Humor Random Comments Thread

[jedidia]

As for your wife-beating neighbor, there's no way I could stand by while that goes on. I'd be calling the cops on him every time I hear it.

He's living in Romania. From my experience in the Balkans, sadly wife beating is not necessarily something the cops will do anything about.
On the other hand, I've also seen them look the other way after a violent husband suddenly "emigrated to germany" and was never heard of again, at least in rural areas... :shifty:

 

[steph]

Yup, it's a rental. I was planning to move out anyway, so I guess I'll expedite it :lol: . Talked to the landlord, so apparently he'll send a plumber. When, we'll see. I'm not sticking around for now.
As for that guy...the police came several times, and afaik the worst he got was that kind of ' disturbing the public peace' notice. Yup, it's nasty since he knows it's one of the neighbors who called them ). I actually got questioned about him a while back, since apparently he's a suspect in some sort of hit-and-run accident (police came, unrelated to the beatings, and started asking around ). Not sure if anything came out of that either
I'm moving out anyway. No sense in having more of the drama

 

[Urwumpe]

Yeah, the neigbours... I would move out ASAP in that case as well. Clearly, this is just one episode out of many in the past and more will come. Hardly a good place to call home.

My girlfriends neighbour is also such a case. Loud music or sudden drug-induced shouts at night, showering nude in the garden and urinating out of the front door. His junkyard like premises looks like only a strategic bombardment could help there now. Police fails there as well, in the worst case, the guy simply locks himself in his house and pretends to be not at home.

I still have an experiment running here which event happens first: My balcony is finally usable again (I was unable to use it for almost three years now because it had head sized holes in it, and its completely demolitished since last year, waiting for the replacement) or the announced FTTB arrives.

I suspect I will move out of this place and to my girlfriend before both happens.

 

[PhantomCruiser]

So glad I don't live in an apartment any longer.
The house I'm living in now was built in 1954 (I thought it was later, but not much). Basement is suitable as a bomb shelter in accordance with conventional wisdom at the time, it is well over and above what the current code calls for. Great place to ride out storms.

And it's also the first place I ever spent the night in. My first night out of the hospital was spent here, when this place belonged to my grandparents.

 

[jedidia]

Well, we have very low rent, and a very uncomplicated and good-natured landlord, who is also the only in-house neighbour, so living in an appartment is both easier and cheaper for us right now...

 

[Urwumpe]

Well, we have very low rent, and a very uncomplicated and good-natured landlord, who is also the only in-house neighbour, so living in an appartment is both easier and cheaper for us right now...

Also, its a difference between the different cultures there - in Germany, its rather normal to rent an apartment vs buying it, because the laws are pretty customer friendly in general and you have a great deal of security there.

On the other hand... we would have much less to fear economically, would we own more instead of keeping our money in circulation...

 

[Linguofreak]

Also, its a difference between the different cultures there - in Germany, its rather normal to rent an apartment vs buying it, because the laws are pretty customer friendly in general and you have a great deal of security there.

On the other hand... we would have much less to fear economically, would we own more instead of keeping our money in circulation...

It's not just how consumer friendly the laws are, it's also that land is cheap in the US, so that the middle class tends to prefer buying their own house on their own land to renting.

 

[jedidia]

It's not just how consumer friendly the laws are, it's also that land is cheap in the US

Heh yeah, cheap building land... That's thouroughly a thing from the past in Switzerland :rofl:

 

[Urwumpe]

Heh yeah, cheap building land... That's thouroughly a thing from the past in Switzerland :rofl:

And this could get suddenly more expensive in Germany today. The supreme court is deciding if the current property tax system is constitutional. One issue is that the most important number in the calculation was last updated in 1965 in west Germany and 1935 in east Germany.

One quick fix is using the market prices of the building land as reference (This reference number can already be read online for most towns)... this would be a huge tax increase. But even the more sophisticated alternatives would make real estate more expensive in Germany. Some model would make real estate without buildings more expensive, other models would include the buildings in the calculation.

 

[n122vu]

I think when you go looking for a plane that's sub 50k, you should probably buddy up with the nearest A&P and start forwarding cases of beer 6 months in advance

Ha, right
I'm going to be his favorite/most-hated customer for sure by the looks of some of these

If I'd only known how true this conversation would end up being...

 

[Urwumpe]

A 60 year old German died today during a ground accident with a German Army helicopter. The helicopter was refueled on the ground with running rotor and had the rotor collide with the tower during taxing. The man was hit by debris, the airport buildings had been damaged. The accident is getting investigated right now.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

If I'd only known how true this conversation would end up being...

Good booze and steaks are always acceptable payments, right?

 

[Linguofreak]

One word.

Eichhörnchenwurst.

This concludes your randomness for the day.

 

[Andy44]

Season 3 of The Expanse has begun!

Just watched Episode 1. God I love this show. It's almost like they got Orbitnauts to help write it sometimes.

 

[Notebook]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/techno...er-ending-vr-escalator-journey-and-other-news

1:18 in, or the last item. Dosen't really explain it well.
Was there a sci-fi short story about a crew that docks with an alien vessel, starts exploring the "Arrival Lounge" and finds it goes on forever...
Or was that reality?

N.

 

[Andy44]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/techno...er-ending-vr-escalator-journey-and-other-news

1:18 in, or the last item. Dosen't really explain it well.
Was there a sci-fi short story about a crew that docks with an alien vessel, starts exploring the "Arrival Lounge" and finds it goes on forever...
Or was that reality?

N.

Not familiar with that story, although it reminds me of sitting in a government office waiting to get my driver's license renewed...

But there was a short story I read years ago about a guy who had squandered all his money, ripped off his creditors and family, and was now loading up his credit cards with no intention of paying anybody back.

With a bag of groceries and other stuff he goes to leave the shopping center via the down escalator leading to a subway station. He gets to a landing, and starts down another flight; lost in his thoughts he repeats this several times before he senses something is wrong. He has gone down way deeper than he remembered the station being, and hasn't seen another soul in several minutes. After going down a few more flights, he panics and tries to go back up, but the effort is too tiring and so he descends again, hoping to find the bottom soon along with the way out, but of course he just keeps going and going.

The story ends a couple of days later. His groceries expended and the rest of his ill-gotten goods abandoned somewhere along the way as he ran down the escalators in a panic, he is doomed to forever ride down lighted escalator shafts for all eternity, hungry and alone.

I wish I could remember the name of the story or its author, fantastic Rod Serling-style "get what they deserved" writing.

 

[birdmanmike]

"Descending" - by Thomas M. Disch - do a search for more

you're welcome - as are donations to stave off my creditors -

 

[jedidia]

There's a similar short story from a Swiss author (though its focus is on political analogy), where commuters suddenly find their regular morning train plunging down an ever steeper endless tunnel, and the conductor is completely unaware that anything whatsoever is out of the ordinary.

 

[Notebook]

Interesting, those stories involve going down(Hell?) .
The sci-fi one was horizontal, by the time the crew figured out is was bigger on the inside than the outside, too late.
Its the banality and the description of a familiar setting, then it goes odd. Wish I culd remember the author.

N.

 

[Notebook]

Rod Serling, haven't heard that name for ages.
I remember the Twilght Zone, import to here, was allowed to watch it. Parents thought it too scary, so did I.

Don't remember this one, but might have watched it.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dar2HKImK-0"]Shatner v The Gremlin -- Two Minute Twilight Zone Project -- Nightmare at 20,000 feet - YouTube[/ame]