(pictured above: mango smoothie and blueberry muffin)
Everything tastes better when it’s free!
I’m so glad I looked up birthday promotions a couple weeks ago. (Especially since you have to sign up for these a week in advance, presumably to encourage people to give their *actual* birthdays and not just whatever the current day is.)
(I mean, I had to subscribe to their respective newsletters, but I have a dedicated email address specifically for receiving newsletters from people who might give me free stuff, so no big deal. And both stores were on the way to the Chinese takeout place, so the fuel cost was negligible.)
Tags:
#adventures in human capitalism #birthday #oh look an original post #food
I do this too! Since my post-2012 appetite is pretty good at adjusting for the calorie density of my food, the intuitive unit for “how *big* is this food relative to other foods” is the kcal. (Which runs into problems when I’m trying to figure out relative food prices *in general*, because Mom’s intuitive appetite unit is the “serving” (whatever *that* means) and Dad’s is the “millilitre”, so we sometimes can’t even agree on whether one piece of food is bigger than another. But as long as I focus on only my own eating I can get a good sense of it.)
A lot of things turn out to be cheaper than they look because of high calorie-density. I was especially surprised by peanut butter: I figured it would be *somewhat* on the cheap side, but it’s as cheap as ramen. (In my own circumstances, that is; I notice your figure for ramen is higher than mine, if I moved the decimal places right (I work with “cents to two decimal places”). Both peanut butter and ramen were 0.06 cents/kcal.)
Tags:
#food #adventures in human capitalism #reply via reblog #disordered eating #(I’m okay but I expect people blocking that tag do not want to read this)
(AFAICT there’s not even a markup! except on the Visa, but the Visa is one of the few you can’t buy with gift-card credit anyway)
The bad news is, it looks like none of them are stores I normally shop at. But some of them (such as Starbucks and Panera) would only require going a *little* out of my way, and in general this vastly increases the likelihood that Amazon credit will become useful in the future.
(there are occasional complaints of cards arriving empty, but most reviews are excellent even after the “not bothering to review because nothing to complain about” effect, and most of the empty-card people get it sorted out eventually (note that the cards are sold by Amazon directly and not shady third-party sellers), so it’s probably okay but one might want to check the balance before trying to use it just in case)
(also they Technically Don’t Ship to Canada, but who cares, half of them aren’t even physical and I can just funnel them through my cousins anyway)
I encourage anyone who has excess Amazon-US credit lying around or otherwise gets a discount on Amazon purchases (especially if they’re a US resident, so they don’t need a funnelling contact) to investigate this themselves. None of them are stores *I* normally shop at, but they might be stores *you* normally shop at.
Tags:
#adventures in human capitalism #oh look an original post #the more you know #home of the brave
i’m sorry i understand this is trying to make a point but literally all i can think is “what the shit kind of graphic design is this”
Recently, I had a practice exercise for Critical Thinking class (Unit 7: How to Lie with Statistics) in which I had to find a terrible graph in a news source and explain why it was terrible.
As such, my reaction to this post is “*sigh* howmuch.net is at it again”.
(In the case of the post I linked, the article was even worse than the graph taken in isolation. Fun fact: as far as I can tell (and admittedly it’s not all that clear), the original data source uses “housing” to mean everything involved in maintaining a residence (such as utilities), but the article strongly implies that “housing” = “rent”. And they casually assume that a household with average income will also have average expenses, and at one point actually conflate income and expenses!)
—
On the bright side, the OP is wtf-viz, which means that the point this post is trying to make is “what the shit kind of graphic design is this”.
Tags:
#adventures in University Land #reply via reblog #adventures in human capitalism #(tangentially)
Yes, I have actually compared. For many people, living in the Bay is a reasonable financial choice, even if they don’t have much money or if they want to donate a lot. In most parts of the U.S. I could not live with roommates, because places where I worked wouldn’t be so near the places where my friends worked, and I would need to own a car, and I still might pay less than I pay now but probably not so much less as to come out ahead taking the car into account.
Our house in El Cerrito, 10 min walk from the BART, was $550/bedroom. I do not think I’d end up spending dramatically less than $550 on housing+car anywhere I lived, and I do not think it’s unreasonable to tell people “there are affordable parts of the Bay” when what I mean is “there are $550/mo parts of the Bay where you do not need to own a car”. It was a nice safe neighborhood where I frequently went for walks at night, too.
Moving to the Bay is not an option for everyone! But if you’re thinking of it as sanctified and unattainable I think you are looking at prices in like, SF and Berkeley proper.
That works out to both cheaper than my hard limit price is and cheaper than the rock bottom student price here. And I cheated by inheriting a car but I still have running costs.
I live in an expensive part of Australia but not Sydney level horrible. And our public transport is terrible here- it’s comparitively functional in Sydney and Melbourne but those are expensive or 3 hour commute afaict.
*updates*
International price comparisons are tricky, though.
Like, from what I’ve heard of Australian prices, they tend to spend about the same amount of minimum-wage-time-units for stuff as Americans do, but their minimum wage is much higher. As long as you’re paying for local goods with local labour, it generally works out, but it makes things confusing when you’re trying to compare (or, god forbid, move) between countries.
(I could definitely be wrong, though, I’m mostly going off of numbers I’ve overheard from friends)
(Personally, as of 2016 my household’s average per-person per-month housing+transport cost was…*checks spreadsheet, feeds results into calculator*…about CAD$290. Alternatively: USD$217*, 25.4 minimum-wage-hours*. But we’re in an unusually good position, and I think a lot of people in our area are paying more like twice that much.)
*Using 2016 rates, to match the time period of the spreadsheet.
Tags:
#reply via reblog #adventures in human capitalism #home of the brave #Australia #trying to sound reasonably friendly; not sure if successful
has anyone on earth ever actually paid money for an app?
I have, but it was Choice of Games so it was more like paying money for an ebook that happened to be on sale as an app.
I had a class once that required me to pay (an offensively large amount of) money for an app.
I have, like actually on purpose and not just technically or under duress, paid for an app! I paid for Wolfram|Alpha ($3 I think, totally worth it for how much I used it in college) and an offline Wikipedia-clone (limited free version exists but it was $10 to download their whole article library, good for my anxiety even though I have never actually needed it).
I have, for an app that synchronizes a Yahoo Calendar account with the Google Calendar app. (Yahoo Calendar itself does not have a proper app, or didn’t last I checked.)
It was $3, and I don’t regret it. (It’s a shame I can no longer use the app and have to resort to manual imports, but that’s not the app’s fault: there were some issues with Yahoo and the account owner (not sure about the details), and now the account that technically owns the Yahoo calendar in question can’t log into any new computers (such as the new smartphone I got in January).)
Also, I sometimes buy the ad-free versions of apps I like after I’ve used them for a while. But SmoothSync is the only one I’ve ever paid upfront for.
—
an offline Wikipedia-clone (limited free version exists but it was $10 to download their whole article library, good for my anxiety even though I have never actually needed it)
Which app was that? I have Kiwix*, which is nice, but they don’t actually update monthly like they say they do: in fact, my Wiktionary copy actually ended up downgraded from March 2017 to December 2016 when I had to re download after a factory reset. (The option to download the March 2017 version wasn’t there anymore. I don’t know what happened to it.)
*Well, I have their Wiktionary copy. Wikipedia is too big for my current amount of storage space. (Someday!)
Tags:
#I was going to reblog from shedoesnotcomprehend #but then I saw this one in the notes and wanted to ask about the wiki clone #Brin owns *two* 2010’s computers now #reply via reblog
[status: reasonably knowledgeable about menial Internet labour, very slightly knowledgeable about cryptocurrency]
Trying to figure out if there are any better ways to sell my computers’ processing power than what I’m already doing, and I keep hearing mentions of cryptocurrency mining but also people saying it’s not worth the electricity it’s printed on except in edge cases.
Are there any cases where mining pays more per hour (after subtracting electricity cost) than running advertisement videos in the background* without investing four-digit quantities of money into high-end equipment**, or are the benefits of mining just privacy principles, (possibly?) slightly less maintenance required to keep it running, and high scaleability?
(Or even just a matter of different social circles? Like, the “techies who are into security” know about cryptocurrency mining but not ad videos, and the “housespouses who are into frugality” know about ad videos but not cryptocurrency mining, and there isn’t enough intermixture for both to be common knowledge?)
((…if the only reason you weren’t running ad videos for spare change is because you didn’t know that was a thing, hit me up and I’ll teach you))
—
*Laptop: ~3 – 5 cents per hour, for 10W (if I was going to have the laptop on anyway) or 25W (if I wasn’t). (so, roughly a tenth of a cent, give or take) Smartphones pay more per active hour (~15c) for *presumably* less electricity (haven’t tested my smartphone’s power usage), but usually have a daily cap, so you can only get a few active hours per day.
**Empirically, I’m willing to invest roughly a hundred dollars into more equipment to run paid processing with, and only after I’ve had a chance to test the task out at smaller scales to make sure it works well. (And I’m more willing if I can buy the stuff off of Amazon, since I continue to have more Amazon credit than I know what to do with.)
Tags:
#there are enough techies-who-are-into-security amongst my followers that someone might know #oh look an original post #adventures in human capitalism
Any advice on how to break the “depressed because I can’t get a job, can’t get a job because I’m depressed” cycle?
(…any advice on how to convince a depressed third party to actually *take* the advice from the first question?)
Tags:
#oh look an original post #you would think given that damn near everyone I know is or has been depressed #I would be better at dealing with depressed people #but…it’s hard to phrase this in a way that doesn’t sound bad #I don’t mean it in a bad way #but while I *like* my friends and I do want them to do well #the harm done to *me* by stuff ruining *their* lives is indirect at most #and that gives me enough distance from the problem to be understanding and stuff #Dad’s inability to let go of the idea of being The Provider and settle for merely contributing to a shared pool of income #(and therefore refusing to even apply for jobs that would ~merely~ let him pull his own weight rather than pulling *four* people’s weight) #is *directly* making it harder for me to afford my necessities #(or rather is failing to lengthen the amount of time left before affording my necessities becomes abruptly very difficult) #((I suppose the nuclear-war analogy has *some* truth to it but I still think the global-warming analogy is more adaptive)) #((and likely closer overall)) #tag rambles #venting #(the tag-ramble part) #(but no really if you have any advice please let me know) #adventures in human capitalism
80% of the eyeglasses in the world are made by Luxotica, that’s right, no matter the brand name, the source is the same, but not only do Luxottica make the frames, they make the lenses, they own the stores, they even own the largest eye insurance company, Eye Med – which is why they can charge you 400$ for a pair of glasses that costs maybe $20
75% of people who purchase eyeglasses need them out of medical necessity (as I do) so I went and tried the online shop Zenni Optical, and was able to buy no line bifocals with UV coating for less than $70, when LensCrafters wanted to sell me a pair for $550 – and that’s WITH insurance!
Nicest thing about Zenni? You can upload a photo of yourself to try on glasses, and if you don’t like them – YOU CAN RETURN THEM for credit! This is because you don’t need to gouge your customer to make money, glasses really cost only pennies to make. Now I can buy a couple of pairs, and have choices in what I wear, rather than investing hundreds of dollars – sometimes for quality that sucks.
Regardless of whom you buy from, don’t feed Luxottica any more.
Probably also applies to countries outside of US, Luxottica is Italian, and French lensmaker Essilor has agreed to buy Luxottica in a bid to create a new global giant in the sector. The combined group will have a market capitalization of around 46.2 billion euros ($49 billion), based on both companies’ closing share prices on Friday.
just google online eyeglasses and you’ll find plenty of links.
Zenni is international! I’ve been buying my glasses there now for years and I’ve never had any issues. Not with fit, not with lenses, not with breaks – nothing.
I have a strong, difficult prescription and was regularly paying upwards of $700AUD every two years for a single pair of glasses. I bought my current pair of glasses a couple years ago from Zenni and guess how much I spent?
…$7. In total. Frames and lenses. And they are singularly the best glasses I’ve ever had. I wear my glasses every waking hour of my life and these babies have not just survived but they look almost as good as when I first received them.
And because they are so cheap I also have a pair of sunglasses, and TWO pairs of alternative glasses I can wear when the mood strikes me. Since then my mom AND my dad, my uncle, and my cousin have all started to buy from Zenni.
BUY YOUR GLASSES FROM ZENNI! I cannot stress this enough. If you’re paying retail then you’re being ripped off.
I’ve reblogged this before and Ima reblog it again…
Zenni ain’t the only place out there. In fact I shopped there first then found other’s I liked better. I primarily buy off Eyebuydirect but I have also shopped at coastal and Zenni. Eyebuydirect has been overall my favorite. There prices are in the same price bracket as Zenni which is like $12-$80 for frames and where as zenni you can get lenses for free Eyebuydirect the lenses I think are like $14-18
but the quality of the glasses I have gotten from Eyebuydirect felt far superior to those I got from zenni, Eyebuydirect also has great customer service. Basically please look around the internet. Like just cause glasses are fucking awesome and deserve to be a fashion statement as well as a need.
I am currently wearing a pair of glasses from eyebuydirect that I paid a little over $100 I got frames that where $35 and I got those fancy blue coated lenses that help protect your eyes against looking at screens for extended time (I get way less headaches with them!) those lenses where a bit pricier.
but. in comparison, last I checked in at walmart (fucking walmart.) my lenses alone base cost would of been $140 that’s just the stupid glass discs not even the frames.
You do need to get a prescription from an optometrist, that you can’t avoid, however you don’t have to buy the eyeglasses from your optometrist, some don’t like that because that’s where they make their money – others are paid salary by their stores so they don’t care. Part of the prescription is the pupillary distance, and you’ve paid for that, so they have to give it to you. If they still don’t, Zenni has a ruler you can print out, so you can figure it out yourself.
Also, if you eyeglasses are not correct (I have no line bifocals and those can be an issue, though I’ve never had them with Zenni) you just send them back no charge to get re-made, or send them back for a refund. You don’t lose anything for trying except time.
I have gotten glasses from Zenni since 2013, and at this point I’ve probably saved thousands of dollars with how terrible my eyes are and how expensive my lenses turn out in stores.
Also, you should probably go to an ophthalmologist instead of an optometrist, at least if you haven’t been in a while. They are more trained in dealing with eye problems other than just getting your prescription right, but they do that too.
Tags:
#glasses #the more you know #I’ve had the same pair of glasses for over a decade now but I’m sure I’ll need new ones *eventually* #(the prescription won’t be a problem) #(I keep a copy of my glasses prescription in my wallet) #(and replace it every two years with the most recent one) #(it tends to change *slightly* each checkup but not significantly enough to be worth replacing my lenses just for that) #(and so far it doesn’t change in a consistent direction and thus doesn’t add up over time) #I should probably get a poverty/frugality tag; I’ve been talking about that more lately #I will take my cue from the ”who needs dragon capitalism” bit in the electricity post and call it #adventures in human capitalism #(note that ”adventures in dragon capitalism” is an already-established tag)
During the less thought-requiring parts of my job (sweeping and such), I keep thinking about that Suffering vs Oblivion post. Specifically, the bit where a large fraction of respondents say they would rather die than spend every waking moment of the rest of their life working in fast food.
When I first read that post, I’d never worked in fast food. I *suspected* that given only those two options I’d rather live, certainly a strong enough suspicion to give it a shot, but without more experience I couldn’t be sure.
Now, about a month in, I’m more confident that I’d rather live. My time spent at work has been positive utility: not *ideal*, sure, but all else equal I wouldn’t replace it with unconsciousness. Not even close. And most of the negative bits are the times I’m not sure what exactly I ought to be doing, which get less frequent the more experience with the job I have (and I expect this decreasing-frequency trend to continue).
Tags:
#although to be fair I’ve had pretty decent co-workers so far #and I work in a small* Canadian* town #(*+1 modifier to customer niceness) #so thus far the interpersonal aspect has been pretty much a non-issue #*knocks on wood* #in which Brin has a job #(a better paying job than the last one) #(and with more hours) #(though I might try transcription again at some point if I find the time) #(last I checked there was hardly ever anything but I think that might be from people using it as a summer job) #(note to any relevantly magical entities or somesuch: this post does not in itself constitute permission to sentence me to spend the rest of #my waking time working in fast food) #(whether I’d want to do that depends on what the other options are) #(it’s significantly better than death but not as good as the life I have now) #death tw #oh look an original post #(the following category tag was added retroactively:) #adventures in human capitalism
Brinens and Things 