will fight Tyson next. That I'd watch.

[subego]

“We’re going to need a bigger ambulance”

[Doc HM]

Reading my new Jack Reacher novel that I got for Christmas. Got to the part where he meets a contact at an old factory where they discuss a project “C02WW06BHH22”
Well that looks like an Apple serial number to me. Fire up my apple serial number checker. Bingo. Turns out it’s a 12in 2017 MacBook. Not what I’d choose to write a novel on but maybe one of the Mr Child’s does.
Feeling both geeky and detectivey. And nerdy and like I now know something only the author(s) and I know.

[Thorzdad]

About 2 degrees Celsius of our body heat comes from the metabolism of microorganisms helping us digest our food.

[Thorzdad]

Royal Mint issues commemorative £2 H.G. Wells coin.



There appear to be some issues, though...

(Sorry about the ginormous image. I found one other, more usable image of the coin, but its url is wrapped in some $%#& webp code that VBull apparently can't parse. Trimming the code down to the actual .jpg filename just gave me a "not allowed" error. I really wish webp would just go die in a fire.)

[Spheric Harlot]

Oh dear. My first thought seeing that was "wait, the Martian craft were tripods."

[subego]

Kinda random Screech is diagnosed with cancer and then dies a month later. Expected OD or fight.

[Laminar]

Stage 4 lung cancer I guess?

[reader50]

Problem: you live in Ukraine, it's getting buried under snow, and the road to your house is impassible.

Solution: call the cops. Confess that you murdered someone in your house. Tell them they'll need a snowplow to reach you for the arrest.

Well, it seems the cops didn't have a snowplow. They reached the house anyway in an SUV. The "victim" was alive and well. The caller will be fined about $4 for a false report.

You gotta admire the creativity.

[subego]

The spindle worth of recordable DVDs I have all look corroded.

Amazon helpfully informed me I bought them 14 years ago.

They still seem to work.

[Laminar]

Oh man, I was trying to burn a DVD of someone's wedding video a decade ago and kept getting bum burns, so I ended up buying three different spindles of DVD-RW+/-/x/y/z/lmnop discs before getting it to work. So now I have three spindles of DVDs minus a disc each that I need to just throw away.