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Joined 6 months ago
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Cake day: March 7th, 2024

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  • I got a Brother INKvestment Tank MFC-J4335DW. I think it was a Wirecutter pick. The ink is supposed to last for up to a year, it’s a Brother so there’s no fuckery, it does color and b+w, prints, copies, scans and faxes. Since my PC is old (Win7), I had a little difficulty setting it up, but it’s worked perfectly ever since.

    Pricing on that unit: you can find used and refurbished ones for about $120, but I hate buying used printers. After poking around the Internet a bit, I bought a new one online from Staples for $179.99 (which is MSRP). It’s over the minimum limit, so I got free shipping; it showed up at my door the next day.

    I have a Staples rewards account; they had an offer where you got 30% of your purchase price back in rewards points (you need to activate the offer first) [this offer is still available]. So they gave me 10680 points for that 30% reward, plus another 178 points for the purchase. I took the ink cartridges out of the old printer and gave them to Staples Recycling for another 100 points each. I also gave them my old printer to recycle (easier than taking it to the towns e-waste event every spring); they gave me another 500 points for that, plus 1000 points because it was my first time recycling tech with them.

    In total, I got 12858 points, worth about $64 in store credit. Since I actually do use office supplies, I know I’ll use the credit: for example, yesterday, I picked up 4 reams of printer paper for $3.74 each (though I do miss their back-to-school penny-paper week!).

    Anyway, that’s what I went with: the Brother MFC-J4335DW from Staples. YMMV.


  • I’d’ve called the front desk when they were screaming at each other in the room. The front desk handles this sort of thing more than you and would have a better feel as to whether (for example) these are regular customers, how the local cops react, whether this is a normal or irregular occurrence for the area, etc. If the front desk or the cops had then stopped by the room with a noise complaint, that may have interrupted the disagreement enough that it may not have escalated later on. If they didn’t stop by with a noise complaint, I very likely would have done the standard ‘banging on the wall to get them to shut up’ thing, which may have had the same effect (I have trouble sleeping and this nose would’ve made me very irritable). I don’t know if I’d’ve opened my hotel room door, but I’d’ve at least looked out the peephole to assess the situation - and I’d’ve double-checked the lock and chain on the door during the first argument.


  • The same way you form any group: you meet regularly. Set a time and place that seems like it would be good for a good percentage of the people, and turn up there, every meeting. Have some of the meetings be about a concept or theme; let everyone know what the concept is ahead of time, so they can think about it and maybe do research or bring examples. And have some of the meetings be open meetings, where anyone can talk about stuff relevant to the group’s purpose. If it becomes a more active group, you may need to limit talking time per person in the open meetings; and if a particular topic catches fire in an open meeting, you can revisit the topic in a themed meeting.

    But groups are formed the same way friendships are formed: people turn up regularly to spend time together. Some meetings you may be the only person there, but be open and welcoming to those that do show up.










  • Wikipedia:

    In late 2006, programmer Jed McCaleb thought of building a website for users of the Magic: The Gathering Online tradable card game service, to let them trade “Magic: The Gathering Online” cards like stocks.[13][14][4] In January 2007, he purchased the domain name mtgox.com, short for “Magic: The Gathering Online eXchange”.[15][16][17][18] Initially in beta release,[19] sometime around late 2007, the service went live for approximately three months before McCaleb moved on to other projects, having decided it was not worth his time. In 2009, he reused the domain name to advertise his card game The Far Wilds.[20]

    In July 2010, McCaleb read about bitcoin on Slashdot,[21] and decided that the bitcoin community needed an exchange for trading bitcoin and regular currencies. On 18 July, Mt. Gox launched its exchange and price quoting service deploying it on the spare mtgox.com domain name.[14][22]

    I’m not sure when people started to refer to it as Mt Gox.




  • I know there’s a floor insulation issue, but what about redirecting air, and other sources of leaks? Does your basement have vents in it? Turn them off and maybe consider getting bent covers that can seal in the summer. Close the vents on the first floor so that (the majority of) the cool air comes in at the second floor and sinks down. Weather-strip and baffle the basement door.

    Also, see if your electric company offers a home energy assessment. It takes about an hour, and there are usually two tiers: free, and a second tier where you pay for a blow test. They can make some recommendations on making your home more energy efficient.


  • With that technology, no. But retailers track where you are in their stores. And even if you don’t bring your phone with you, they’re using facial recognition technology and will eventually try working with that.

    So they probably have a good idea who you are. And they also have your purchase history - what you bought and at what price you bought it. They have your frequent shopper card history, your online purchases, everything they’ve put together from data aggregators.

    They have all the pieces: they can track you in the store, they know the prices you’re willing to pay for things, and they can change the price as you walk down the aisle. Do you seriously think someone isn’t going to start putting all that together?