And just how is this not an illegal monopoly, again?
Dog just ate his fifth (or sixth; I’ve lost count) pair of my bifocals. I’m 61; he’s one year old. I shouldn’t have to be the one who gets trained to not leave them on my nightstand.
I’m calling my optometrist in the morning and getting fitted for contacts.
I took some time off from Facebook, intending to leave it alone for just a couple of days. Now on Day 11 of Zero FB and starting to wonder if I even need to go back.
I belong to a couple of groups where friend’s communicate, but I’m not feeling like I’m really missing a whole lot. I’m definitely not missing the arguing and political bullshit.
I think part of it is that I am one of the most well informed people I know, from being so heavily connected to the internet for news/information purposes and being a master of Google Fu, and I have ended up using that awareness to spend too much time attempting to inform or argue with people who are, by comparison, ignorant savages. It just wears me down and kills my optimism, of which I don’t have a lot to spare.
It’s almost time to renew my lease! Let’s see what they’re going to ask for the next year!
Oh, hello, $300/month minimum increase! You were unexpected and unpleasant!
When I lived in Gainesville and had Cox I did not resist the obvious joke. Every month’s check had “You put the Cox in cable” in the memo line. It is a petty, childish thing that helped quell my impotent rage caused by the horrendous service. Still makes me chuckle a bit.
Because cable TV companies are claimed to be a ‘natural monopoly’, like other utilities – there’s only 1 set of electric wires running down the alley, or 1 water/sewer pipes under the street. The argument was that it would be too inefficient to have 2 different electric companies running a grid of electric supply lines through the city. And when they started out, cable TV companies & phone companies were treated the same way.
Now, I think that the efficiency of competition might be better than the efficiency of non-duplication of services*. Certainly seems so for services like cable TV, internet, & even phones. We have lots of competing cell phone companies, for example.
In many locations, we are starting to see competition between utilities – the cable TV franchise has coaxial cables that offer TV service, plus internet, plus phone service, while the land-line phone company is installing cables or fiber that allow them to offer a bundle of those same services, cellphone companies are expanding service to offer internet & TV in a bundle, and even some electric companies are looking at installing cables on their existing network of power poles to offer a bundle of such services.
Also, a minor reason might be that local governments make more money by restricting the franchise to only one cable company. Companies will pay more for ‘exclusive’ access to customers, their lobbyists will be more generous with campaign contributions, and even if the prices are a bit higher, so what – the government fee is usually a percentage of that, so higher prices just mean more income for the local government. Some cities have authorized multiple cable companies, or divided the city up between them – but lately most of them get bought out by one of the big cable conglomerates so there is no more competition.
- The problem with this is that the ‘competition’ tends to go away, when there are only a few competitors. The companies find it easier to increase profits by colluding on prices than to actually compete with each other. So you see lots of competitors, but they all seem to raise prices at the same time, by about the same amount.
In my case, it’s because I really didn’t want them fucking with my spine again, after the failed epidural last time! It leaked and needed a second try.
The thing they make you sign for spine-fuckery is a little scary, even in labour.
Secure your contact case!
A year or two ago, our dog Loki somehow got my hearing aid and crunched it into a billion tiny pieces. A replacement was $3,000. 
I’ve had several different friends who thought ‘Loki’ would be a good name for a dog. It turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy in both cases. Really, they would have been better off with ‘Satan’s Little Helper’, especially since they didn’t need to trick a giant into building a wall around Asgard or stuff.
This month’s cringe-worthy entry: upmost. That’s not a word. OK, if you are inventing words on-the-fly, I can see where you are going with that: “The book is on the upmost shelf.” “Take the elevator to the downmost level.” But those are bad, bad words. And when you have a puzzle, you can’t just make up words and expect people to guess what words you made up!
No, I am pretty sure that you just don’t understand the word “utmost”.
(I think when Games and World of Puzzles merged, they eliminated all their proofreaders. I have previously griped about “lessser than” and “barbeque”.)
We have a goat named Loki. He’s the tamest, so he makes the most trouble because he isn’t afraid to just come up and rifle through your pockets. He doesn’t always play well with other critters, so it can be hard to approach them when he’s following you around. And of course, he has big clumsy horns which will bonk into all things. This is not optional.
dictionary.com thinks it’s a word, and has been since the 1500s.
UPMOST Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
Everybody has different needs, but Facebook wore me down to the point that I came to absolutely despise it. I left maybe 6-8 months ago, deleted my account and not only do I not miss it, I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude when someone mentions FB drama. Just an insanely childish, internal reaction of ‘‘ENJOY, SUCKERS!!!’’ All the people I thought I couldn’t live without, turns out I can. The ones I can’t live without, I talk with via Messenger on my phone, or actually call them. With the pleasant bonus that they don’t know every detail of my life from the internet and we actually have stuff to talk about.
Now I had hoped that leaving FB would result in me wasting less time. That is not so much the case, but at least I actually enjoy the time I waste.
Huh. I also lived in Gainesville. 2014.
I don’t know how, but when I internet explorer, I get pop-ups says this idiot or that sent me an email. This guy sent an e-mail- so click here to close. That guy sent an email -so click here to close. Oh, and BTW, you have more email messages, so click here to close.
Guess what? There are ALWAYS new email messages. And if I wanted to know about them now, I would have OPENED THE EMAIL PAGE! I do not want this reminder, and I cannot figure out how to stop it.
Fucknuggetts.
I was way before your time…'92-96 and again '01-05. Glutton for punishment I guess;)
Other than that, I.E. kind of sucks.
You and Chimera came along at the right time. I’ve never been on social media (my line is “I waste too much time online already.”) but I was thinking about it, because I keep missing music gigs … and Videos of Random Cuteness starring my nephews and nieces.
But, you’ve got a point. I don’t need drama and political lies from the tightie-righties. I’ll just try to remember to check my friends’ bands’ websites.
And resign myself to hearing second-hand how cuuuute the Frozen medley was, as sung by little Brandon/Brayndon/Brenden/Whatshisname.
I have friends who occasionally deactivate their accounts for this very reason. I don’t deactivate, but ignore its existence for days at a time. I also heavily filter whatever I post because I’m the one who chooses who knows what. I also unfollow people whose posts annoy the crap out of me.
I don’t have that level of self-control. For one thing, I had emotional attachments to friends with toxic posting habits. It was like being in a bunch of awful codependent relationships. suspect social media exacerbates my ADD because I’d get caught in an endless refresh loop for hours. I encounter similar issues (re: ADD) on the Straight Dope, but at least here the majority are reasonable, educated posters. I rarely engage in a debate here where I don’t learn something. On FB I could feel myself getting stupider.
I tried deactivation many times with FB. I made concerted efforts to curate my feed. I tried time restriction. Total account deletion was a last resort. I occasionally talk to my friends who are still on Facebook and they are almost exclusively miserable. In response to my decision I have received a resounding: " You’re not missing anything."
It’s not my place to tell other people what makes them happy or what they can live with. I just know what I need.
Another thing I might venture to speculate is I think it’s easier for older generations to remain emotionally detached from internet goings-on. In my experience it’s the tech native people like myself who really struggle, because my brain makes virtually no distinction between this and “real life.” Just a general theory.
I don’t deactivate - I have too many family and good friends in widely-scattered areas for whom FB is my only real contact.
But I will, and do, occasionally walk away for days or even weeks.