What is your pet peeve of the day?

[Boho]

They're even trying to take away garbage disposals (In Vermont). "The local, official consensus: Remains of a meal, even ground up finely and whooshed down the pipes with water, pose expensive and even dangerous risks to wastewater treatment plants."

I looked up the operating cost of garbage disposals (I didn't find anything on electricity cost) because I suspect the sewage repair costs from people who flush tissues and wipes are lower than the cost of a home garbage disposal for every person. Because if the costs were higher, cities would require sewage disposals that mechanically break down the waste, and they'd be more efficient than one per home. Probably fewer than one per building. And the cost of a home garbage disposal is considered worth it, or else they wouldn't sell them. So it's not like the cost of the damage isn't worth it.

 

[Boho]

These things usually require math though and I don't really do that so I'm not saying everyone should flush coffee filters down their toilets. I'm just experimenting so you don't have to.

 

[O2Bfree]

I agree. We have a small trash can next to the toilet mainly just for facial tissues. Coffee grounds go in the compost bin. You can even compost the filter. Only TP goes in the toilet.

I don't even put hair in the toilet. DH, who worked for the city's water system, says that commonly-flushed stuff such as hair, dental floss, condoms, and applicators that do not break down at the treatment plant must be skimmed off by a special machine and sometimes manually by a person. Build up a wad of that stuff, and you have the potential for problems at many points in the system, especially when mixed with grease and other foodstuff.

This explains why DH has never flinched at the sights of the most gory hairballs our cats have launched over the years. He'll have a plastic bag in hand and the little carpet cleaner out while I'm still going, "Eeewwwww!"

 

[travelover]

............ Only TP goes in the toilet.

I don't even put hair in the toilet.........

I'm afraid to admit that I poop in mine.

 

[Gumby]

I'm afraid to admit that I poop in mine.

Touché.

 

[pb4uski]

Today it is "annualized" GDP reports. The economy contracted by 9.5% in Q2, yet the Commerce Department likes to quote annualized rates. Annualized rates are an interesting measure of the rate of change, but kind of irrelevant as a measurement of the current state of economy as a whole.

Then the headlines come, out of context, and say "economy plunged 32.9%". It did not, it went down by 9.5%. Some of them will say "...annual rate" but most people who don't follow finances as closely as ER.org members will miss that detail. I guess it has always been reported this way, but in the normal random walk of the economy it didn't really matter.

I disagree. I suspect that they have always published annualized rates because in most cases, especially "normal" economies, annualized GDP change is more relevant and insightful since GDP doesn't normally change drastically from quarter to quarter like it has post covid.

And if they typically quoted annualized numbers and changed to the quarter only number then they would be accused of spinning the number to make it look less bad.

What I heard for headlines clearly framed the 32.9% as an annualized rate.

I'm not sure if the numbers quoted make sense... if it dropped 9.5% in the second quarter, wouldn't the annualized rate be 43.8%? [((1+9.5%)^4)-1]

 

[pb4uski]

They're even trying to take away garbage disposals (In Vermont). "The local, official consensus: Remains of a meal, even ground up finely and whooshed down the pipes with water, pose expensive and even dangerous risks to wastewater treatment plants."....

Don't be stupid... they are not trying to take away garbage disposals. In fact the first part of the article says:

Convenient? Absolutely. Legal? So far, yes. ...

The law requiring composting is causing some problems for some people who are not composting right... more reports of critters, including bears, getting into food scraps that are not properly secured for those who take their food scraps to a commercial site. We've done backyard composting for years so no change for us.

Besides, they really have no way of enforcing it so many are just doing what they have always done. It is a stupid law anyway but has nothing to do with garbage disposals that I have heard of other than this dumb Free Press article.

 

[Time2]

Don't be stupid... they are not trying to take away garbage disposals. In fact the first part of the article says:

Don't be to sure, I picked out this quote from one article.
"For years, the great garbage-disposal wars have been going on without most of us even noticing. Cities like New York—along with many governments in Europe —banned disposals altogether, arguing that the added food waste would overtax the water-treatment system. (New York removed the ban for residential kitchens in 1997.)"
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffnt&q=garbage+disposal+ban+in+europe&atb=v229-2&ia=web

 

[statsman]

I don't see how it's possible to completely prevent any food from getting into the drain system in the kitchen. Now, if the advice is to try and not purposely put food into the kitchen drain that can be easily placed in the trash or compost pile, I have no problem with that. It's pretty much what we've done for many years now. We can go many days before there is a need to turn on the garbage disposal.

 

[Badger]

They're even trying to take away garbage disposals (In Vermont). "The local, official consensus: Remains of a meal, even ground up finely and whooshed down the pipes with water, pose expensive and even dangerous risks to wastewater treatment plants."

We tend to eat our food. "Waste not, want not." We rarely have more than a 1/2 kitchen bag of garbage to throw out each week. Not much more than a single bite of food left from a meal to go into a garbage disposal if that. Usually it is scraped into the garbage to compost instead of any grease clogging up the drain.



Cheers!

 

[Gumby]

We tend to eat our food. "Waste not, want not." We rarely have more than a 1/2 kitchen bag of garbage to throw out each week. Not much more than a single bite of food left from a meal to go into a garbage disposal if that. Usually it is scraped into the garbage to compost instead of any grease clogging up the drain.
Cheers!

My town has single stream recycling for glass, metal, plastic and cardboard/paper. And the young wife and I backyard compost all vegetable matter and even paper from the shredder. Our trash therefore mostly consists of things that cannot be composted or recycled, like plastic wrap and food contaminated containers that can't reasonably be rinsed off. It also contains meat scraps, which are few and far between, as we limit our meat portions to 4 oz. each, grease and bones. (Technically, you could compost meat, but it smells bad, attracts raccoons and other vermin, and could be a health hazard if not done right. So we don't.) In Connecticut, non-recyclable trash is mostly burned in trash fired electric plants. We don't have or need a garbage disposal in the kitchen sink.

 

[folivier]

Where's my package?!

So I'm sitting up in the Colorado mountains, in a subdivision between Montrose and Gunnison in our motorhome where we are buying a lot. I ordered an item from Amazon Prime. It is being delivered by UPS Surepost with final delivery by USPS. Unfortunately USPS doesn't deliver into the subdivision so I will have to drive 45 minutes to the local post office to get it. If it is ever delivered. The post office will only hold it for 24 hours before sending it back according to the postmaster. Below is the tracking info from UPS, the USPS says it hasn't received the item yet. So I guess I'll probably end up reordering it. OTOH I had a chat with an Amazon rep and they agreed to flag this address for future deliveries to NOT be delivered by USPS. To clarify, I have no problem with USPS other than them not delivering up on the mountain here whereas UPS and Fedex does. My gripe is that UPS and USPS can't agree on where my package is.
Here is the tracking info from UPS as of this morning:

Progress Indicator Status Date Location Activity
Future Event Delivery - -
-
Current Event In Transit 07/30/2020 4:14 P.M. -
Package transferred to post office
07/30/2020 8:39 A.M. Gunnison, CO, United States Destination Scan
07/30/2020 1:51 A.M. Commerce City, CO, United States Departed from Facility
07/28/2020 11:54 P.M. Commerce City, CO, United States Arrived at Facility
07/28/2020 8:18 P.M. Steamboat Springs, CO, United States Departed from Facility
07/28/2020 10:14 A.M. Steamboat Springs, CO, United States We've incorrectly sorted this package which may cause a delay.
07/28/2020 3:18 A.M. Commerce City, CO, United States Departed from Facility
07/27/2020 8:15 P.M. Commerce City, CO, United States Arrived at Facility
07/27/2020 7:55 P.M. Aurora, CO, United States Departed from Facility
07/27/2020 10:53 A.M. Aurora, CO, United States Arrived at Facility
07/25/2020 6:00 A.M. Commerce City, CO, United States Arrived at Facility
07/24/2020 11:30 P.M. Kansas City, KS, United States Your package is in transit. We're updating plans to schedule your delivery.
07/24/2020 7:55 P.M. Lenexa, KS, United States Departed from Facility
Past Event Shipped 07/24/2020 12:49 P.M. Kansas City, KS, United States
Origin Scan
Past Event Label Created 07/24/2020 1:02 P.M. United States
Order Processed: Ready for UPS
Shipment Details
Service
UPS SurePost Open the link in a new window
Weight
6.40 OZS

 

[pb4uski]

I don't see how it's possible to completely prevent any food from getting into the drain system in the kitchen. Now, if the advice is to try and not purposely put food into the kitchen drain that can be easily placed in the trash or compost pile, I have no problem with that. It's pretty much what we've done for many years now. We can go many days before there is a need to turn on the garbage disposal.

+1 And that is what the new law mandating compostables be a separate recycling stream (separate from trash that goes to the landfill) is intended to do. People can backyard compost as we do or drop it off at the recycling center.

 

[6miths]

So I had two today so figured I was going to have to choose one but I forgot the second one so clearly the first must be my pet peeve of the day.

I have been at the cottage on the shores of beautiful Lake Huron for the past 6 weeks. Not many people around until now but it is a holiday weekend in Canada, the Civic Holiday and travel restrictions are off. So lots of visitors and activity and this morning I went out to take my daily morning wake up/rinse off dip in the lake and I look right and left and on both sides visitors are in the lake washing their hair with shampoo. Three on one side and one on the other. I mean come on, these people just arrived last night, how dirty can their hair be?!

 

[CardsFan]

So I had two today so figured I was going to have to choose one but I forgot the second one so clearly the first must be my pet peeve of the day.

Maybe it had something to do with memory loss

Sorry, but just trying to inject some humor.

 

[aja8888]

So I'm sitting up in the Colorado mountains, in a subdivision between Montrose and Gunnison in our motorhome where we are buying a lot. I ordered an item from Amazon Prime. It is being delivered by UPS Surepost with final delivery by USPS. Unfortunately USPS doesn't deliver into the subdivision so I will have to drive 45 minutes to the local post office to get it. If it is ever delivered. The post office will only hold it for 24 hours before sending it back according to the postmaster. Below is the tracking info from UPS, the USPS says it hasn't received the item yet. So I guess I'll probably end up reordering it. OTOH I had a chat with an Amazon rep and they agreed to flag this address for future deliveries to NOT be delivered by USPS. To clarify, I have no problem with USPS other than them not delivering up on the mountain here whereas UPS and Fedex does. My gripe is that UPS and USPS can't agree on where my package is.
Here is the tracking info from UPS as of this morning:

Progress Indicator Status Date Location Activity
Future Event Delivery - -
-
Current Event In Transit 07/30/2020 4:14 P.M. -
Package transferred to post office
07/30/2020 8:39 A.M. Gunnison, CO, United States Destination Scan
07/30/2020 1:51 A.M. Commerce City, CO, United States Departed from Facility
07/28/2020 11:54 P.M. Commerce City, CO, United States Arrived at Facility
07/28/2020 8:18 P.M. Steamboat Springs, CO, United States Departed from Facility
07/28/2020 10:14 A.M. Steamboat Springs, CO, United States We've incorrectly sorted this package which may cause a delay.
07/28/2020 3:18 A.M. Commerce City, CO, United States Departed from Facility
07/27/2020 8:15 P.M. Commerce City, CO, United States Arrived at Facility
07/27/2020 7:55 P.M. Aurora, CO, United States Departed from Facility
07/27/2020 10:53 A.M. Aurora, CO, United States Arrived at Facility
07/25/2020 6:00 A.M. Commerce City, CO, United States Arrived at Facility
07/24/2020 11:30 P.M. Kansas City, KS, United States Your package is in transit. We're updating plans to schedule your delivery.
07/24/2020 7:55 P.M. Lenexa, KS, United States Departed from Facility
Past Event Shipped 07/24/2020 12:49 P.M. Kansas City, KS, United States
Origin Scan
Past Event Label Created 07/24/2020 1:02 P.M. United States
Order Processed: Ready for UPS
Shipment Details
Service
UPS SurePost Open the link in a new window
Weight
6.40 OZS

I've had stufflike this happen with the USPS and I live on the outskirts of a 6,000,000 population city. Our County of 642,000 people border that big city. Our postal driver told me that the photos on the Informed Delivery site are not real.

You get what you pay for or who you elected.

 

[Boho]

OK, I decided I want to know. I looked up IUD photos and I still don't know. What are the things in this photo?

 

[Nemo2]

OK, I decided I want to know. I looked up IUD photos and I still don't know. What are the things in this photo?

You mean other than the tampon applicators and the condom?

 

[statsman]

+1 And that is what the new law mandating compostables be a separate recycling stream (separate from trash that goes to the landfill) is intended to do. People can backyard compost as we do or drop it off at the recycling center.

I really liked the system we had back in California (Silicon Valley). We had garbage, recycle, and yard debris bins. The yard debris bins could handle yard waste (grass, leaves, small branches, etc.) plus food scraps. The latter could include used paper plates and napkins, soiled cardboard pizza boxes, etc. They actually advised the inclusion of paper products as this helped control some of the smell until pickup day.

The good part was the yard debris bin contents were used to produce compost that the homeowners could pick up and use in their yards. In addition, city (and maybe county) landscaping used the compost. When you hear about recycling products being re-routed to the landfill, it was good to hear and support an actual recycled product.

 

[Boho]

You mean other than the tampon applicators and the condom?

Oh. Yesterday I looked at various dispensers but I think I blocked tampons out of my mind.

 

[6miths]

So I had two today so figured I was going to have to choose one but I forgot the second one so clearly the first must be my pet peeve of the day.

Maybe it had something to do with memory loss

Sorry, but just trying to inject some humor.

No, that wasn't it. That stopped bothering me some time ago. Can't remember how long.

 

[audreyh1]

On Amazon, every item has both a series of questions and answers in addition to the regular reviews. Under those answers, a significant number are answered "I don't know". What kind of an idiot bothers to respond that way?

Someone (a prior purchaser) who got an email from Amazon asking them to answer that question from another customer.

 

[travelover]

Someone (a prior purchaser) who got an email from Amazon asking them to answer that question from another customer.

Yea, I've gotten those questions, too. But 1) I'd never respond with "I don't know" and 2) it is ridiculous for Amazon to post those answers. Amazon has incredibly sophisticated algorithms that sort out all kinds of customer behavior and they can't weed out "I don't know" answers?

 

[CardsFan]

Yea, I've gotten those questions, too. But 1) I'd never respond with "I don't know" and 2) it is ridiculous for Amazon to post those answers. Amazon has incredibly sophisticated algorithms that sort out all kinds of customer behavior and they can't weed out "I don't know" answers?

Apparently, they don't?

 

[Boho]

They can't filter out all replies containing "I don't know" because it could be an answer to "does it work" that says "works great but I don't know if it will last." And of all the "I don't know" answers, there are probably few that say only that.