I Wish ... Was Never Invented

[Koolau]

I do get that a loud gas-powered blower ineffectively blowing a bunch of leaves around a yard for hours on end is annoying.

But for blowing fine debris off of hard surfaces, a blower excels.

My battery powered leaf blower (er, my power broom) is quieter than my little self propelled walk behind lawn mower. And I mow for an hour vs only a few minutes of blowing after mowing. It is a great tool for quick clean up.

Imagine living where it's sunny and warm 365 days/year. The trees, bushes and grass grow constantly. So it can take two or three days of cutting, mowing, grinding, string-trimming and blowing to take care of our condo property. We need the windows open for the trade winds, so we just kinda get used to the noise. The good news: Two guys can do the j*b that it would probably take 8 or 10 guys to do quietly by hand. (SWAG, so YMMV.)

 

[MarieIG]

Back in my prosecutorial days, I once had to go after the owner of a small bodega in a nearby city. He would buy SNAP cards for 50 cents on the dollar, then take a bunch of them to the auto checkout at Costco and buy the inventory for his store, which he would then sell at exorbitant prices, largely to the same people who sold him their SNAP cards in the first place. That's how you really improve your margins.

 

[MarieIG]

The use of cell phones on trains, particularly the LIRR, worsened an already crummy commute for the last ~10 years of my career (1998-2008). The train rides went from lousy but generally fairly quiet and peaceful to lousy and more annoying thanks to the frequent loud yapping by my fellow train riders. And it would take only one rude rider to ruin the ride of dozens of other riders within earshot.

I remember someone having a website dedicated to all the rude actions of LIRR riders, mostly cell phone users. The best one I remember is someone, after repeatedly asking a young woman to speak softly or end her call, then taking a picture of her with his own cell phone. When she objected, he said, "I just want a picture of the RUDEST LIRR rider EVER!" She ended her call right away and didn't say a word the rest of the ride.

Then there was the woman whose cell phone rang during a live play with a small audience surrounding the stage on 3 sides. But she didn't know how to turn her phone off to stop the ringing. It got so bad that someone else in the audience yelled to her, "Will you shut that thing off?" The actors had to stop the play as the woman left the seating area. Then, the lead actress apologized, to applause from everyone else, and restarted the play at the start of the scene.

Ok - my LIRR noise story. I was on the training coming back from the City on a Friday - probably about 2:30. It was filled with construction workers popping beers and having a fine time expressing themselves rather loudly. I huddled in a corner, and pulled my trench coat as far up as I could to protect myself from beer spray. (I was actually glad to have caught the train, and was not bothered overly much by the noise, although I could have done without the beer spray.)

I saw the conductor enter the car, look around, and pick his way carefully past the construction workers and come directly to me and said: "Ma'am, we've gotten complaints about the noise coming from this car - you are going to have to keep it down."

This actually tickled my funny-bone and I looked around in an exaggerated manner, smiled and said "ok". There had not been a peep out of me other than an "excuse me" when I sat down, - but I figured the conductor was looking for the person least likely to object to being told to keep it down.

And yes, the loud talkers could be brutal. I never engaged in an argument, but I did observe a few . . .

 

[Gumby]

I was happy when they got rid of the bar cars on the Metro-North.

 

[Koolau]

Ok - my LIRR noise story. I was on the training coming back from the City on a Friday - probably about 2:30. It was filled with construction workers popping beers and having a fine time expressing themselves rather loudly. I huddled in a corner, and pulled my trench coat as far up as I could to protect myself from beer spray. (I was actually glad to have caught the train, and was not bothered overly much by the noise, although I could have done without the beer spray.)

I saw the conductor enter the car, look around, and pick his way carefully past the construction workers and come directly to me and said: "Ma'am, we've gotten complaints about the noise coming from this car - you are going to have to keep it down."

This actually tickled my funny-bone and I looked around in an exaggerated manner, smiled and said "ok". There had not been a peep out of me other than an "excuse me" when I sat down, - but I figured the conductor was looking for the person least likely to object to being told to keep it down.

And yes, the loud talkers could be brutal. I never engaged in an argument, but I did observe a few . . .

I love this story. I have one 90 degrees to it. CA 1972 the megacorp that I w*rked for had a production facility and the break room for the (all male at that time) w*rkers was used by my lab as well. There was card playing, coffee drinking, raised voices, smoking, etc. during break time. 80 or so men filled the room.

Megacorp began hiring females to be integrated into the production operations. All new hires of prospective production w*rkers came in as custodial staff. One duty was to clean the break room. One day, the first female custodian came into the break room. She was simply stunning even in her ubiquitous megacorp provided uniform. If you've heard "you could hear a pin drop" then you understand what happened. I've never felt so sorry for a stranger as I did for this young lady. She didn't even acknowledge the quiet and simply went about her tasks with grace. The noise finally returned and everything pretty much got back to normal. I've never seen anything like that since.

 

[CaptTom]

... I don't think the word "invention" applies to something like a traffic sign.

Agreed. I only continued that part of the thread, did not start it. I'll also admit that there are intersections which really need stop signs. There's one near me which doesn't have a sign, but I come to a full stop anyway because the sight lines are so poor in both directions.

My only complaint with Facebook is that the ads have gotten out of control the last couple years...

Fully agree here. But at least they're identified as "sponsored" content, so you can skip over them once you've gotten used to looking for that in the fine print.

To me what has really made FB useless is the algorithm. There used to be a link you could click to see posts in order of most recently added. They removed that so you could only see them in the order the algorithm dictates.

The same problem occurs in FB marketplace. It'll always show you what it thinks you want to see, based on what you previously searched for or clicked on. It doesn't support browsing of what's been added recently.

The algorithm was not designed with your best interests in mind.

 

[Walt34]

Motorcycles and jet skis.

Both are lots of fun, but as usual the issue is with the users/owners. One popular "modification" to motorcycles is to remove the muffler baffles to make them even louder than they come from the factory. And yes, there are federal standards for motorcycles, although they're so lax one wouldn't know it.

But check out a BMW motorcycle. They're every bit as quiet as the car of the same make.

Another issue is how they're ridden. When I had a motorcycle (2008 Suzuki C90T) and rode it home from work at 10:30 PM, I was careful to keep the engine rpm low and coast when possible. Several neighbors commented that while they could hear it, it wasn't the least bit annoying, and they were grateful.

So what is really the problem, as usual, is inconsiderate people.

"It's all in the wrist."

 

[Koolau]

But check out a BMW motorcycle. They're every bit as quiet as the car of the same make.

Ah, yes. I've never owned a MC but always thought the BMW was the coolest looking and sounding bike out there. The large models look like you could ride them for 1000 miles. A real road bike if there ever was one. Low center of gravity as well.

 

[ncbill]

That, and better service. A friend of mine worked part time in a small grocery store in a wealthy area (this model doesn't work in poor neighborhoods). What they offered was better service. There were no lines at the cash registers. Ever. If someone was waiting they opened another register. The store was immaculate and nothing was ever out of stock. Their prices were higher, the customers knew it and also understood why, and were willing to pay for it.

What they did was save people time, and in that neighborhood the model worked.

Well, it's still a chain, but I prefer to go to the Ace Hardware 5 minutes away over the Home Depot or Lowe's 15+ minutes away for the better service from old dudes who have been working at that same Ace store for years, some decades.

Good luck finding anyone but cashiers at HD/Lowe's.

 

[Koolau]

Well, it's still a chain, but I prefer to go to the Ace Hardware 5 minutes away over the Home Depot or Lowe's 15+ minutes away for the better service from old dudes who have been working at that same Ace store for years, some decades.

Good luck finding anyone but cashiers at HD/Lowe's.

Heh, heh, asked an empml*yee at Lowe's where something was. He sent us all the way the wrong way to the other end of the store. Not too happy about that as one of us was in the electric cart and the other was using a cane at the time.

 

[Chuckanut]

Well, it's still a chain, but I prefer to go to the Ace Hardware 5 minutes away over the Home Depot or Lowe's 15+ minutes away for the better service from old dudes who have been working at that same Ace store for years, some decades.

Good luck finding anyone but cashiers at HD/Lowe's.

My local HD has some pretty good guys working there. And a few empty heads. You just have to seek out the right person.

 

[Major Tom]

I don't know. Twinkies seem to loom large in a number of classic movies though YMMV.

https://theweek.com/articles/470296/5-movies-where-twinkies-played-supporting-role

Aaah well, the inclusion of Twinkies in some major movies completely validates their existence!

 

[Koolau]

My local HD has some pretty good guys working there. And a few empty heads. You just have to seek out the right person.

Yeah, back when we were remodeling, we found a fair number of real yo-yos at HD but a couple of guys who really understood their products and how to use them. We often tracked down the "good guys" when we'd stop by. Well worth the extra time.

 

[Idnar7]

Strip shopping centers
Infomercials
Subscription cable channels
Game shows
Lobbyists

 

[O2Bfree]

Super-sized meals.

Actually, the whole supersize-bigger-is-better trend—bigger meals, bigger vehicles, bigger houses, bigger adventures, bigger excitements, bigger egos. The happiness equation in this country seems to have become "more desires = more satisfaction = more happiness." I still prefer the equation "happiness = satisfaction/desires."

 

[audreyh1]

Super-sized meals.

Actually, the whole supersize-bigger-is-better trend—bigger meals, bigger vehicles, bigger houses, bigger adventures, bigger excitements, bigger egos. The happiness equation in this country seems to have become "more desires = more satisfaction = more happiness." I still prefer the equation "happiness = satisfaction/desires."

That’s because businesses look to the consumer to drive the economy and thus their profitability. So loads of advertising and of course the constant message to buy more. You deserve more, blah blah blah…..

 

[O2Bfree]

That’s because businesses look to the consumer to drive the economy and thus their profitability. So loads of advertising and of course the constant message to buy more. You deserve more, blah blah blah…..

There's also an element of consumer greed there. More = more happy chemicals in the brain. We're wired to take the bait—hook, line, and sinker.

 

[audreyh1]

There's also an element of consumer greed there. More = more happy chemicals in the brain. We're wired to take the bait—hook, line, and sinker.

Our US commercial culture however pushes that very hard. In Europe they are more focused on quality of life and work/life balance.

 

[Gumby]

To quote a famous first lady "Just Say No."

 

[tryan]

Covid

 

[Time2]

I read me local 'Next Door' website, to keep up with what's going on in my area. While I have some empathy for people in financial distress, I wish the pleas to send money to help on cashapp, or gofundme or zelle posts had never started. Often seems to be auto related or need money for first month and deposit on a house that causes the need for other peoples money.
Today's fair triggered me, the fellow kept changing his story, didn't want to use gofundme because they took 2.9%, so he wanted a direct deposit into his checking account.