This seems like a self-resolving problem…
But seriously though. This very reason is why I purchased a padlock for my letterbox in our last house, and since then I’ve locked the letterbox all the time. The neighbours had no problem letting their kids go through our mail. WTF?
Well that worked well. I found a padlock and went to the letter box (bearing in mind I have only been here years).
There already is a padlock on the letterbox. Seemingly years ago someone lost the keys and just chiselled out the brickworks so the letterbox flap works anyway.
Back to the red backs 
Think of it as evolution in action.
I’m thinking that you could intentionally put some of those spiders in the box…
Of course, my response to dumbmom’s “Don’t worry, he won’t take anything” would be (bearing in mind I’m in the US) “That’s OK, it’s only a FEDERAL CRIME to tamper with other people’s mail. He’s a minor, so that means YOU are the one who will be charged.”
I would like to pit the guy who almost killed me yesterday, as well as the second lady that didn’t almost kill me, but did the exact same thing in a different spot and could have killed someone.
I ride my bike to and from work as often as possible. I was on my way home yesterday via my usual route, and came to a controlled crosswalk I need to take across a busy four lane road. The speed limit on this road is 60 km/h, so a decent clip. This cross walk is one that both pedestrians and cyclists use often - it seems like there is only a minute or two where traffic can flow before someone hits the light again to cross.
Anyway, I hit the button and the lights started going off. I had one foot on a pedal and one foot on the ground, sort of walking/rolling across. The first lane of traffic closest to me came to a stop and I stepped out. I look in the opposite direction and both lanes of cross traffic have come to a stop and I’m proceeding across. Suddenly, the girl in the closest lane blares her horn and I look up just in time to register a red SUV heading for me at a high rate of speed in the second closes lane of traffic. I stop, back up a step, and they fly past, not once looking in my direction. If I hadn’t backed up a step, they would have hit me at full speed.
I turned to look at the girl who had blared her horn and I’m guessing from her perspective she thought me getting hit was inevitable, as her hands were over her mouth and she seemed prepared to see a horrible accident. I look at cross traffic and the expressions were similar. In my shock, I just kind of shook my head, finished crossing and went about two blocks before I started crying a bit, realizing how close it was. I kinda regret forgetting to give the thank you wave to her for saving my life.
This was partly my fault for not being attentive and waiting for all traffic to stop and has reminded me that I should never let my guard down, because in a me vs. vehicle accident, the vehicle will always win. I will never, ever cross again without waiting for all traffic to stop first. Also, if you are a driver, honk your horn or do something to warn a pedestrian if you see someone in your rearview that isn’t stopping.
So I said this happened twice, and it did. At another controlled crosswalk closer to home, a similar thing happened, except she was in the lane farthest from me, and the speed limit there was 30 km/h - it was in a playground zone (which I guess increases the risk since there were lots of kids around who may just step right out without waiting for traffic to stop). She just drove on through the flashing crosswalk signs, not even looking at the sides of the road.
I hate to say it, but these two vehicles had something in common, and this type of driver is the one I have the most close calls with, both as a pedestrian and as another driver. They were both over about 70 years old. 
I have a *habit *of taking off my pants and bra when I walk into my own home. If because of this *habit *I remove my pants and bra when walking into someone else’s home, I’m still fucking retarded.
Smart people are able to recognize the times when their habits are appropriate and when they are not.
You’ve generally become much less obnoxious. I used to projectile vomit pretty much every time you opened your mouth, and now it’s down to things like occasional eyerolling at casual racism. So… good job? Question mark?
For serious, we need to do something to break the stranglehold of the AARP and other old fuck lobbyists on American politics. It’s ridiculous that we can’t institute mandatory retesting of every person with a driver’s license over a certain age at general intervals (e.g., every five years starting at 60, and every 12 or 18 months starting at 75). The safety of other motorists, bikers, and pedestrians shouldn’t be dependent on people’s willingness to sacrifice their own independence when they’ve become a danger to others (hah) or on their families’ willingness to force them into it.
Casual racism? I’m not particularly interested in going out and looking for some examples of this, but I don’t recall seeing anything of hers that pinged my “casual racist”-dar. 
I haven’t changed at all. You however are getting much worse, which you obviously know given the change in your title.
Obligatory “how you doin’?” post.
Oh, my stars, yes, 1,000% like/this/thumbs up/+1/concur. Every once in a while a state legislation will try to pass a law (something along the lines of “if you’re over a zillion years old and can’t see your own hand, we’d like to test your vision, m’kay?”) it will still either not pass or get so watered down as to be neutered beyond all conceivable usefulness.
I’m currently driving a car that used to belong to the proverbial little old lady who only drove it to church on Sundays … when she was still in her 90s. There are deep scratches - gouges, really - a foot away from the keyhole from where she was blindly stabbing at the door with her key, trying to open it. :eek:
It always did for me, since my birthday’s on the 2nd. 
I guess I have to post a mini-rant as well. As if it weren’t bad enough that Parkhead and I are both currently unemployed, today I found out that my mother has been fired from her preschool job because the new owner thinks she’s “not what she wants in her school”. I would like to know exactly what she meant by that, though I suppose it wouldn’t make much difference.
From flatlined’s crazy neighbor thread:
Haven’t you figured it out yet, tard? My titles are almost always insults that were directed at me by other posters that I found laughable.
Hey, now, it’s totally unfair to assume that she was having problems getting the key in the lock because she’s old.
Maybe she was drunk.
Ohferchrissakes, that isn’t racism, that’s reality. I’d never have pegged you as one of those hyper sensitive touchy feely types. Well, not when it didn’t have anything to do with you anyway.
Ah, you do struggle with the concept. Thanks for clarifying.
Christ in a box of Crackerjacks, can we have some call centers located here in the United Fucking States where people can speak some goddamned English? I just spent far too much time on the phone with Cell Phone Company trying to resolve a billing error and I couldn’t understand a good half of what the chick on the other end of the line was saying. I came away from it with the knowledge that I’m getting a form emailed to me in a few days. Hopefully that will resolve the error–if not, I’ll have to call again and take my chances that I’ll get somewhere a little closer to the North American Plate side of the Pacific.
We have this problem with the support desk at work, too. We’ve started referring to it as calling Punjab and Peggy.
Do they have a secretary? Sometimes a secretary makes all the difference. One that is not chronologically impared. If they don’t have a secretary, one of them needs to get break down and get a grad student assistant at good enough pay that they’ll stick around.
Preach on! I have scary out of state Grandma stories. I’m 55 and would not mind added testing a bit, just to protect me from the folks who need to be weeded out. I predict that as boomers age we’ll collect enough horror stories to finally get it passed.
As a taxpayer, I’d want them to correlate the added cost of retesting with lives saved, but if there’s really a problem, the numbers will be there. The only thing likely to stop that is boomers making a big deal about knowing when it’s time to give up driving, unlike their parents who hung on too long. It could happen.
I do understand that it’s hard for people to force relatives off the road. I remember a number of relatives who died two to six months after losing their vehicles. Having the DMV do it is still hard, but less of an attack. And unless the DMV is there to back it up, there’s really no way a family can do it, beyond having them declared to be incompetent.
That reminds me, I just saw the doctor so I need to update my list. Dammit. I’m now taking three meds for Type 2 diabetes (and the weight is coming down - small bright spot), two for blood pressure, and two for cholesterol. Makes me feel like a chemical cyborg or like I’m falling apart.
I feel a bit more positively about the arthritis med and the adderall. Mostly because I can feel the improvement. Of course the down side of that is that if I miss a dose I can feel it getting worse, too.
I know - Diet and Exercise, Exercise and Diet. I’m up to 1.8 miles before the knees go too wonky to continue. That takes about an hour. Trudge, trudge, trudge, limp. (If I don’t do it past the point of limping, the distance I can go doesn’t improve.) In fact, I need to go do it now. Bye.
This is way whiney, lame, and just a little TMI. But I must share so others can feel my pain.
Stupid store brand feminine hygiene products. I would normally stick with name brand, but I usually like Target brand stuff and I had a coupon. Anyways…
The sticky stuff on the panty liners isn’t as good as the name brand ones, so the liner got a little bunched up. The sticky stuff somehow managed to get stuck to the hairs down there and I gave myself an unexpected bikini wax. Ow ow ow ow ow
The worst part is that there IS a grad secretary, who was CC’ed on the email. And, theoretically, draws up the schedule of appointments like this for the director. She says she doesn’t know how the mix-up happened. Which gives me tons of faith for the future.
And they need to do this after about 5 PM. My grandmother had and my mother has Alzheimer’s. A patient of this disease can seem alert or maybe just a tad vague in the morning, but as the afternoon and evening wear on, they’ll be more and more confused. But they absolutely do not want to admit that they are having problems.
People in the US know that most areas simply don’t have good public transportation. If we can’t drive ourselves, then we’re very dependent on others. I’ve had times when I was so ill that I couldn’t manage to drive myself, and I had to ask for rides from my relatives and friends, and it’s humiliating. People rightly fear that they will be severely constrained if they can’t drive, so they don’t want to acknowledge the very real danger that they put themselves and other in.
Yes, this is exactly it (and it’s the same in Canada). My mom is a home care attendant and works with the elderly. The main concerns are lack of alternative transportation and the fact that they feel like they are losing their independence. My grandmother and her husband still drive and are 90 and 75 (respectively - grandma’s a cradle robber!) and I’ve been in vehicles with them. They are horrible, inattentive drivers, but of course, if anyone says anything, they get upset. Neither should be driving, but we aren’t sure how to go about this. If there were some legislation requiring that they re-take a simple driver’s test every few years, that would take the problem out of our hands.
Do they have a seatbelt law in Canada that tickets the driver for the passenger failing to buckle up? If so, here’s what ya do:
Go for a ride with Granny, sans belt, right past the Tim Horton’s (or poutine stand, or something). Wave out the window at every Mountie you see. When she collects her ticket, take it from her. “Aw, Granny, this is all my fault; I’ll send in the fine for it.”
And then don’t. Some six months later, she’ll get a letter from the DMV informing her that her licence has been suspended for failure to appear. You might want to hide that from her. Next time she goes to renew, they’ll tell her at the window, "Hey, we’re real soory aboot this, eh, but the computer keeps sayin’ your licence was suspended quite some time ago. We can’t renew you. Good day, eh?
Yes, it’s convoluted. But it’ll get the job done. 